Summary

The short story “Born of Man and Woman” by Richard Matheson follows a child narrator, who is kept by its parents in the cellar. 

In its first journal entry, the child, who speaks broken English, recalls watching the rain from the cellar window. The father comes to the cellar and comments on the child’s looks, while both of them think that the mother looks pretty. In the second journal entry, the child hears laughter coming from upstairs. After it removes the chain that ties it to the wall, the child opens the door that leads upstairs. Its mother arrives and pushes the child, after which she calls the father, who beats it. The child is eventually tied up and left in the cellar. 

In the third journal entry, the father comes and attaches the chain to ...