Character Clues

Character Analysis

Family Life

John believes himself to be Gabriel's son, but he turns out he's his stepson. While his mother does her best to treat her children equally ("I ain't going to make no difference amongst them and you ain't going to make none either." (2.2.114), Gabriel can't help but show favoritism toward his biological children: "But how could there not be a difference between the son of a weak, proud woman and some careless boy, and the son that God had promised him" (2.2.115).

These differing attitudes towards their kids tells you almost everything you need to about each of these characters' characters. Gabriel is unforgiving, egocentric, and a Judgy McJudgerson. And Elizabeth is loving, but also not really very powerful—she tells Gabriel he's going to treat the kids equally, but he doesn't…. and she can't really do anything about it.

Names

Many of the characters' names are biblical references. For example, John is the same name as the prophet John the Baptist, Jesus' cousin, who foretold Jesus' coming. His mother, Elizabeth, shares a name with John the Baptist's mother.

While the names don't exactly correspond to the story, it is interesting that this Elizabeth had a son named John, just like in the Bible, who turns out to be a saint—at least in comparison to his brother Roy—also just like in the Bible.

Sister McCandless says of John (Grimes, not the Baptist): "Brother Johnny is mighty faithful" (1.1.257), reminding us of the holiness he shares with his namesake.

Gabriel, meanwhile, is the name of the angel who foretold that Elizabeth would have John. This isn't quite as easy to connect—Go Tell It On The Mountain's Gabriel was nowhere near Go Tell It On The Moutain's Elizabeth when she was pregnant with baby John.

But non-Biblical Gabriel does make a prediction about the baby when he meets him: "You reckon you going to dance for the lord one of these days?" (2.3.218) And dance John does. The names' Biblical echoes just reinforce the religious themes of the novel, as well as the characters' traits.

Sex and Love

Gabriel tries, but can't really keep it in his pants and ends up having a child with a woman he has an affair with. He forgets all his holiness in that moment:

Fallen: he and Esther in the white folks' kitchen, the light burning, the door half-open, grappling and burning beside the sink. Fallen indeed: time was no more, and sin, death, Hell, the judgment were blotted out. (2.2.190)

Whoopsy-daisy. His weakness for sex causes the great tragedy of his life: the deaths of Esther and Royal.

Even though Gabriel has sinned sexually, he won't let anyone else get away with the same exact sin. Holy hypocrisy, Batman. Elizabeth gets pregnant with her boyfriend before getting married, and Gabriel won't let her hear the end of it:

Once he had asked Elizabeth […] if she had truly repented of her sin.
And she had looked at him, and said, "You done asked me that before. And I done told you, yes."
But he did not believe her […] (2.2.109-11)

Gabriel allows himself to move past his own sexual missteps, but he doesn't have the same compassion for the people around him.

Florence, on the other hand, pretty much hates men and does what she can to keep from getting tied up with them. She sums it up pretty succinctly:

"Look like ain't no woman nowhere but ain't been dragged down in the dirt by some man, and left there, too, while he go on about his business." (2.3.200)

After seeing her brother, and her own ex-husband, she knows what she's talking about.