Racial And Sexual Issues In James Baldwin's Go Tell On The Mountain

Racial and sexual issues have always been a part of our history. The journey through slavery and equality. The acceptance of gays. Everyone has different opinions and views but not only has James Baldwin experienced theses things first hand and explored these issues by expressing them through his pieces of writing, during a time when these things were not as known and accepted as they are now, he also is in favor and supports these issues. In some of his writings these are the main points about him that seem to stand out and show who he really is.(1) A harsh step-father, which created a feeling of loneliness. He grew up in a strict household being lead by his step-father. There wasn’t much room for creativity and experimentation. Even though

when he was older he accepted that he is gay. (2) Due to the color of his skin, he couldn’t express his gift of intelligence. Since he is African- American this challenged his ability to show how smart he is and how he has a bright path ahead of him. This plays along with the segregation and racism of that time period of him growing up. (3) The conflict between his faith and inner-self. Religion can be quite strict and can create a lot of guilt. But it helps people live a good life. He grew up in this kind of a household. While he was a child that felt guilt all the time and found that it was hard to show his true self. Which created a ongoing inner conflict. All of these experiences has created the way he creates his writings and how he became a well known author.
As one reads Baldwin’s writings, it is apparent that the harshness of his step-father created a sense of loneliness, which comes through in some of his characters. Such as in one of his many books Go Tell On The Mountain. A young boy who is growing up in a religious household under his father's strict rule, feels the pressure of being just like his father and always being perfect. Since he is the first born and the most well behaved of his siblings, everyone looks to him as the next preacher, just like his father. This leaves little room for mistakes or being a kid and having fun. It also makes having friends hard. He is never able to tell anyone about his wrong doings or it will shatter his image and bring the wrath of his father. Here is a quote showing how he feels about how he is living. “Opening outward for him on a world where people did not live in the darkness of his father’s house, did not pray to Jesus in the darkness of his father’s church, where he would eat food, and wear fine clothes, and go to the movies as often as he wished.” (Go Tell On The Mountain James Baldwin pg 15). All this young boy wants is to be normal and have a good life, that he can actually enjoy. Instead of being under the constant force of his father. This is a huge tie to how Baldwin grew up. It is almost like this character is a form of himself and he is finally about to let out of his bottled up emotions from this period of time long ago. Not only is this helping Baldwin let go of his past but it is also helping other young children in the same situation feel understood and to help them know they are not alone. This also goes along with another quote from the same piece of writing. “In this world John, who was, his father said, ugly, who was always the smallest boy in his class, and who had no friends” (Go Tell On The Mountain James Baldwin pg 15). Not matter how good he was and how hard he tried, he was never good enough for his father. He didn’t have any of the girls, he wasn’t good at sports and he had no friends. He was the epitome of loneliness. All of this was mostly due to his strict, unforgiving father. Baldwin also had the same situation growing up. He knew he was different and he couldn’t express himself at all, like John (young boy in Go Tell On The Mountain).

Not only was Baldwin lonely, he was also always being abused by words and how his step father thought of him. Baldwin writes about how this character, John, is also physically beat by his father. This creates an even larger barrier between father and son. “Of that wickedness for which his father. His father’s arm, rising and falling, might make him cry, and that voice might cause him to tremble;” (Go Tell On The Mountain James Baldwin pg 17). John is terrified of his father because he punishes him for little things and uses physical force to accomplish this. This use of discipline creates a source of fear in the household. Which distances him for his father even more,creating the sense of loneliness for John. “”Your Daddy beats you,” she said, “because he loves you.”” (Go Tell On The Mountain James Baldwin pg 21). As his mother says, his father beats John and siblings because he loves them. But instead of having that effect on John it creates a hatred for his father, nothing close to being love. As a child Baldwin also was beat by his step-father, which left him with a lot of issues concerning his father and created problems for

himself in the later part of his life. ““We don’t know how lucky we is to have a father that don’t want you to go to the movies, and don’t want you to play in the streets, and don’t want you to have friends, and he don’t want this and he don’t want that, and he don’t want you to do nothing. We so lucky to have a father who just wants us to go to church and read the Bible and beller like a fool in front of the altar and stay home all nice and quiet, like a little mouse.”” (Go Tell On The Mountain James Baldwin pg 22). This is John’s brother arguing with their mother about their father. John is never brave enough to bring up this conversation due to his fear of the consequences it would bring. But this is exactly how John feels too. Their father limits their life so much and almost suppresses their ability to have any sort of fun or a childhood. They are expected to be perfect little angels and be exactly how their father wants them. “"Mountain is the book I had to write if I was ever going to write anything else. I had to deal with what hurt me most. I had to deal, above all, with my father," he later said.” (James Baldwin Biography). As Baldwin once said this book he wrote Go Tell On The Mountain, brought up a lot of hard and traumatic memories from his childhood about his step-father. This book was almost an outlet all his bottled up emotions about his father and childhood. The main character John is a version of himself and his life. He could finally show his true feeling and thoughts he always had to hide away. “Baldwin and his mother, Emma, moved to Harlem, leaving behind his father who struggled with drug abuse. She would marry preacher David Baldwin and the family lived under harsh conditions.Baldwin’s stepfather was said to be abusive to both him and his siblings, and when he died in 1943 while James was a teen, Harlem rioted on the day of his funeral – an event that shaped much of Baldwin’s writing style.”(Happy Birthday, James Baldwin! An Inside Look At The Life Of One Of America’s Greatest Wordsmiths).Baldwins past has heavily influenced his writings and has helped himself mentally let go of the trauma he suffered from his stepfather and to help others that were also in a similar position as a child.
In the time period Baldwin grew up in, people of color didn’t have the rights and freedom they now have. Segregation and racism were a prominent thing. Baldwin being an African American, he experienced these issues first hand. Also him being homosexual played a role the discrimination being intensified. As a child is was soon discovered that Baldwin had the gift of intelligence and if used right he could do big things in life. Not only was it hard to express this gift because of the issues going on but also his strict father and religion. “For John excelled in school” (Go Tell On The Mountain James Baldwin pg 15). John’s teacher realized that he had true potential. “He might become a Great Leader of His People” (Go Tell On The Mountain James Baldwin pg 15). Since he used his mind well he had a bright future and could accomplish big things in life. “It was when John was five years old and in the first grade that he was first noticed” (Go Tell On The Mountain James Baldwin pg 16). It was from an early age John knew and everyone around him knew he was special. ““You’re a very bright boy, James Grimes,” she said. “Keep up the good work.”” (Go Tell On The Mountain pg 16-17). John is a version of Baldwin. They both have this gift of intelligence. “As he recalls, “I knew I was black, of course, but I also knew I was smart. I didn’t know how I would use my mind, or even if I could, but that was the only thing I had to use.” By the time he was fourteen, Baldwin was spending much of his time in libraries and had found his passion for writing.” (James Baldwin About the Author).”Go Tell It on the Mountain, published in 1953, was an autobiographical work about growing up in Harlem. The passion and depth with which he described the struggles of black Americans were unlike anything that had been written.” (James Baldwin About the Author).Since he was colored and he didn’t have many opportunities for being intelligent, Baldwin didn’t know what to do. But he soon realized he had a passion for writing. Little did he know he would become a well established famous author with many books. “An avid reader, Baldwin worked as an editor for his high school’s magazine, continuing his studies at the New School University. Forever intellectually curious, Baldwin would challenge societal norms and even his own involvement in the Christian church”. (Happy Birthday, James Baldwin! An Inside Look At The Life Of One Of America’s Greatest Wordsmiths). Not only did his mind and ideas change himself but they also changed others views and helped others in many different ways. Him being smart was a gift and he used it wisely.
Most people in the world practice some type of religion.

It can help people live a good, simple life or help get through tough times. Religion can also be a source of discipline for yourself and or children. Continuing on in Baldwin's book Go Tell On The Mountain, the main character John is a version of himself. They both grew up in a strict highly religious household, where it was expected of them to lead a religious lifestyle as they were raised in. Also both of their fathers were preacher and they are the eldest of their siblings. This put a great deal of pressure on them to become a preacher themselves. “Everyone had always said that John would be a preacher when he grew up, just like his father” (Go Tell On The Mountain James Baldwin pg 3). This was Johns set fate. Even though he despised the thought of it. “He would not be like his father, or his father’s fathers. He would have another life” (Go Tell On The Mountain James Baldwin pg 15). John didn’t want to become a preacher like his father. He wanted his own life. His hatred of his father had spread to him hating God too. “Though he had been born in the faith and had been surrounded all his life by the saints and by their prayers and their rejoicing, and though the tabernacle in which they worshipped was more completely real to him than the several precarious homes in which he and his family had lived, John’s heart was hardened against the Lord.” (Go Tell On The Mountain James Baldwin pg 17). John had always known

faith. He used to believe and loyal worshiper. But as the years went on he began a hatred for his father, which then transferred to faith since his father was a symbol of the church. “His father was God’s minister, the ambassador of the King of Heaven, and John could not bow before the throne of grace without first kneeling to his father.” (Go Tell On The Mountain James Baldwin pg 17). He couldn’t obey the ways of the faith because he couldn’t obey his father. Every Sunday he would listen to his father preach and tell other how to do the lord's work and how to live their lives by the way of faith. To John this meant doing what his father said which i did not want to do, so he could be spiteful to his father and secretly disobey him. “Despite their strained relationship, Baldwin followed in his stepfather's footsteps—who he always referred to as his father—during his early teen years. He served as a youth minister in a Harlem Pentecostal church from the ages of 14 to 16”. (James Baldwin Biography). Even though Baldwin had severe issues with his stepfather, he still decided to follow him in his way of faith. Maybe it was due to the pressure by his family or he truly believed in the word of the church. “Baldwin had his first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, published in 1953. The loosely autobiographical tale focused on the life of a young man growing up in Harlem grappling with father issues and his religion.” (James Baldwin Biography). For Baldwin these issues go hand in hand. His abusive stepfather and his faith in God. His stepfather was a literal symbol of faith, since he was a preacher. Therefore when he had problems with his father it was transferred over into his faith. These were his two main challenges growing up. Father and Faith. “The oldest of nine children, he grew up in poverty, developing a troubled relationship with his strict, religious stepfather.” (James Baldwin About the Author). His stepfather was a recurring issue. “During this early part of his life, he followed in his stepfather’s footsteps and became a preacher. Of those teen years, Baldwin recalled, “Those three years in the pulpit – I didn’t realize it then – that is what turned me into a writer, really, dealing with all that anguish and that despair and that beauty.” Many have noted the strong influence of the language of the church, the language of the Bible, on Baldwin’s style: its cadences and tone. Eager to move on, Baldwin knew that if he left the pulpit he must also leave home, so at eighteen he took a job working for the New Jersey railroad.” (James Baldwin About the Author). The church, faith, God. All these things helped to create the author James Baldwin. That time a pulpit made him closer with God, helped him become completely familiar with the Bible. But it also was a time of despair, hurt, and abuse. He was under his stepfather's guidance due to his role with the church. This meant the constant abuse and tension between them was intensified and prolonged. The more time he spent with this monster, the closer he became with God, and the more troubled he became with faith. Not only did this time accomplish that but it shaped Baldwin as a writer. It can be seen in various ways in his books and excerpts. Everything that had happened, all those emotions built up from them was all transferred to his writing, which made him an amazing and famous author. “Baldwin would denounce much of what he learned during his time viewing his stepfather in the pulpit, although he never declared himself an atheist. Much of Baldwin’s criticism of the church stemmed from its use by slave owners to oppress Blacks.” (Happy Birthday, James Baldwin! An Inside Look At The Life Of One Of America’s Greatest Wordsmiths). Baldwin soon realized that he didn’t fully agree with the ways of the church. This created a rift between him and faith, creating an inner conflict between the two. He started to believe that the church supported slave owners, which greatly oppressed African Americans. James Baldwin is widely known from his dedication to equal rights and was close friends with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.. He was torn between his human rights beliefs and faith. Once again creating another inner conflict involving his faith. “Baldwin’s most-celebrated novel was his 1953 debut, “Go Tell It On the Mountain” (pictured right), a semi-autobiographical novel set in 1930s Harlem. The book takes a close look at the role of the church in the lives of Black Americans, once again examining the duality of the lens that Baldwin viewed Christianity.” (Happy Birthday, James Baldwin! An Inside Look At The Life Of One Of America’s Greatest Wordsmiths). Baldwins novel Go Tell On The Mountain is an inside look into a similar life of his own, and the religious lives of African Americans of that time period. It almost describes all of the issues Baldwin himself has with faith but puts it into a more easily understood way that reaches readers in a more understandable way. James Baldwin soon discovered he wasn’t a believer in faith anymore. The ways of Christianity didn’t nurture his new lifestyle and his conflicts with faith never completely resolved themselves. Leaving Baldwin a happy faithless man.
James Baldwin was a great author and a great man. He accomplished many things in life and helped lots of people.”Novelist, essayist, and playwright James Baldwin (pictured) stands out as one of America’s most-treasured wordsmiths, notable for his bold ruminations on race, sexuality, and other subjects considered too controversial for the time of his creative peak.” (Happy Birthday, James Baldwin! An Inside Look At The Life Of One Of America’s Greatest Wordsmiths). Due to his past and life, the most prominent points that come through in his writings are; (1) A harsh step-father, which created a feeling of loneliness. (2) Due to the color of his skin, he couldn’t express his gift of intelligence. (3) The conflict between his faith and inner-self. These were the main things he struggled with throughout his life but he got to express them though his many writings. Sadly he met death sooner than later in life. But he was still a world-renowned author and activist. “By 1987, when he died of stomach cancer at age 63, James Baldwin had become one of the most important and vocal advocates for equality. From Go Tell It on the Mountain to The Evidence of Things Not Seen (1985), James Baldwin created works of literary beauty and depth that will remain essential parts of the American canon.”. (James Baldwin About the Author). James Baldwin always be a known name in the world of writing.

Works Cited-
A&E Television Networks- James Baldwin Biography- Original Published Date N/A- Website
American Masters pbs- James Baldwin About the Author- Premiere Date August 22, 2013- Website
D.L. Chandler-Newzone- Happy Birthday, James Baldwin! An Inside Look At The Life Of One Of America’s Greatest Wordsmiths- Posted August 2, 2015- Website
James Baldwin- Go Tell On The Mountain- Novel