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Frank
A “young and handsome” man, who is also “kind” and “generous.” Like Elizabeth, her father is “dark,” and he is “gentle” and “proud.” Elizabeth is “the apple of his eye,” and he treats his daughter like “a queen.” Elizabeth’s father teaches her to never let the world see her cry and to “never ask for mercy.” He runs “a house,” which, according to Elizabeth’s aunt, is full of “wicked people.” Presumably, he runs a whorehouse, and because of this, Elizabeth’s aunt considers him unfit to raise a daughter. Elizabeth’s aunt considers him immoral because of the sexual nature of his employment and takes Elizabeth away from her loving father. After Elizabeth is forced to move to Maryland with her aunt, she never sees him again, and her childhood is ruined. Baldwin implies that Elizabeth’s father is a good man, and his job and its relation to sex do not alone make him an immoral sinner.
Elizabeth’s Father Quotes in Go Tell It on the Mountain
The Go Tell It on the Mountain quotes below are all either spoken by Elizabeth’s Father or refer to Elizabeth’s Father. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part 2: The Prayers of the Saints: Elizabeth’s Prayer
Quotes
No, she did not accuse him; but she accused her aunt, and this from the moment she understood that her aunt had loved her mother, but did not love him. This could only mean that her aunt could not love her, either, and nothing in her life with her aunt ever proved Elizabeth wrong. It was true that her aunt was always talking of how much she loved her sister’s daughter, and what great sacrifices she had made on her account, and what great care she took to see to it that Elizabeth should grow up a good, Christian girl. But Elizabeth was not for a moment fooled, and did not, for as long as she lived with her, fail to despise her aunt. She sensed that what her aunt spoke of as love was something else—a bribe, a threat, an indecent will to power. She knew that the kind of imprisonment that love might impose was also, mysteriously, a freedom for the soul and spirit, was water in the dry place, and had nothing to do with the prisons, churches, laws, rewards, and punishments, that so positively cluttered the landscape of her aunt’s mind.
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Elizabeth’s Father Quotes in Go Tell It on the Mountain
The Go Tell It on the Mountain quotes below are all either spoken by Elizabeth’s Father or refer to Elizabeth’s Father. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part 2: The Prayers of the Saints: Elizabeth’s Prayer
Quotes
No, she did not accuse him; but she accused her aunt, and this from the moment she understood that her aunt had loved her mother, but did not love him. This could only mean that her aunt could not love her, either, and nothing in her life with her aunt ever proved Elizabeth wrong. It was true that her aunt was always talking of how much she loved her sister’s daughter, and what great sacrifices she had made on her account, and what great care she took to see to it that Elizabeth should grow up a good, Christian girl. But Elizabeth was not for a moment fooled, and did not, for as long as she lived with her, fail to despise her aunt. She sensed that what her aunt spoke of as love was something else—a bribe, a threat, an indecent will to power. She knew that the kind of imprisonment that love might impose was also, mysteriously, a freedom for the soul and spirit, was water in the dry place, and had nothing to do with the prisons, churches, laws, rewards, and punishments, that so positively cluttered the landscape of her aunt’s mind.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
