Go Tell It on the Mountain

Part 1

Reading Check

1. The “Power” and the “Shout” (Part 1)

2. Because “they were young, they did not know the pitfalls Satan laid for the unwary.” (Part 1)

3. Because he had sinned (Part 1)

4. “[B]ecause he loves [them]” (Part 1)

5. To see a film at a movie theater (Part 1)

6. Wrestling (Part 1)

Short Answer 

1. Elisha is the pastor’s nephew of John’s church. John notices his physical characteristics, as well as his voice. Before the service in Part 1, the two men exchange banter and wrestle. (Part 1)

2. John realizes that “he had in himself a power that other people lacked; that he could use this to save himself, to raise himself; and that, perhaps, with this power, he might one day win that love which he so longed for.” This realization comes to him after his school principal compliments him on his writing as a small child in school. (Part 1)

3. On the morning of his 14th birthday, John surveys the dirt of his house, noticing the “filth” he sees on the walls, windows, and crevices. He links this observation of his house to both himself and his family with a reference to the Bible passage from Revelations 22:11: “He who is filthy, let him be filthy still.” (Part 1)

4. With his birthday money in hand, John walks through the city and reflects on the dichotomous relationships between what he learned through his childrearing and the realities he sees daily. In particular, he reflects on the church’s poverty and wealth of secular life, the niceties of non-Christians and the cruelty of religious people, and the treatment of white people and people of color. (Part 1)

5. John comes home to learn that his brother Roy has been stabbed by “white folks.” As his family tends to Roy, they scold him for his absence while speaking gently to his brother. (Part 1)

6. John believes his father prefers Roy to him. He recognizes this when Roy verbally defends his mother after Gabriel slaps her; at this moment, John believes that Gabriel wishes it were John that said those words, as opposed to Roy. (Part 1)

Part 2, Chapter 1

Reading Check

1. Because “some private anguish had brought her low: her song revealed that she was suffering” (Part 2, Chapter 1)

2. Fear (Part 2, Chapter 1)

3. Deborah was raped by a group of “white men.” (Part 2, Chapter 1)

4. “[B]orn to suffer the weight of men” (Part 2, Chapter 1)

5. That Gabriel has a child born outside of marriage (Part 2, Chapter 1)

Short Answer

1. Florence reflects on her life living on a plantation in the South before the Emancipation Proclamation. She spends most of her time caring for her mother and sacrificing for her younger brother Gabriel, which her mother believes is Florence’s duty as a woman. As a result, she hates her brother. (Part 2, Chapter 1)

2. After her employer makes sexual advances toward her, Florence decides to go north. Her mother, who is on her deathbed, does not seem surprised, although she disapproves. Gabriel also disapproves, particularly since without his sister, there is no one to “put between himself and his guilty love” for his mother. (Part 2, Chapter 1)

3. Frank was Florence’s husband. Her marriage was difficult, and after one fight, she wished he would never return. Her wish came true as he went to live with another woman and died during World War I. (Part 2, Chapter 1)

Part 2, Chapter 2

Reading Check

1. “[H]is surrender to the Lord” (Part 2, Chapter 2)

2. He is asked to be a part of the Twenty-Four Elders Revival Meeting. (Part 2, Chapter 2)

3. Sin (Part 2, Chapter 2)

4. “[F]lame” (Part 2, Chapter 22)

5. Money (Part 2, Chapter 2)

6. Because Gabriel wants to signify that his bloodline will be royal (Part 2, Chapter 2)

Short Answer

1. After engaging in sexual intercourse with a “harlot,” Gabriel has an epiphany that he must renounce his sins and come to the Lord. He marries Deborah as proof of his new piety since “she sustained him most beautifully in his new condition.” (Part 2, Chapter 2)

2. Gabriel’s inner monologue during the church service reveals that John is not his biological son. He reflects that of his two biological sons, one was killed in Chicago, and the other (Roy) “despises” him. (Part 2, Chapter 2)

3. After a local girl named Esther accepts Gabriel’s invitation to hear him preach, he realizes that he desires Esther and that his wife, Deborah, is undesirable. This moment leads to a nine-night affair with Esther, where his son Royal is conceived. (Part 2, Chapter 2)

4. Deborah shares the news that Royal was stabbed and killed in Chicago. Gabriel begins to cry, and Deborah takes the moment to ask him if Royal is his son. He admits that he fathered Royal and to his affair with Esther. (Part 2, Chapter 2)

Part 2, Chapter 3-Part 3

Reading Check

1. That “she would come to no good end, proud and vain and foolish as she was” (Part 2, Chapter 3)

2. “[T]he North promised more.” (Part 2, Chapter 3)

3. Florence (Part 2, Chapter 3)

4. That it is “renewed from moment to moment, from father to son” (Part 3)

Short Answer

1. Her aunt believed her father was unfit to care for Elizabeth after her mother’s death since he ran a “house.” As a result, her aunt brought her up; however, she preferred her father because of his gentle nature and how kind he was to her. (Part 2, Chapter 3)

2. Elizabeth falls madly in love with Richard, an older boy who works at a shop in her town. After courting in Maryland, the two move to New York City. Elizabeth believes they will be married as quickly as possible; however, she realizes that the reality is different, as they don’t make enough money to marry. (Part 2, Chapter 3)

3. Richard is falsely accused of robbing a store. After being beaten and eventually released, he dies by suicide. (Part 2, Chapter 3

4. His mother says she is proud, although he cannot read her face completely. His father does not show any emotion and urges him to live his salvation instead of just speaking it. Florence hugs him and speaks to him gently. (Part 3)

5. Florence reveals that she knows that Gabriel fathered a with Esther. She vows to tell Elizabeth before she dies. Gabriel says this was in the past, and as the “Lord’s anointed,” God will not let her do such an act to him. (Part 3)