We know right off the bat that Go Down, Moses is gonna have some serious spiritual themes. Since you've memorized this entire learning guide, you know by now that the title's taken from a song that got its title from the biblical book of Exodus (7:26 to be exact), where God told Moses to go to Egypt to let His people (the Israelites) go free. Pick your spiritual path—it's in here. We have a Chickasaw chief's son who believes the spirits of his ancestors reside in the animals in the forest; a white man mentored by the Chickasaw man who believes that man and the universe are all One; African American women who have faith in a God that intervenes and saves. Even though every character in this book was born Christian (with the possible exception of Sam Fathers), it's the Old Testament that gets top billing. That's because the book's two major themes—freedom from slavery, and man's relationship to the Creation—are found there.
Questions About Spirituality
- How do the white people in Molly's life react to her beliefs? Do they respect these beliefs or find them strange?
- Isaac is initiated into adulthood by Sam and continues to follow Sam's spiritual beliefs after Sam's death. How does this set him apart from the other white men around him?
- Are there any examples of white Christian spirituality in this book? How are they treated?
Chew on This
Isaac really struggles to reconcile his religious beliefs with the fact that his co-religionists are owning people as property.
The African American characters in the book would probably see Isaac's spiritual beliefs as pretty strange.