Setting

The events that occur in the short story “Born of Man and Woman” by Richard Matheson take place in the family’s house, which is the main physical setting. 

The child is kept in the cellar, chained to a wall. It sleeps with its head rested “against the cold wall” (p. 184, l. 41), in darkness: “The light it hurt some now in my eyes. It is not so like that in the cellar” (p. 184, ll. 31-32). Besides being dark and cold, the cellar is also the place where bugs crawl (p. 184, l. 13) and rats sometimes bite the child (p. 195, ll. 29-30). The cellar represents the child’s isolated universe. The little window in the cellar offers the child a glimpse of the outside world. This is how the child sees rain, snow, the sun, the family car, and other children playing outside. Because it cannot understand basic concepts, the child uses metaphors to describe what it...