Go Tell It On The Mountain

"Go Tell It On The Mountain"� By James Baldwin The nature of sin is within the human beholder and the battles that lie between "good and evil"�. Pressure from the community or environment that surrounds us will also have a direct effect on the choices we make. The choices and consequences each character faces in "Go Tell It On The Mountain"� shaped who they were.

"But Gabriel was a man; he would go out one day into the world to do a man's work, and he needed, therefore meat, when there was any in the house, and clothes, whenever clothes could be bought, and the strong indulgence of his womenfolk, so that he would know how to be with women when he had a wife"� (pages 76-77). Contrasting a young Gabriel to an older Gabriel it is imperative to know his background. The quote from Florence, Gabriel's sister, clearly illustrates the spoiled nature of his upbringing.

[The Voisin brothers, French aviation pioneers. Ga...

English: Stoke Gabriel.

English: St Mary & St Gabriel, Stoke Gabriel, Devo...

Gabriel was a drunk, womanizer, and held no responsibility as a young man. The sin of his youth would drastically shape the strict disciplinarian he would become as a man. There would be three enlightenment's in Gabriel young life that would shape him as a man. The rape of Deborah by the white men, Florence leaving the family, and Gabriel finally being converted.

The rape of Deborah would signify a hatred and distrust for white people that would last the rest of Gabriel's life. This would also be the second glimpse as Gabriel the redeemer. He would later marry Deborah because no other man wanted her and Gabriel felt it was his duty to save this woman. This would be a theme used again when he married his second wife Elizabeth. The first glimpse of Gabriel the redeemer came from...