Racial And Sexual Issues In James Baldwin's Go Tell On The Mountain

Racial and sexual issues have always been a part of our history. The journey through slavery and equality. The acceptance of gays. Everyone has different opinions and views but not only has James Baldwin experienced theses things first hand and explored these issues by expressing them through his pieces of writing, during a time when these things were not as known and accepted as they are now, he also is in favor and supports these issues. In some of his writings these are the main points about him that seem to stand out and show who he really is.(1) A harsh step-father, which created a feeling of loneliness. He grew up in a strict household being lead by his step-father. There wasn’t much room for creativity and experimentation. Even though

Not only was Baldwin lonely, he was also always being abused by words and how his step father thought of him. Baldwin writes about how this character, John, is also physically beat by his father. This creates an even larger barrier between father and son. “Of that wickedness for which his father. His father’s arm, rising and falling, might make him cry, and that voice might cause him to tremble;” (Go Tell On The Mountain James Baldwin pg 17). John is terrified of his father because he punishes him for little things and uses physical force to accomplish this. This use of discipline creates a source of fear in the household. Which distances him for his father even more,creating the sense of loneliness for John. “”Your Daddy beats you,” she said, “because he loves you.”” (Go Tell On The Mountain James Baldwin pg 21). As his mother says, his father beats John and siblings because he loves them. But instead of having that effect on John it creates a hatred for his father, nothing close to being love. As a child Baldwin also was beat by his step-father, which left him with a lot of issues concerning his father and created problems for

It can help people live a good, simple life or help get through tough times. Religion can also be a source of discipline for yourself and or children. Continuing on in Baldwin's book Go Tell On The Mountain, the main character John is a version of himself. They both grew up in a strict highly religious household, where it was expected of them to lead a religious lifestyle as they were raised in. Also both of their fathers were preacher and they are the eldest of their siblings. This put a great deal of pressure on them to become a preacher themselves. “Everyone had always said that John would be a preacher when he grew up, just like his father” (Go Tell On The Mountain James Baldwin pg 3). This was Johns set fate. Even though he despised the thought of it. “He would not be like his father, or his father’s fathers. He would have another life” (Go Tell On The Mountain James Baldwin pg 15). John didn’t want to become a preacher like his father. He wanted his own life. His hatred of his father had spread to him hating God too. “Though he had been born in the faith and had been surrounded all his life by the saints and by their prayers and their rejoicing, and though the tabernacle in which they worshipped was more completely real to him than the several precarious homes in which he and his family had lived, John’s heart was hardened against the Lord.” (Go Tell On The Mountain James Baldwin pg 17). John had always known