Identity In James Baldwin's Go Tell It On The Mountain

Identity and spirituality are issues every teenager struggles with. A crucial step in an adolescent 's life is their first step toward identifying their own beliefs and determining their own identity. John Grimes, the fourteen-year-old main character in Go Tell It On the Mountain, is no exception. In the novel he struggles with separating his own identity from his family and his own beliefs from the ones he had been taught his entire life. In James Baldwin 's novel, Go Tell It On the Mountain, the theme of John’s search for his own spirituality and identity influences his relationships with himself, his family, and God, and although he reaches enlightenment, he still has not found his true self.
Throughout the novel, John struggles with

He has been taught that God is the only way and He will lead John on the right path, but John doubts this. His step-father, Gabriel, is an abusive authoritarian minister. The people in his church believe God speaks through him, which gives John a negative view of God. He sees God as he sees Gabriel. In the following quotation, John responds to his mother, Elizabeth, after she tells John that all of his problems will be solved if he accepts and loves God unconditionally. ¨ 'Yes, Mama. I’m going to try to love the Lord '¨ (Baldwin 26). John is surprised that he sounded so doubtful of the God he has been taught to worship his entire life. He doubts that God is truly the answer to all of his problems. Although he doubts God in the beginning, he begins to question his doubt. In the following quotation, John is worrying about his future if he does not accept God. He begins to believe that God truly is the only way to escape the evil he was born in. ¨Only the hand of God could deliver him. Yet, in a moment, he somehow knew from the sound of that storm which rose so painfully in him now, which laid waste -forever?- the strange, yet comforting landscape of his mind, that the hand of God would surely lead him into this staring, waiting mouth, these distended jaws, this hot breath as of fire. He would be led into darkness, and in darkness would remain; until in some incalculable time to come the

His relationship with his mother is much different than his relationship with his father. He loves his mother, as noted in the following quotation. ¨He watched her face, his heart swollen with love for her and with an anguish, not yet his own, that he did not understand and that frightened him¨ (Baldwin 26). His mother treats him with kindness and love, as opposed to his step-father, who abuses his children. John’s love for his mother is also expressed when his step-father slaps her and John fills with hatred directed toward him. John’s relationship with his friend, Elisha, is quite different from his relationships with any other members of his church. In the following quotation, John expresses his love for his friend, Elisha, as he expresses his love for God. ¨In his heart there was a sudden yearning tenderness for holy Elisha; desire, sharp and awful as a reflecting knife, to usurp the body of Elisha, and lie where Elisha lay; to speak in tongues, as Elisha spoke, and, with that authority, to confound his father. Yet this had not been the moment; it was as far back as he could go, but the secret, the turning, the abysmal drop was farther back, in darkness. As he cursed his father, as he loved Elisha, he had, even then, been weeping; he had already passed his moment, was already under the power, had been struck, and was going down¨ (Baldwin 197). John’s relationship with Elisha,