The Novel: Go Tell it on the Mountain is very strait forward; there are three main parts in the novel, the beginning, the middle, and the end. The novel depicts the ever-present predicament confronting John Grimes on his fourteenth birthday. The novel also shows the lives of the dynamic characters that influence John. The last part of the novel reveals the painful resolution that John undergoes before he establishes his identity.
The beginning of the novel, Part One, shows John in conflict with the family and his father's hypocritical ways. As the eldest son of his parents, everyone wanted him to become a priest at an older age. In order to promote John's priesthood, he is forced to live his life in fear of God by his father and the church. Due to the constant reminders and pressure, John had started imagining himself in that role until his fourteenth birthday. On this birthday, he wakes up with rebellion in his heart. In his state of rebellion, John increasingly desires the pleasures of the world, mostly sex, and the comforts of life like any other teen at that age but is afraid of sinning. However, despite his anger against his father, he feels guilty for his actions whenever he tries to get a taste of freedom. In order to remove the guilt, he goes to the church for the evening prayers.
The middle of the novel, Part Two, develops on the lives of the dynamic characters that influence John in the background, including Florence, Gabriel, and Elizabeth. In these chapters, the characters reveal many hidden secrets including John's illegitimate conception by Elizabeth and Richard. We also find out that Elizabeth married Gabriel because she believed he cared for her and would provide her security, unlike her other husband. Gabriel had changed in the way he acted to her after marriage. He began controlling her and John. Elizabeth regrets saying yes to his proposal. In this section, we begin seeing Gabriel's hypocrisy.
