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=                 Go_Tell_It_on_the_Mountain_(novel)                 =
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                            Introduction
======================================================================
'Go Tell It on the Mountain' is a 1953 semi-autobiographical novel by
James Baldwin. It tells the story of John Grimes, an intelligent
teenager in 1930s Harlem, and his relationship with his family and his
church. The novel also reveals the back stories of John's mother, his
biological father, and his violent, fanatically religious stepfather,
Gabriel Grimes. The novel focuses on the role of the Pentecostal
Church in the lives of African Americans, both as a negative source of
repression and moral hypocrisy and a positive source of inspiration
and community.

In 1998, the Modern Library ranked 'Go Tell It on the Mountain' 39th
on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th
century. 'Time' magazine included the novel on its list of the 100
best English-language novels released from 1923 to 2005.


                             Background
======================================================================
James Baldwin was born in 1924 in Harlem to an unwed mother who had
left Maryland for New York and never knew his biological father.
Several years later, his mother married a much older laborer and
Baptist preacher from Louisiana who had come north in 1919. James
Baldwin took his step-father's surname and was raised as his son along
with his many half-siblings. He later described his stepfather as
"Brooding, silent, tyrannical ... and physically abusive, he was also
a storefront preacher of morbid intensity." During his high school
years, uncomfortable with the fact that, unlike many of his peers, he
was becoming more sexually interested in men than in women, Baldwin
sought refuge in religion.  At the age of 14, he began preaching
himself and continued to do so for several years.

'Go Tell It on the Mountain' was Baldwin's first published novel and
it draws significantly on his personal experience and the experiences
of those around him during his childhood in Harlem, particularly those
who came to Harlem as part of the Great Migration from the South. It
was the result of work that began in at least 1938. Baldwin showed an
early manuscript to novelist Richard Wright in 1944. Wright helped
Baldwin secure an advance from Harper & Brothers but the deal did
not result in publication.

In February 1952, Baldwin sent a later version of the manuscript from
Paris, France, where he was living at the time, to New York publishing
house Alfred A. Knopf. They expressed interest, and Baldwin returned
to New York to meet with Knopf. He agreed to rewrite parts of 'Go Tell
It On The Mountain' in exchange for a $250 advance  and a further $750
paid when the final manuscript was completed. After the final draft
was accepted, Baldwin published excerpts of the novel in two
publications: one excerpt was published as "Exodus" in 'American
Mercury' and the other as "Roy's Wound" in 'New World Writing'.
Baldwin set sail back to Europe on August 28 and 'Go Tell It On The
Mountain' was published in May 1953.


                       Structure and synopsis
======================================================================
'Go Tell It on the Mountain' has a nonlinear structure. The story
takes place during one 24-hour period, but contains extended
flashbacks which cover a period of more than 70 years. The novel is
focused on John Grimes, but narrative voice shifts between characters'
perspectives, allowing access to the thoughts and reminiscences of
John's father, mother, and aunt. The novel is divided into three parts
: "Part One: The Seventh Day", "Part Two: The Prayer of the Saints"
(divided into parts for Florence, Gabriel, and Elizabeth), and "Part
Three: The Threshing-Floor". The first and final parts mainly follow
John's thoughts with glimpses of the thoughts of others, while the
sections in Part Two mainly follow the thoughts of the character for
whom they are named.


Part One
==========
In Part One, John wakes up on his birthday. He sits down for
breakfast, expecting something special from his mother. However, he is
met with the regular breakfast that is served regularly in the
household. His mother then sends him off to do his daily chores like
any other day. As he does his chores, he thinks about his relationship
with his domineering father, who does not seem to love him, and seems
to have much hatred towards John. He also begins to think about his
relationship with the storefront church at which his father is a
sometimes preacher. The church is a major part in the life of John’s
family. His family is extremely religious and spends a lot of their
time at and supporting the church. All of the members of the Grimes
family are very intertwined within the church. His younger
half-brother Roy also resents his father's strictness, but unlike John
has begun to rebel by running with a rough crowd. The rebellion
against his father leaves a lot of anger within John and builds upon
the constant thought of their father not loving them. Once John has
finished his chores, his mother Elizabeth gives him some money for his
birthday, and he goes out. He walks through Central Park and down
Fifth Avenue, before going into a movie theater to watch a film.

John returns home to find that Roy has gone with some neighborhood
boys to pick a fight and has been cut with a knife. John's stepfather
Gabriel returns home. Gabriel is angry. He lashes out and looks for
someone to blame besides Roy. Gabriel ultimately ends up putting the
blame onto Elizabeth and Gabriel’s own sister, Florence, who was in
the house with the family at the time. Gabriel's sister Florence and
Elizabeth object that no one is to blame but Roy since he went out to
pick the fight. Gabriel strikes Elizabeth causing Roy to challenge and
curse him. Gabriel takes immense disrespect from Roy and will not
settle for it. He decides that as his father, he must do something to
Roy because he believes Roy is in no place to challenge Gabriel and
question his authority over him. Gabriel whips Roy with a belt until
Florence intervenes. Gabriel does not appreciate Florence intervening
and talks down to her. John then goes to the church to do chores
before evening services. Elisha, an older boy in the church arrives to
help and the two exchange playful barbs and then playfully wrestle.
The two then finish cleaning the church while talking about John's
soul and salvation. Two women arrive followed shortly by John's
father, mother, and aunt Florence.


Florence's Prayer
===================
Florence recalls her childhood with Gabriel and their mother, a former
slave. She recalls her devout mother leading them in prayer after the
rape of a girl, Deborah, by a group of white men. She resented that
just because Gabriel was a boy, her mother always put his future ahead
of hers even though she was much better behaved. Florence eventually
left home despite her mother's illness to go north to New York where
she met Frank, whom she married. The marriage was not happy as Frank
drank and was irresponsible with money, both buying her extravagant
gifts and spending on binges. He eventually left her for another woman
and died in France in World War I.


Gabriel's Prayer
==================
Gabriel also recalls his wild youth, which ended after Florence left
when he was saved at the age of 22. He stopped drinking and debauching
and became a preacher. Deborah, whom no one would marry because she
had been raped, supports him and helps him after his mother dies and
Gabriel asks her to marry him. Back in the church, Gabriel hears a cry
of praise and worries that John is being visited by the Holy Spirit.
He resents that his two natural sons have not been saved and worries
that John, who is not his biological son, will be saved. These
thoughts lead him to his affair with a woman named Esther, who
subsequently became pregnant and died giving birth to his son, Royal.
Royal was raised by Esther's mother and Gabriel never acknowledged him
and worried that Deborah would learn the truth. Later, during a period
of racial tensions after a black soldier has been lynched, Gabriel
encountered Royal walking home and warned him to be careful. Later,
Deborah tells Gabriel that Royal left for Chicago where he was killed
in a knife fight. Deborah confronts  Gabriel, who admits that Royal
was his son and Deborah tells him he should pray for forgiveness.
Seeing John, Gabriel recalls that he had believed that meeting and
marrying Elizabeth was a sign that God had forgiven him.


Elizabeth's Prayer
====================
Elizabeth recalls how after the death of her distant mother, her aunt
took her away from her father, whom she loved, because he ran a
brothel. Elizabeth resented her and she was never loving.  Later
Elizabeth fell in love with a store clerk, Richard. The two ran away
to New York together. Although they were not married, Elizabeth became
pregnant but did not tell Richard right away. Before she told him, he
was wrongfully arrested for theft. He refused to confess and was
brutally beaten by the police. After he was eventually acquitted and
returned home, she decided not to tell him she was pregnant that
night, but by morning he had killed himself. After thinking of
Richard, she looks at John and wonders if she did the right thing to
keep him rather than give him for adoption, and to marry Gabriel who
has never loved John. She recalls how she met Florence at her job as a
cleaning woman and Florence introduced her to her brother Gabriel, now
a widower who recently came north. Although Florence discourages the
romance, Elizabeth respects Gabriel's religiosity and believes Gabriel
will offer protection and stability for herself and John and agrees to
marry him. Her thoughts return to the present and she sees John lying
on the floor of the church overcome by a religious vision.


Part Three
============
John experiences a series of hallucinatory religious visions in which
he confronts many of his sins, hopes, and doubts. He sees his father's
face and recalls that he has seen his father naked and compares
himself to the story of Ham who saw his father Noah naked and was
forever cursed - a story that was long used to justify slavery and
oppression of black people. After further visions, John sees a glimpse
of God and feels himself saved. He returns to consciousness and
realizes that it is morning and he has been there all night. All are
happy for him except Gabriel who seems unconvinced. The group leaves
the church to walk home and Florence, who is terminally ill, confronts
Gabriel with a letter from Deborah which reveals her suspicions that
Gabriel had fathered a son with Esther. Florence accuses Gabriel of
making John and Elizabeth suffer  to expiate his own guilt for his sin
with Esther and Royal and promises to reveal the truth to Elizabeth.
Meanwhile, John speaks with Elisha who congratulates and encourages
him until they reach John's home.


                              Setting
======================================================================
The novel takes place in New York City, primarily in Harlem in 1935.
The flashbacks provide extended sequences in the American South,
primarily in an unnamed town in the Deep South where Gabriel and
Florence were born, and in Maryland where Elizabeth was raised. The
flashbacks also recall earlier periods in Harlem and to a lesser
extent other locations in New York.

In the novel, New York City at once represents freedom and opportunity
- especially for Florence and Elizabeth, who escape confining family
lives, and for John, who contemplates the opportunities of the world
outside Harlem as he walks through Midtown Manhattan - but also the
vulgarity and perdition, particularly for Gabriel and through Gabriel,
for John. This duality is used to enhance the other conflicts in the
novel, particularly between holiness and worldliness and between John
and Gabriel. For Elizabeth especially, but also for Florence and
Gabriel, the promise of the city, the promise that drove the Great
Migration of African Americans from the rural South to Northern cities
including New York, turned out to be false. Elizabeth reflects that
unlike the South, which promises nothing, the North promises but does
not give and what is given can be taken away in an instant. Although
the Great Migration led to the Harlem Renaissance and a flourishing of
art and culture, the novel's depiction of Harlem is focused on the
poverty, violence, drunkenness, and sexual depravity which were also a
result.


Religion
==========
The religious theme pervades all aspects of the novel. However,
critics have not agreed on whether it is "an ironic indictment of
Christianity" or a "stirring vindication". Barbara Olson summarized
the dispute noting that "those favoring vindication number in their
ranks such notable critics as Albert Gerard, Donald Gibson, and
Shirley Allen" while "those favoring the indictment position include
Robert Bone, Michel Fabre, Nathan Scott, Howard Harper, Stanley
Macebuh, David Foster and Trudier Harris."


Holiness versus worldliness
=============================
Many scholars have reflected on the tension between holiness and
worldliness in the novel. The strict Pentecostal religion of the
Temple of the Free Baptized, enforced by John's father, demands that
believers live separately from much of the world around them. Much of
Part One is taken up with John's thoughts on how he fits in or fails
to fit in both with the "holy" people of his father's church and also
with the "worldly" people he knows from the neighborhood and school.
Charles Scruggs writes that the novel juxtaposes "the earthly and the
heavenly, and together they help focus the novel's various themes."


Religious allusion
====================
The novel is rich with biblical and religious allusions and
references. The title of the novel is taken from a spiritual of the
same name and "each of the three parts has a title and two epigraphs
referring to the Bible or Christian hymns, and each of the prayers in
Part Two begins with a quotation from a hymn." The title of Part One
"The Seventh Day" is a clear reference to the biblical sabbath, the
day on which the Lord rested after he created the heavens and the
earth. Allen argues this is both the day John is done being "created",
i.e. when he comes into his own, but God also made the Sabbath holy,
and it is the day John will become holy. Similarly, Part Three "The
Threshing-Floor" is an allusion to Matthew 3:12, in which John the
Baptist states that on the threshing floor Jesus will separate the
wheat (saved) from the chaff (unsaved).

Baldwin includes excerpts from many spirituals throughout the novel
but especially as John is undergoing his religious vision and the
"saints" of the church sing around him, each of which highlights a
particular aspect of the narrative. In addition, many of the
characters' names refer directly to biblical characters. Critics have
compared John both to John the Baptist and John of Patmos who
experienced a religious vision in the Book of Revelation. John the
Baptist's mother Elizabeth, the archangel Gabriel, the prophetess
Deborah, and the Jewish Queen Esther also provide names of significant
characters.

Baldwin frequently makes use of direct references including the story
of Ham, the story of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt, and
the story of Lot's wife who looked backward and was turned into a
pillar of salt. Other passages, such John's wrestling with Elisha
evoke biblical referents, like the story of Jacob wrestling with a
mysterious supernatural being in Genesis.


Language
==========
The rhythm and language of the story draw heavily on the language of
the Bible, particularly of the King James Version. Many of the
passages use the patterns of repetition identified by scholars such as
Robert Alter and others as being characteristic of Biblical poetry. In
addition, much of the characters' speech is laced with biblical
quotations and references, which both provides a note of
verisimilitude in the dialogue but also a layer of religious
symbolism.


Race
======
Most critics and scholars have agreed that while race is not the core
of the book, it remains an important theme.  Shirley Allen wrote,
"obviously Baldwin weaves the black-versus-white theme into the
central conflict as inextricably as it is woven into the daily
consciousness of the characters; but the major conflict of this novel
... is not black against white, but the more universal problem of
youth achieving maturity." 'New York Times' reviewer Orville Prescott
said in his contemporary assessment that, although the novel is not
primarily about race, "Mr. Baldwin is as bitter about race
discrimination in a few passing references as many authors are in
whole books."

Race comes to the fore for each character in different ways. John
questions his father's visceral animosity towards white people, while
at the same time feeling acutely aware of his blackness as he leaves
Harlem and walks through other parts of the city. Already feeling
alienated from the secular culture of Harlem (which has sucked in Roy,
who at the same time has gone to pick a fight with white boys in
another neighborhood), and from the religious culture represented by
his father ("His father said that all white people were wicked, and
the God was going to bring them low"). Without ever being quite
comfortable, he wonders about the promise of other opportunities in
these white-dominated spaces, such as the New York Public Library,
which he does not enter (but not, he tells himself, because he is
black) and the movie theater, which he finds, despite his momentary
trepidation, admits him without comment on his race.

Deborah's rape as an adolescent at the hands of a group of white men,
and later a brutal lynching and castration of a black soldier
highlight the violence of racism in the South for both Florence and
Gabriel. It is noteworthy that Florence's prayer features a rape,
reinforcing the status of black women, already highlighted by their
mother's favoritism toward Gabriel as the son.  Gabriel's prayer
features castration, just as he encounters his unacknowledged son and
feels acutely his inability to protect him from danger and his
biological son's estrangement from him. Elizabeth's prayer reinforces
that African Americans have not escaped racism by coming north; the
brutal treatment of Richard at the hands of the police and the justice
system causes his suicide.


Sexuality
===========
Sex and sexuality are important throughout the novel, particularly for
John and Gabriel. The novel engages with traditional religious views
of sexuality as something sinful that is to be avoided. The church's
stigmas surrounding sexuality impressed on him by his father, have
severely impacted John's perspective on sexuality. Several critics
have viewed John's religious rebirth in terms of him coming to terms
with his sexuality, both as a gay man and as a black man.

Critics have noted the "constant repetition of such phrases as 'the
natural man' and 'the old Adam in condemnation of man's sexual desire.
This conflict is central for John, who at the start of the novel is
reflecting on his own "sin" (masturbation) and his burgeoning
sexuality. Many scholars read John's conversion as a rejection of his
father's strict sexual mores. Angelo Robinson argues that because the
novel "alters the traditional Pentecostal conversion experience in
that John is not 'cured,' 'healed,' or 'delivered' from his sexual
desire during his rebirth" but is restored' to confront the reality of
his sexual desires while at the same time claiming the promise of
salvation" and is ultimately "freed from Gabriel's faith with its
severe sexual ethic". Furthermore, Baldwin often used sexual language
and imagery in describing religious zeal. This is particularly
noticeable when Elisha is called before the congregation to be
chastised for his nascent relationship with a girl, Ella Mae, he is
described with his "head thrown back, eyes closed, sweat standing on
his brow", "stiffened and trembles", "cried out Jesus, Jesus, oh Lord
Jesus!", "face congested", and "his body could not contain this
passion".

John's homosexuality is also at issue in the novel, though John
himself spends less time concerned directly with the 'kind' of his
sexual desire than he does with its existence at all. Nevertheless,
given the autobiographical details in the novel, scholars have
interrogated how John's experience reflects Baldwin's search for an
identity as a gay man and perhaps his reflections on his own
homosexuality after many years of being out. Because the issue is not
addressed directly, scholars have evaluated John's homosexuality
through the lens of other themes in the book. "John's struggles with
his homosexuality provide the window through which to understand the
complexity of his struggles with his spirituality." John's
conversation with Elisha and Elisha's kiss led Stanley Macebuh to
argue that John's salvation is through homosexual love though others
have argued that goes too far. Yet Mason Stokes perhaps goes even
further, arguing that both John's struggle against his father and his
religious conversion reflect his struggle against "a heterosexuality
that terrorizes" him, which is reflected in the conflict between
Gabriel's obsession with descendants and his strict religious sexual
code. The novel's depictions of heterosexuality (rape, prostitution,
adultery, loveless marriages) is contrasted with John's love for
Elisha, which "somehow purer, more loving, than the novel's often
perverse heterosexual expressions".

Other critics have examined the ties between race and sexuality in the
novel. Andrew Connolly draws a connection between Gabriel's guilt over
his sexuality and the "persistent racial stereotypes surrounding black
male sexuality and the thread of violence that accompanies those
stereotypes" and argues that John's conversion represents "the
unrealized potential that black men can resist systemic pressures and
embrace their sexuality without confirming racist stereotypes." This
connection is highlighted as Gabriel recalls the body of a black
soldier who has been castrated and lynched.


Family
========
John's religious struggle is also parallel to his struggle with his
father. At the end of the novel, in his moment of "salvation", John is
knocked to the ground by the Holy Ghost. He then hears a voice that
says, "Get up, John, Get up boy. Don't let him keep you there. You got
everything your Daddy got". In this way, his religious revelation,
while representing an acceptance of his father's religion, also
reflects his rejection of his father's authority and the burgeoning of
his own individuality, rather than merely accepting the role his
father has created for him within the family.

Other relationships throughout the novel also cast light on the notion
of family including Gabriel's emotionally and physically sterile
marriage to Deborah, Elizabeth's adoption by her aunt and abandonment
by her father, Florence's resentment toward her mother, Gabriel's lack
of relationship with his biological son Royal, Elizabeth's
relationship with John's biological father Richard, Florence's
marriage to the unreliable Frank, and Florence and Gabriel's mother's
reflections on her lovers and children while still a slave.


Guilt
=======
An early reviewer noted that "Guilt, guilt, guilt chimes through the
book.  Gabriel is guilty. His first wife Deborah is guilty though she
was the victim of rape. His second wife Elizabeth is guilty, though
she loved much. Guilt is visited on his children." The novel opens
with John feeling guilty about his masturbation and sexual desires.
This is mirrored in the young Gabriel's guilt over his own sexual
transgressions which ultimately lead to his conversion.  However,
Gabriel's guilt over his later inability to live up to his own
conversion ideals haunts him and is ultimately the cause of his
conflict with John: "John becomes a focal point for [Gabriel's] sense
of guilt, encapsulating all the other people who make Gabriel feel
guilty" such as Deborah, Esther, Royal, Roy, and Elizabeth; "Gabriel's
hatred of John is rooted in his guilt over and his denial of his
failures as a father." Meanwhile, Elizabeth accepts Gabriel's abuse
and tyranny partly as a form of divine punishment on both her and John
for her guilt, guilt both for not repenting her love for Richard and
for her failure to save him from his suicide.


Women
=======
Though the novel is primarily focused on John and his conflict with
Gabriel, female characters play an important role in the novel and
explore women's role in society. Florence's prayer in particular
articulates a nascent feminism. Although Florence is five years older
than her brother Gabriel, he was given the education and respect that
Florence desired. Although raised by a single mother, the patriarchal
environment meant that Gabriel's future matters more than Florence's.
Mason Stokes notes that Florence rejects "the regulatory regimes of
the heteropatriarchal household"; not only does she reject the men who
lusted after her beauty "not wishing to exchange her mother's cabin
for theirs and to raise their children", her final act is to undermine
Gabriel's authority by promising to reveal his prior infidelity and
abandonment of his son Royal to Elizabeth and the church community.


                            Adaptations
======================================================================
The Public Broadcasting Service produced a made-for-television movie
based on 'Go Tell It on the Mountain' in 1984. Stan Lathan directed
the film, with Paul Winfield starring as Gabriel in his adulthood and
Ving Rhames playing Gabriel in his youth. Baldwin was pleased with the
adaptation, saying in an interview with 'The New York Times', "I am
very, very happy about it ... It did not betray the book."

The novel has been translated into numerous languages, including
Swedish, French, Japanese, Finnish, German, Italian, Polish,
Norwegian, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, Czech, Arabic, and Dutch.


                             Reception
======================================================================
'Go Tell It on the Mountain' was widely praised at its publication and
since. It received favorable reviews in 'The New York Times', 'The
Virginia Quarterly Review', 'The Hudson Review', and 'Phylon', among
others.

Writing a decade later, Wallace Graves noted in a highly critical
essay, that "when the book was reviewed in the summer of 1953, critics
were most generous in praise, and except for Anthony West in 'The New
Yorker' ... Baldwin was welcomed almost carte blanche as a brilliant
young novelist of great promise."

It is generally regarded as Baldwin's best novel and as one of the
great African American novels of the 20th Century. In 1998, the Modern
Library ranked 'Go Tell It on the Mountain' 39th on its list of the
100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. 'Time' included
the novel on its list of the 100 best English-language novels released
from 1923 to 2005.  Publisher Franklin Library included it in its "100
Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature" collection published
from 1976-1984 for the American Bicentennial.

The novel is regularly assigned as part of curricula in high schools
and colleges. However, its assignment has also aroused controversy. In
1988, a teacher in Prince William County, Virginia, offered the book
as a ninth-grade summer reading option. Parents challenged the book
because it is "rife with profanity and explicit sex". In 1994, the
book was challenged in Hudson Falls, New York, after a teacher had
assigned the book as required reading. Parents challenged the book
because of "recurring themes of rape, masturbation, violence, and
degrading treatment of women".


                              See also
======================================================================
* James Baldwin in France


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