What John has been raised to value is not the same things he believes the people trudging down Fifth Avenue value. His father says, “that all white people were wicked, and that God was going to bring them low. He said that white people were never to be trusted, and that they told nothing but lies, and that not one of them had ever loved a nigger” (Baldwin. Pg 38. Go Tell It On The Mountain). In this instance, he subconsciously acknowledges how important faith is to him and how cynical he his towards White people. John overshadows his own thoughts with that of his fathers. This is parallel to the relationship Baldwin had with his step-father. Both men, Gabriel and David, serve as an entity that both John and James value for approval but also
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With most of his childhood spent in the Pentecostal church, he is left with more questions than he had when he was a returning member. At the very least Baldwin sees the faith as both an obstacle and a support system. This specifically is portrayed in Go Tell It On The Mountain, when Elisha tries to persuade John to pursue a sin-free life: “People say it’s hard, said Elisha, bending again to his mop, “but, let me tell you, it ain't as hard as living in this wicked world and all the sadness of the world where there ain't no pleasure nohow, and then dying and going to hell” (Baldwin. 240. Go Tell It On The Mountain). Elisha is a Sunday school teacher at the Temple of the Fire Baptized, and someone John deeply admires. He admits while the Sin may provide temporary happiness, its consequences are not worth the risk. The characters continuously use their relationship with the church as an outlet, an escape, from their past life and/or sins. However, this handicaps their view of reality, digging them deeper into a hole of self-loathe and destruction. (The Internal Odyssey of Identity: James Baldwin, Go Tell It On The Mountain, and History). With that said, it’s believed that James found it hard to assimilate his desire to be himself and coexist with the values of the church because his sexuality would be considered a sin. However, he does not neglect the fact that the church has had a positive effect on his life …show more content…
For he had made his decisions. He would not be like his father or his father’s fathers. He would have another life” (Baldwin.19. Go Tell It On The
With most of his childhood spent in the Pentecostal church, he is left with more questions than he had when he was a returning member. At the very least Baldwin sees the faith as both an obstacle and a support system. This specifically is portrayed in Go Tell It On The Mountain, when Elisha tries to persuade John to pursue a sin-free life: “People say it’s hard, said Elisha, bending again to his mop, “but, let me tell you, it ain't as hard as living in this wicked world and all the sadness of the world where there ain't no pleasure nohow, and then dying and going to hell” (Baldwin. 240. Go Tell It On The Mountain). Elisha is a Sunday school teacher at the Temple of the Fire Baptized, and someone John deeply admires. He admits while the Sin may provide temporary happiness, its consequences are not worth the risk. The characters continuously use their relationship with the church as an outlet, an escape, from their past life and/or sins. However, this handicaps their view of reality, digging them deeper into a hole of self-loathe and destruction. (The Internal Odyssey of Identity: James Baldwin, Go Tell It On The Mountain, and History). With that said, it’s believed that James found it hard to assimilate his desire to be himself and coexist with the values of the church because his sexuality would be considered a sin. However, he does not neglect the fact that the church has had a positive effect on his life …show more content…
For he had made his decisions. He would not be like his father or his father’s fathers. He would have another life” (Baldwin.19. Go Tell It On The