A Difference in Paternal Relationships

A key aspect of the "The Rockpile," the first short story of Baldwin's Going to Meet the Man, lies in the drastic difference in respect and sympathy with which the boys' father, Gabriel, treats each of his sons. Early on in the story we learn that the boys, John and Roy, are strictly prohibited from playing on the neighborhood phenomenon known as "the rockpile." Instead of going out and playing and enjoying themselves with the other kids who play on the rockpile everyday, John and Roy are confined to watch from their house's fire escape. While this doesn't seem to bother John, as he doesn't find the idea of playing with the other boys on the rockpile particularly appealing, the fact that it is so prohibited that they must watch it from their fire escape above only fuels Roy's desire to ignore his mother's admonitions and play on the rockpile. However, when Roy finally does sneak out to the rockpile and gets injured shortly thereafter, leading to the entire family fearing Roy's confrontation with his father, Gabriel ends up being merciful towards him. Though Roy's own heedless, rebellious nature is what get him in trouble in the first place, Gabriel consoles him and instead turns to harshly reprimand and threaten John, the bystander during the entire incident.

Almost immediately as we enter this story, the rockpile is described as this almost mythical, legendary natural phenomenon that has graced the young boys of the neighborhood. It is for this reason that Roy expresses such a strong wish to play there with the other boys; he "felt it to be his right, not to say his duty, to play there" (15). It's bad enough that the boys are prohibited from playing on the rockpile, which in itself is enough to strengthen Roy's resolve to one day actually reach it and play on it, but what's worse is that to cope with this, the boys sit up on the fire escape every Saturday morning to observe the ongoing actions in the "forbidden street below" (15). It's almost as if Roy believes that if he can't have the pleasure of physically engaging in action on the rockpile, he can at least have the next best thing and observe the other kids play on it, when in reality, it only increases his desire to play on the rockpile. However, though the rockpile has such as strong, magnetic effect on Roy, John seems for the most part unphased by it. He sits and observes the rockpile with his brother, but instead of sitting idly, constantly desiring to play on the rockpile, John engages in other distracting activities such as reading and doing his homework. We can observe this difference in temperament in the boys' disparate reactions to their mother routinely warning them to stay away from the rockpile: "Roy shifted impatiently, and continued to stare at the street, as though in this gazing he might somehow acquire wings. John said nothing. He had not really been spoken to: he was afraid of the rockpile and of the boys who played there" (15). When his mother tells him to not go and play on the rockpile, Roy reacts by physically squirming to try and suppress his constant longing to go against his mother. Even though Roy knows that his mother is really only speaking to him, Roy tries to push this out of his mind and ignore his mothers thoughts by once again shifting his attention to the rockpile. The fact that he goes as far as to wish that he would "acquire wings" to reach the rockpile expresses this extreme desire, and in turn highlights his overly rebellious nature, ignorant of this mother's concerns. John, on the other hand, expresses no such desire.

It's clear that the boys' father, Gabriel, has complete control over the household and rules it with an iron fist. When describing how the boys sit on the fire escape to watch the rockpile, Baldwin narrates: "But until he came to end their freedom, they sat, watching and longing above the street" (16). The "he" here obviously refers to Gabriel. The phrase "end their freedom" to describe the return of the father is very revealing about the power dynamics in the house. It's as if the boys can have their fun and "freedom" while their father is gone, but once he returns, that sense is gone, implying that Gabriel is very strict and doesn't tolerate misbehavior. Ironically, the confinement and longing that Roy feels sitting on the fire escape quickly turns into a privilege when the father comes home, accentuating this notion that once the father comes home, he rules, and everyone must obey him. This is why the entire family, not just Roy who misbehaved, begins to dread the arrival of Gabriel. Despite the persistent suggestions by the rest of the family that Roy was the one who broke the rules and John told him that he would get in trouble, Gabriel appears fairly placid when confronting Roy about what happened: "You don't want to cry. You's Daddy's little man. Tell your Daddy what happened" (22). Gabriel, the domineering father that the whole household dreads the arrival of, surprisingly shows kindness towards Roy in this scene. He calls him his "little man" and simply inquires about what happened, rather than reprimanding or abusing his son. Gabriel expresses his true anger towards his stepson John. Even though John did in fact warn Roy to not play on the rockpile, and reminded him of the consequences if he got caught, Gabriel disregards this and turns furious, saying things like "Boy, you hear me? You want me to take a strap to you?" (24). All of this anger and dominance towards John culminates with the final scene of the story, when Gabriel gets up to pick up the lunchbox, "bending his dark head near the toe of his father's heavy shoe" (25).