How Does Baldwin Use Dust As A Symbol Of Sanctification

Throughout the book, Baldwin uses this motif of dust as a symbol to show how John’s attempts at sanctification are futile. Several times throughout the book, John makes an effort to sanctify himself. But no matter how hard he tries, John simply cannot escape the depravity of his inescapable sin, similar to how he cannot ever seem to clean the parlor rug. From the minute John enters the church to find healing, he encounters the same dust he found in the parlor: “In the air of the church hung, perpetually, the odor of dust and sweat; for, like the carpet in his mother’s living room, the dust of this church was invincible” (49). This dust causes John to suffer further instead of leading to a resolution: “His heart told him that he had no right

The phenomenon of suffering during the act of sanctification that John experienced is a common effect of the church’s tactics of guilting children into loyalty. Prominent Christian theologian Donald Sloat comments, “The use of fear to motivate sensitive, vulnerable children toward the gospel is one of the most damaging methods used in the church … [causing] untold suffering among Christians, even causing many to flee the Church and turn away from God” (Johnson 70). John is clearly experiencing these effects. Earlier in the narrative, the reader learns that John has been taught from a very young age that “the darkness of [his] sin was like the darkness of the church on Saturday evenings; like the silence of the church while he was there alone, sweeping, and running water into the great bucket” (Baldwin 12). The way John describes this sin with words like “darkness” and “alone” have connotations that suggest real fear and guilt. At the same time, the word “sweeping” is an allusion to the dusty rug, symbolizing the inescapability of his sin. Later, John imagines “his sinful body… bound in Hell a thousand years” giving the reader a deeper sense of the fearful guilt motivating John (15). By showing an example of how the church’s tactics harm vulnerable people, Baldwin effectively critiques church establishment, making a profound statement against this kind of guilt-motivated