Go Tell It on the Mountain Contrasting Regions: North & South Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #1

"You going North," her mother said, then. "And when you reckon on coming back?" 

"I don't reckon on coming back," she said. (2.1.49-50)

Florence isn't buying a round-trip ticket. She's gone.  She's never left home, but she's so unhappy there that she's sure she will never come back. And she's true to her word. Even when her mother dies and her brother marries, she remains in the North, living her new life.

Quote #2

"You come crying back soon enough," said Gabriel, with malevolence, "soon as they whip your butt up there four or five times. (2.1.51)

The North, for Gabriel, represents a dangerous, threatening place. While Florence sees it as a chance for freedom, he is sure that she will find violence and difficulties there. It might be his attitude, the certainty that he will be waiting with a told-you-so, that keeps her from ever coming home even when life is hard.

Quote #3

"Girl, where you going? What you doing? You reckon on finding some men up North to dress you in pearls and diamonds?" (2.1.65)

Another idea about the North is that it is a place of riches. While the characters live in very impoverished conditions in the South, some of them dream of a better life in the North. Gabriel is mocking Florence here; he doesn't seem to think she will find the pearls and diamonds he talks about, but he's referring to a common conception.