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Go Tell It on the Mountain

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­ 6977 ENG 201 ­ SECTION 9M2
“Go Tell It on the Mountain” by James Baldwin
In “Go Tell It on the Mountain” James Baldwin introduces themes of expectation, futility and pain. He does this through Florence, John and the symbol of tears.
Baldwin is saying that anticipation often brings about disappointment and suffering.
Florence hopes to have a better status and economic situation than her brother and the rest of the people from the South. She assumes her quality of life will improve when she moves up North and she tells Gabriel how next time they meet she will be wearing nicer clothes. “If you ever see me again, I won’t be wearing rags like yours.” While she is with her husband she had faith that he will change and be a better man. “But there’s lots of good in Frank. I just got to be patient and he will come along right.” Even when she married him she believed that Frank had ambitions and was a hard worker. “I thought I married a man with some get up and go to him...” Florence spends all of her time looking forward to years of good things happening to her.
John feels let down by his father and every small obstacle to him seems like having to climb a never ending high mountain. While cleaning the rug in his house, he feels ineffectual when failing to get rid of the dust. “...he felt that should he sweep it forever, the clouds of dust would not diminish...” As much as he tried, John was unsuccessful to understand God and the bible. “...which he read in the bible and found so hard to imagine.” John feels that, undependably of how big his efforts were he would never be able to be socially an equal with white people. “This world was not for him. If he refused to believe,...then he could try until the sun refused to shine...” John’s hopelessness on his achievements makes it hard for him to have faith in God and in his family.
Through the story tears are used to

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