Go Tell It on the Mountain

As the church service continues, the perspective switches to Gabriel, and John’s abusive father remembers his own childhood. He recalls his mother on her deathbed, recalling how her eyes seemed to disapprove of his drunken ways. Shortly after, he experienced a spiritual rebirth. In his early twenties, he was returning to his house after a night of heavy drinking when he felt a sudden need to become a preacher and to share his love of God with the world. He began a new life at this time, guided by his newfound spiritualism. As he spent more time with Deborah, he developed a reputation as a powerful preacher. His passionate sermons quickly made him famous. Gabriel believes that God came to him in a dream and told him that his descendants would bear God’s seal. Believing that he must father a new blessed generation and a “royal line” (63), Gabriel decided to marry Deborah, even though no other man would marry her after a group of white men brutally raped her. He decides that marrying the woman who is marked by “dishonor” will be a demonstration of his faith and his purity (63). She cried when she accepted his proposal.

During the service, Gabriel is dragged back to the present by Elisha. The interruption makes Gabriel consider John in a new light. For a moment, he thinks that John is speaking with such conviction and eloquence, but Gabriel quickly realizes that he is hearing Elisha. Gabriel does not believe that John should be able to receive the blessing of God. He knows that John is not really his son, so he resents the idea that John could be blessed when his legitimate children are not. Gabriel thinks about his legitimate children. One of his legitimate sons is already dead while the other—Roy—is at home, refusing to attend his father’s service. Gabriel thinks back to his marriage to Elizabeth. John was recently born and not yet named when Gabriel agreed to marry Elizabeth. To Gabriel, John is the embodiment of his wife’s sinful past. While Elizabeth loves John and does not regret giving birth to him, Gabriel can never bring himself to love John like he loves his actual children. John, Gabriel believes, does not fit the description of the children described by God in Gabriel’s dream. Despite his wayward behavior, Roy does match this description. Gabriel notes that Roy is as wild and as ill-behaved as he was as a young man.

Gabriel remembers Esther. She was the mother of his first son Royal, who is now dead. Both Esther and Gabriel worked for the same white family. She began working for the family shortly after Gabriel’s marriage to Deborah. He was immediately attracted to her, even though she was not a particularly religious person. Gabriel was fascinated by her lack of belief, so he invited her to his church sermons. She attended and seemed intrigued, if not overtly devotional. On an evening when the white family were away, Gabriel and Esther found themselves alone together. Though he initially taunted her for her lack of religion, they eventually gave in to their mutual attraction. Gabriel and Esther conducted a nine-day affair before he decided that he could not continue. After a few months, Esther revealed to Gabriel that she was pregnant. However, Gabriel did not believe that he could leave Deborah. He especially could not leave her for Esther, whom he considered to be promiscuous and evil. He believed Esther was a ploy by Satan to test his faith. He came to resent her for showing him how easily he could stray from his faith.

Esther told Gabriel that she would leave him alone (and take the baby with her) if he gave her money for the child. Convincing himself that he could be redeemed for his behavior, he stole Deborah’s savings and gave the money to Esther so that she could leave the area to have her baby. Gabriel was never sure whether Deborah noticed the missing money or whether she suspected him of having an affair. He received a letter from Esther when she was living in Chicago. She died a short time later during the birth of their son. Before she died, she named her son Royal. The name was carefully chosen: Gabriel told her once about his belief that he would father a dynasty of blessed and royal children. Gabriel believes that her choice of name was Esther’s way to mock him from beyond the grave. She wanted to show his hypocrisy to the world.

Gabriel paid close attention to Royal, but he never acknowledged that the boy was his son. Both Gabriel and Deborah contacted Royal, but Gabriel’s relationship to his illegitimate son remained a secret. Even if Deborah knew, Gabriel remembers, she never revealed her suspicions to her husband. Thus, she did not give Gabriel the chance to apologize and repent for his sins. Raised by his parents in a town near Gabriel and Deborah, Royal grew up to be as unruly and as wild as his father. Gabriel remembers how he heard about Royal’s death: When Deborah became sick, she told him that Royal had been stabbed to death in a fight in Chicago. When Gabriel cried, Deborah asked him for the truth. Gabriel confessed his sins to her. Deborah admitted that she had always known and that she had been waiting for Gabriel to admit the truth to her. Deborah explains that she would have happily raised Royal as though he were her own child because she could not have children of her own. She told Gabriel to pray to God for forgiveness.

At the church, John struggles with his own spiritual beliefs. As he tries to pray, he hears a voice in his head speaking about struggle and salvation. He thinks about his hatred for his father, and he knows that the feeling is mutual. Gabriel watches John from the front of the church. He can see the hatred in John’s eyes and feels as though John is leveling an accusation against him. He tells John to kneel down to receive his blessing.