Manchild in the Promised Land

Claude considers Warwick “a jail in disguise” but also appreciates its idyllic location (123). He describes the strict security procedures and work gangs, emphasizing the place’s brutality, but when one of his Wiltwyck friends arrives, Claude immediately feels more at home. After Minetti steals a car and gets caught, Claude saves him—again—from a group of older boys who attack him, knowing they are now his enemies.

While Claude learns more about drugs from the older boys at Warwick, many of whom are “real criminals” (128), he still does not use drugs. Even so, he still has a reputation for toughness, given the scar from his gunshot wound. Claude decides that Warwick makes everyone a better criminal.

Warwick has a special cottage just for queer men, including a boy named Baxter, with whom Claude becomes friends. Claude expresses anxiety about other boys thinking he is also gay, but Baxter maintains that he has no interest in Claude beyond friendship. Claude admits that Warwick stokes insecurities about masculinity among all the boys there.

Some older boys at Warwick introduce Claude to jazz, which has a profound effect on him, particularly the work of Charlie Parker. After his friend Gus is sent to another reform school, Claude inherits all his jazz albums.

Claude returns to Harlem after nine months and three weeks at Warwick. He does not want to go to school because he does not have enough money to buy decent clothes. He cannot keep up in class and becomes tired of everything, even his friends. Finally, he goes back to the Youth House and boards the bus to Warwick, checking himself back in. He describes his return as “a great reunion” (136). He stays for three months and is sent home because of overcrowding. K.B. is released and returns to Brooklyn, where he begins dealing and using heroin. Claude begins avoiding him and stays in Harlem.

A few months later, Claude is arrested for selling stolen goods and is sent back to Warwick for the third and last time. He builds on his reputation for toughness, running an extortion racket and charging other boys protection fees. During this stay, he meets Mr. Cohen, the superintendent of Warwick, and Mrs. Cohen, his wife. They are both very kind to him, especially Mrs. Cohen, who tells him he could have a great future ahead of him and starts giving him books. Claude reads voraciously and starts to wonder what could happen if he does not go back to Harlem.

He returns home for good on July 12, 1953, and discovers that most of his Harlem friends are in jail. Butch, Danny, and Kid have developed heroin addictions. Claude feels like he will inevitably be arrested again and be sent to a real prison. He meets Reno, Bucky’s 21-year-old brother, who starts teaching him how to be a hustler. He begins working in the garment district as a requirement of his parole while also selling marijuana. He eventually quits the garment district job and becomes a full-time drug dealer and hustler.

Reno teaches Claude how to “play the Murphy,” or run a scam in which he pretends to be a “pimp” and tricks tourists or soldiers into paying for sex workers (143-44). However, Claude continues to make most of his money from selling marijuana, which is an easier and more dependable trade. One night, Reno and two sex workers introduce Claude to cocaine, which he enjoys: He says it makes the world look beautiful and removes all his inhibitions. He continues using cocaine and eventually starts dealing it along with marijuana.

Claude continues fighting with his parents and eventually moves out. He finds a place in a Harlem neighborhood called Hamilton Terrace, where other young hustlers live. He reconnects with Tony Albee, a boy whose family had moved near his and who is trying to establish himself as a hustler. They become close friends, but Reno sees Tony as “backward” and sheltered and distances himself from Claude. Claude reflects on the differences between “good boys” like Tony and “bad boys” like him and Reno, concluding that the good boys’ parents had damaged them by being overprotective (151).

A marijuana shortage in Harlem forces Claude to look for a job, and he starts working at a restaurant called Hamburger Heaven. He does not like waiting on white customers, who are rude and condescending, but stays at the job for about a year. He thinks about how Black people’s awareness of their race is changing; for example, the word “baby” has become popular among Black men and exemplifies their shared racial background and cultural values (154). He also notices the beginning of the Black Muslim era, the rise of soul music in churches and nightclubs, and a new appreciation among Black people for their own strength and beauty.

In November 1953, Claude goes to Wiltwyck to visit Dr. Papanek. He feels homesick for Wiltwyck and knows he will probably go to jail soon. His former counselor, Nick, tells him that Papanek believes Claude can turn his life around and be successful. Claude wonders why he would want to be successful in such a hostile world and still feels like he is not smart enough to go to school.

One night, a man named Limpy robs Claude, who realizes that he will have to kill Limpy in order to maintain his reputation on the street. He tries to buy a gun from Danny, who has had a heroin addiction for about four years, but Danny refuses to sell him one, telling Claude he still has something to live for. He buys one from a dealer but cannot find Limpy. He realizes that killing Limpy would not be right, as people with addictions are not inherently bad people.

Claude stops dealing drugs and starts going to night school to finish his high school diploma. While his peers tease him at first, he does not care, as most of the boys he grew up with are either in jail or have substance use disorders. Some of them even start night school themselves, although they all drop out quickly. Claude struggles with homework, particularly math, but repeats his classes until he passes them. He also tries to resume his relationship with Sugar, but her feelings for him have dissipated, and she is in love with a man who works at a grocery store. This angers Claude at first, but he realizes that he has brought about his own heartbreak by mistreating her. He has a brief relationship with a fellow night school student, a 19-year-old married mother who quickly becomes attached to him. She has a voracious sexual appetite, and Claude, exhausted, finally ends the relationship. She becomes angry and tries to call him, but he ignores her.

Claude focuses harder on school, feeling torn between his education and his street life. He feels disconnected from his neighborhood, realizing he is no longer interested in the Harlem scene, and decides to move. He reflects on all the changes he has made since leaving Warwick: He no longer deals drugs and no longer works in the garment district or at Hamburger Heaven. He moves to Greenwich Village and gets a job at a watch repair shop, where he notices how happy and kind his coworkers are. For the first time, he feels as though he can do anything he wants and is making a fresh start.