Go Tell It on the Mountain

The final chapter of Go Tell it on the Mountain reverts to John’s perspective. The relationship between Gabriel and John becomes the chapter’s focus as John is overwhelmed with religion. The novel uses a biblical analogy to convey the relationship, alluding to the story of Noah and Ham. John remembers seeing Gabriel naked, just like Ham once saw his father Noah’s naked body. In the Bible, this led to Ham being cursed. The curse of Ham was historically used as the justification for slavery in the Western world, as African Americans and Black people were considered to be the descendants of Ham. Thus, they inherited his curse and slavery was—to white slaveowners—justified. During his religious revelation, John thinks about this curse and speculates as to whether it can be handed down from one generation to the next. John is suffering from the consequences of his parents’ past and dealing with generations of trauma and abuse. In a real sense, he has inherited the curse of Ham, but it is a curse which is unjustifiably inflicted on African Americans in the United States. Amid John’s vision, however, he decides that the curse is suffered by all humanity. At the point of his revelation, John finds a common humanity with the world, showing an empathy that Gabriel could never possess. Seeing his father naked suggests that John will see his father laid bare for the sinner he truly is, a reading that’s supported by Florence’s threats in this last portion of the novel.

The conversation between Gabriel and Florence hints at a change in their dynamic. Gabriel stared at Florence in the church, and she recognized that he was delighted at her presence. She believed that her visit to the church meant that she was suffering, and he took joy in her suffering. Florence reveals the existence of a letter which describes Gabriel’s hypocrisy. By telling Gabriel about this letter, she can enjoy her brother’s suffering just as he enjoyed hers. Florence has changed her relationship to her brother and—even though she is dying --she now believes that she holds power over him. However, Gabriel shows that his sister’s revelation has not changed him. He still blames everyone else for his mistakes and his coldness toward John suggests that his bitter attitude toward his adopted son remains. Instead, he insists that he continues to have faith. Once again, Gabriel hides his hypocrisy behind his religion because this is the only way he knows to preserve his self-identity.

The novel ends on an ambiguous note. Florence threatens to reveal Gabriel’s hypocrisy, but she is yet to show anyone her letter. Likewise, John still feels love for Elisha, but he has not yet acted on these yearnings. John may seem transformed by religion but most of his family are in the same position and dealing with the same problems as they were before. For John, however, there is a renewed hope. His religious experience fills him with an optimism rather than a sense of dread. The church is his father’s realm, and John feels satisfied that he has entered his father’s world and he has held his own. John may not have won his father’s approval, but he has won the approval of those around him. As the novel shows, John will never win Gabriel’s approval because Gabriel is mired in bitterness and hypocrisy. As such, John’s victory in the eyes of his peers is the best he can hope to achieve. His problems still exist but his religion and the support of his friends gives him an optimism for the future which he did not previously possess. The novel’s ending is ambiguous but hopeful.