Part 1: The Seventh Day Summary

James Baldwin's Go Tell It on The Mountain is the story of a young man coming of age under very difficult circumstances and little guidance. Through the course of the story, he will go from a boy hobbled by the destructive behavior of a dysfunctional family to one that has begun to break free and make meaningful emotional ties outside the constraints of his family. Part I is told from the point of view of the main character John, a boy whose 14^th birthday marks a turning point in his life.

The setting for the story is the borough of Harlem in New York City during the mid-1930s. The boy, John, has had an upbringing of the strictest sort focused mainly on the church and religious life. In contrast, the backdrop for his family's small zealous...