Go tell it on the mountain by James Baldwin - Essay Example

Go tell it on the Mountains: In “Go tell it to the Mountains’’, Baldwin works with themes such as social norms, religious beliefs and hatred. He does this through John, Gabriel, Elizabeth, Roy, Sarah, Florence and Ruth. Baldwin state that societal and religious norms can be hypocritical and may lead to depression of some of the community members. The community’s Christian norms are strict in such a way that thy lead to depression rather than happiness. John admires his saved elder brother Elisha and gives a negative description of sinners.

However, he remembers that he sinned by masturbating while in school. “He awoke on this birthday morning with the feeling that there was a menace in the air around him’’ (Baldwin 1985, 19). The thought of sinning makes John depressed. John’s relationship with the father deteriorates because of his sin. He feels that obeying God requires submitting to his father. John tells Elisha that: “Elisha… no matter what anybody says, you remember –please remember-I was saved. I was there.’’ This shows John depressed because of masturbating.

“Then John knew that a curse was renewed from moment to moment, from father to son.”(Baldwin 1985, 288). This highlights John’s depressed state. Sinning is an innate behavior therefore should not cause depression. Instead, one should ask for forgiveness. The bitter relationship between John and Gabriel shows the theme of hatred. There is conflict between Gabriel and his son John. John did not understand the reason of Gabriel’s hate towards him. He tries all he could to appease Gabriel in vain.

However, towards the end of the novel, John realizes that Gabriel hate could be because he was not his biological father but his stepfather. “He lived for the day when his father would be dying and he, John, would curse him on his death-bed.”(Baldwin 1985, 23) .This shows John’s hate for his father. “Satan, at the moment, stared out of John’s eyes while the spirit spoke.” This quote highlights Gabriel regarding John as a Satan. “And John did…to stare forever into the bottom of Gabriel’s soul.

” This shows John disturbed looking for possible reason for Gabriel’s hate. The religious norms practiced by the community are hypocritical. Most of the church leaders and the congregation did not practice the Christian ideals they preached. The fact that Gabriel hated John despite the fact that he was a deacon shows religious hypocrisy. Gabriel does not seem pleased with John even after he became a saint. “They stood before each other in silence, while saints rejoiced; and John struggled to speak…” (Baldwin 1985, 174) This shows the bad relationship between Gabriel and John.

“But it did not come, the living word; in the silence something died in John, and something came alive.” This shows the rough relationship between Gabriel and John. Florence seems disgusted by the fact that Gabriel became a deacon despite his sinful nature during his youthful days. Florence’s mother prayed vehemently in order to remove Gabriel’s wicked ways. “And her smile remained unreadable; he could not tell what it hid.” This quote shows Elizabeth’s vague reaction to the news of John becoming a saint.

The fact that Gabriel could not forgive John coupled with his sinful youth past show hypocrisy since Gabriel cannot practice a common Christian ideal of forgiveness.In the novel, Baldwin shows how hypocrisy among Christians leads to conflict and unhappiness among some of the community members. Stringent religious practices may make life unbearable and melancholic. Hatred among Christian families as well as hypocritical religious leaders are common as highlighted above. The author therefore perceives religion as hypocritical and a source of depression.

ReferencesBaldwin .J (1985). Go tell it on the Mountains. New York, NY: Dell