In Go Tell It On the Mountain, sex is everywhere you look… literally. There's no privacy so everybody's aware of everybody's business. And it's a big deal; sex generally leads to babies (this book takes place in the olden days before birth control) so the people who are doing it end up having children to take care of, whether the other parent is around to help or not.
Sex is closely related to sin in the novel, so while everybody's doing it, nobody wants to talk about it. Or if they do talk about it, it's to talk about how sinful it is. There's not really any sex-positive, sin-free description of gettin' it on in the whole novel.
Questions About Sex
- How does Gabriel overcome his sexual desires?
- What does John think about sex?
- If everyone is having sex in the novel, why do they all seem to think that it's a sin?
Chew on This
In Go Tell It On the Mountain, the characters' sex lives reveal their hypocrisy.
Sex leads to lies and destruction in Go Tell It On the Mountain… the only path to salvation is sex within wedlock or celibacy.