Go Tell It on the Mountain: Battle of the Flesh
Angela E. Baier
Nebraska Wesleyan University

Go Tell It on the Mountain: Battle of the Flesh There are numerous themes in the American classic Go Tell It on the Mountain (1952). James Baldwin uses racism and family conflict to weave a tale of one black families struggle in a white world. However, the predominant theme of the novel is the struggle between the Spirit and the flesh when one tries to walk with the Lord. Baldwin uses his characters names and events in their lives to parallel the Bible and help create a sense of the strong desire to be Godly while trying to fight the desire of the flesh. He uses a poetic literary style that shows the importance of the Bible and Christianity in African American life and literature during the early to mid 20th century. The novel is considered semi-autobiographical as the life of his main character, John Grimes, mirrors the author’s childhood life in many ways. James Baldwin, like John, grew up in Harlem with a strict stepfather who was a preacher. In the story, he tries to recreate the black fundamentalist, Pentecostal congregational worship in which he felt his family forced him in to(Olson, 1997). Like John Grimes, James was saved at the age fourteen. Despite the tense relationship with his stepfather, Baldwin became a Pentecostal youth minister for a couple of years. However, later in life he proclaimed himself to be an Atheist. Many critics believe that Baldwin also used this character to introduce the conflict of homosexuality that he later developed in other writings as a testament to struggles in his own life (Powers, 2005). Many of the characters names can be found in the Bible. John (the main character) is one of Jesus’ disciples and is credited for writing the Gospel of John in the New Testament (John, New Living Translation). There is also John the