John’s mother, Elizabeth, is another one whose soul Baldwin explores during this night of prayer. Elizabeth’s memories are different than Gabriel’s; Gabriel was focused more on lust and sexual sin while Elizabeth wrestled with anger and hatred towards the ones who attempted to take care of her. She had lost her mother when she was only eight years old, which shows she had an uneasy childhood. She thinks of a time when she was not fully pleased with having to stay with her aunt instead of her father, as evident by the fact that she “did not, for as long as she lived with her, fail to despise her aunt” (182) and her statement to her aunt, “‘I sure don’t care what God don’t like, or you, either’” and threatened to “‘go away from here’” (183). She was a strong, brave, independent young girl who wanted to do what she wanted. She seemingly did not care about her aunt’s feelings simply because she did not want to …show more content…
John’s hatred for his father is so monumental that it made him unable to be exposed to the Word of God, which was one of the reasons his family worried about his possibly sinful future. Baldwin also describes John’s predicament as being dark and lonely, saying “the darkness of John’s 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, and overturning chairs, long before the saints arrived” (13). When John is alone at the church on Saturday nights, it is very dark and lonely, such as is his sinful life. Everyone in the church that night has, over the past few months, been praying for John to forget his life of sin and give it to Jesus. These thoughts are shown by Elisha’s statement, “Brother Johnny here ain’t even saved yet’” (61). There were plenty of people worried about John and the brokenness that would soon ensue him as he grew