J.B. Religion Essay -- essays papers

J.B. Religion At the end of Baldwins 1952 impudent Go Tell It on the Mountain, whoremonger Grimes, the young protagonist, has an epiphevery or what is more(prenominal) commonly referred to as a visionary conversion experience, a fasten of American religious life. He embraces Jesus and endures a state of joyous mysticism in which he experiences his drifting soul ... anchored in the honor of God (204). Johns rebirth in saviour, his being saved, is an affirmation of one of the strongest bulwarks in the African American companionship during slavery, and especially since its abolition the black church. (2) Baldwin has verbalise that everything in Black history comes out of the church. It is not a redemptive force solely a bridge across troubled water, Kalamu ya salaam interviewing Baldwin responded. It is how we forged our identity (Pratt and Stanley 182). The church is the African Americans inheritance. Black writers and the characters they create be not so easily diveste d of it, nor should they be. Though John Grimess commitment to Christ is representative of black assimilation into American (white) culture, this adoption of Christian beliefs not only helped the community forge a stronger connection to their country and society, but it also enabled slaves and then emancipated Africans to shore up their sense of self-worth and value. African American literature, according to Abena P. A. Busia, has therefore become a drive for self-definition and redefinition, and any discussion of this drive must recognize this, its proper context We are speaking from a state of siege (2). John Grimess journey over the course of Go Tell It on the Mountain mirrors this movement from impounding to freedom, from a vague sense of self to a greater consciousn... ... dilemma of his protagonist, but also exposing the moral foundations of the institutional pillars in the black community (Bell 224). While criticism of the churchs role in supporting subtle racial discrim ination is justified, it is also true that John cleverly utilizes the rich resources of the church that were usable to him. Would he be better off following Roy into the streets? Or Royal, Gabriels first base son, who also found his way into the streets and the reendured a violent death? John wanted to be with these boys in the street, heedless and thoughtless, wearing out his unsafe and bewildering body (30). He recognizes, however, even in the semi-transparent consciousness of a man-child, that he is being forced to make so cruel a selection (40) between the ways of the world, which in his community can too oft lead to violence and self-destruction, and the ways of God.