Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin

Published 1953 · 229 pages · 80,257 words · about 10 hours at an average pace · Literary Fiction

How hard is Go Tell It on the Mountain to read?

Go Tell It on the Mountain scores 76 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it very challenging. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.

Vocabulary: 68 out of 100
Baldwin employs a sophisticated lexicon, frequently integrating rich Biblical terminology ("tabernacle," "perdition," "anointed") and the authentic vernacular of Harlem's Black church community ("ain't," "how come," "done gone"). While not relying on invented words or extensive archaic terms like 'Ulysses,' the blend of elevated religious language and specific dialect requires focused engagement from the reader.
Sentence structure: 78 out of 100
The prose features long, intricate sentences, often employing extensive subordination and nested clauses to convey complex psychological states and internal monologues. Baldwin's rhythmic, almost oratorical style, particularly in the 'prayer' sections, creates a demanding but immersive reading experience, placing it closer to the hypotaxis of James or Faulkner than simpler narratives.
Abstraction: 72 out of 100
The novel transcends its concrete narrative of the Grimes family by constantly delving into profound philosophical and theological questions of sin, redemption, identity, and the nature of God. Characters' internal struggles and the symbolic weight of their actions elevate the text beyond mere social observation, requiring readers to grapple with abstract spiritual and existential themes.
Information density: 70 out of 100
Baldwin packs each chapter, especially the extended 'prayers,' with compressed life stories, intricate family dynamics, and deep spiritual reflections. The narrative demands sustained attention to its multiple layers of personal history, racial experience, and religious doctrine, with much meaning conveyed implicitly rather than explicitly.
Narrative indirection: 72 out of 100
The narrative frequently delves into the characters' unspoken thoughts and feelings, requiring readers to infer motivations and the true nature of relationships. John's internal battle with his father, his mother's 'secret language,' and Florence's bitter reflections are all conveyed through implication rather than direct statement, demanding active interpretation. This is significantly more inferential than '1984' (35) but less disorienting than 'The Unnamable' (90).
Symbolic density: 85 out of 100
Baldwin imbues nearly every element with profound symbolic weight, from the pervasive biblical imagery ('the narrow way,' 'the pit,' 'Egypt land') to the physical settings like the church, the mountain, and the city. Characters and their struggles often function as allegories for broader spiritual and social conflicts, making meaning deeply layered beyond literal events. This is comparable to 'Moby-Dick' (90) in its extensive use of symbolism, where objects and concepts are constantly re-interpreted.
Ironic distance: 78 out of 100
A significant ironic distance exists between the characters' outward religious piety and their internal hypocrisy, lust, and hatred. Gabriel's sermons are often undercut by his own actions and thoughts, while Florence's 'prayer' is filled with malice. This gap between professed belief and lived reality, often subtly highlighted by the omniscient narrator, requires the reader to constantly question and re-evaluate the characters' sincerity. This is higher than 'The Great Gatsby' (70) due to the deeper moral contradictions explored.
Resolution withholding: 75 out of 100
The excerpt concludes with John's central conflict—his spiritual awakening versus his hatred for his father and desire for a worldly life—left entirely unresolved. The 'prayers' of Florence, Gabriel, and Elizabeth similarly delve into past traumas and moral ambiguities that continue to haunt them, offering revelation but no definitive closure to their personal struggles. This is more pronounced than 'The Great Gatsby' (60) where the plot is resolved, as the core emotional and spiritual dilemmas remain open.
Structural complexity: 78 out of 100
The novel employs a complex, non-linear structure, shifting from John's present-day narrative to extended, deeply psychological 'prayers' that function as flashbacks from the perspectives of Florence, Gabriel, and Elizabeth. These interwoven narratives, with their jumps in time and focalization, require the reader to actively reconstruct the family's history and understand the profound impact of the past on the present. This is more intricate than 'Midnight's Children' (68) and approaches the multi-layered memory and perspective shifts of 'Pedro Paramo' (80).

How Go Tell It on the Mountain is regarded

Go Tell It on the Mountain holds a literary regard score of 84 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.

Where Go Tell It on the Mountain sits in Northrop Frye's Anatomy of Criticism

Placed by a full reading of the text (149 passages), not from reputation. Each verdict quotes the passage that earned it. On the axis from myth to irony, Go Tell It on the Mountain scores 68 out of 100. A second mythos, romance, pulls at it with a weight of 0.25. About the map of stories.

Mode: Low Mimetic
Symbol: Mythical (archetypal)
They wandered in the valley for ever; and they smote the rock, for ever; and the waters sprang, perpetually, in the perpetual desert.
Mythos: Tragic Pathos / Ironic Tragedy iv (irony iv)
Out of joy strength came, strength that was fashioned to bear sorrow: sorrow brought forth joy. For ever? This was Ezekiel's wheel
Genre: Novel + Confession
Florence raised her voice in the only song she could remember that her mother used to sing:

Where the story of Go Tell It on the Mountain takes place

  • Harlem, a single day in 1935, the main setting
  • Southern plantation and Reconstruction cabin (Rachel's life) (1865 to 1900)
  • Rural South: Gabriel, Deborah, Esther, Florence's departure, 1900-1919 (1900 to 1919)
  • Maryland and Harlem: Elizabeth and Richard, 1919-1921 (1919 to 1921)
  • Harlem, Saturday 15 March 1935 and Sunday dawn

7 things that are true of Go Tell It on the Mountain, with the passage for each

  1. John's birthday falls on a Saturday in March 1935 and he turns fourteen.

    John’s birthday fell on a Saturday in March, in 1935.

  2. The first thing John does with his birthday money is go to a movie about a cruel woman and a cripple student.

    He stared at the price above the ticket-seller’s window and, showing her his coins, received the piece of paper that was charged with the power to open doors.

  3. Roy is stabbed with a knife on the west side and comes home with a gash from his forehead to above his left eye.

    Roy had been gashed by a knife, luckily not very sharp, from the centre of his forehead where his hair began, downward to the bone just above his left eye

  4. Gabriel is baptized at twelve and kicks and sputters in the water.

    Gabriel began to kick and sputter, nearly throwing the preacher off balance

  5. Gabriel steals money from Deborah's tin box to send the pregnant Esther away.

    He stole the money while Deborah slept. And he gave it to Esther in the morning.

  6. Richard is jailed for a robbery he did not commit and kills himself the night he is freed.

    That night he cut his wrists with his razor and he was found in the morning by his landlady

  7. The story ends with John saying he is ready as his father looks at him.

    ‘I’m ready,’ John said, ‘I’m coming. I’m on my way.’

Scenes in Go Tell It on the Mountain that Frye would name

18 sightings of Frye's terms in the text. The strongest:

Hamartia, untitled
So he had fallen: for the first time since his conversion, for the last time in his life. Gabriel's fatal misstep with Esther, hidden for decades.
Katabasis, THE THRESHING-FLOOR
In the grave where he now wandered—he knew it was the grave, it was so cold and silent, and he moved in icy mist—he found his mother and his father John's descent into the grave among the dead and the unhelping family.
Epos, untitled
There is a lesson for us all in this cry of Isaiah’s, a meaning for us all, a hard saying. Gabriel's sermon delivered to a listening congregation.
Point of epiphany, untitled
A voice said: ‘Come higher.’ And he began to climb. Gabriel's mountain vision where two worlds touch.
Pathos, untitled
That night he cut his wrists with his razor and he was found in the morning by his landlady Richard's death, the sacrificial scene.
Sparagmos, THE THRESHING-FLOOR
had cracked him open, as wood beneath the axe cracks down the middle, as rocks break up John's body and self are torn apart by the Spirit.

Books that share these scenes with Go Tell It on the Mountain

About the author

James Baldwin