“For where does one run to when he’s already in the Promised Land?” Claude Brown begins Manchild in the Promised Land with a thought-provoking metaphor. His opening line outlines the main struggle Brown conquers in the novel. Claude Brown was a young African-American boy, growing up in a land known for its great promise and possibility. Brown, who was living in the ‘Promised Land’, saw no way out of the impoverished city, which he felt almost trapped in. Manchild in the Promised Land conceives the story of survival and hope; one that history often conceals for convenience sake.

Claude Brown’s lightly fictionalized retelling of his troubling and tumultuous life is, first and foremost, a story of coming-of-age in an environment surrounded by obstacles that seem to strengthen the notion of inevitable failure for African-American teens alike him. The appraised novel, Manchild in the Promised Land, bears the complex tale of a young man, who goes by Sonny, trying to survive the many challenges that plagued every-day Harlem life, such as the deadly drug epidemic that took a firm hold of the city, the countless acts of crimes that became regular occurrences, and the parading hustlers and gang members who were unfortunately the people that Sonny admired. All around him, pandemonium was swirling as the Civil Rights Movement barrelled forth. The book is a brilliantly devastating portrait of Harlem under siege, atrophied and damaged from drugs, poverty, unemployment, and crime and police brutality. Recounted in this novel is a record of Sonny’s countless juvenile punishments and the horrible habits he adopted from the ‘street life’. Many court appearances later, the possibility for a bright future for Sonny, which had already seemed nonexistent, became even farther from reality. A life of mischief and further self-destruction seemed likely and foreboding; however, miraculously, Sonny was able to turn his life around and attend college, which had always seemed to be nothing more than a dream in the world he lived in. While many of his friends became the victims of the harsh and punitive street life, Sonny was able to go from an infamous drug-selling ringleader to an educated, acclaimed African-American writer. Not one single thing alone was contributory in helping Brown escape the life that awaited him if he remained in Harlem; Brown’s lifestyle change was influenced by his thirst to be a leading figure, whether that meant being the first to get access to a trending drug or to be one of the few who survived the unforgiving drug epidemic, and his acceptance of the importance of other races, especially the Caucasian race.