Go Tell It on the Mountain (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: James Baldwin
- First Published: 1953
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: 1880–1935
- Setting: Harlem, New York City
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Bildungsroman
- Subjects: African Americans, Maturation or coming of age, Family or family life, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Parents and children, Racism, Sex or sexuality, Suicide, New York City, Sin or Original sin, 1930’s, Spiritual life or spirituality, Ministry or ministers, Inner cities or inner-city life, Oppression, Fathers, Adultery, Christianity, Faith
- Locales: Harlem, NY, South (U.S.)
Characters Discussed
John Grimes, a fourteen-year-old boy who, everyone says, is destined to be a preacher and a great leader of his people. He is insecure, intelligent, and ambivalent in the love/hate relationship with the Reverend Grimes, who has taken over as his father, and his church. John is a pubescent artist who finds within himself a terrible conflict over his religious heritage. The novel relates what happens on his fourteenth birthday, a day only his mother remembers. The final chapter finds John writhing on the floor of a sanctuary, his soul the prize in a battle he...
[The entire page is 1103 words long]
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