- exultationnounChapter 1 →
A feeling of intense, triumphant joy and excitement that seems to rise up from inside a person, often without a clear reason.
“there arose in him an exultation and a sense of power, and he ran up the hill like an engine, or a madman”
- headlongadverbChapter 1 →
With reckless, uncontrolled speed and force, rushing forward without caution or hesitation.
“willing to throw himself headlong into the city that glowed before him”
- threshing floornounChapter 2 →
In this Pentecostal church, the open area at the front where worshippers kneel, pray, and seek spiritual conversion; borrowed from the biblical image of separating grain from chaff.
- resentmentnounChapter 2 →
A bitter, long-held feeling of anger toward someone because of unfair treatment or favoritism that has never been addressed or forgiven.
“she felt it again, that old, familiar resentment, as sharp as it had ever been”
- preferencenounChapter 2 →
The act of favoring one person over another, giving them more love, attention, or advantage than others receive.
“she had always, even as a child, resented her mother's preference for Gabriel”
- formerly enslavedphraseChapter 2 →
Describes a person who had previously been held as a slave and was later freed, carrying the lasting trauma and memory of that bondage.
- handbagnounChapter 2 →
A small bag carried by a woman, used to hold personal items; here it serves as a private hiding place for a damaging letter kept secret for years.
“The letter was in her handbag. She had carried it for years, waiting for the moment when she would use it against him.”
- Army of the LordphraseChapter 3 →
A phrase used by Pentecostal believers to describe the community of saved, faithful Christians seen as soldiers fighting for God against sin and the devil.
“He had been in the Army of the Lord. Now he was a general, and he had won many battles”
- desperately wickedphraseChapter 3 →
Deeply and hopelessly corrupt or sinful at its core; drawn from biblical language to describe human nature as fundamentally prone to wrongdoing.
“He had meant to do right. But the heart of man is desperately wicked.”
- womanizingverbChapter 3 →
Habitually pursuing and having sexual relationships with many women, behaving in a way that is considered irresponsible and morally wrong.
- illegitimateadjectiveChapter 3 →
Born to parents who were not married to each other; in this period the word carried strong social shame and legal disadvantage for both mother and child.
- pietynounChapter 3 →
Devoted religious faith and practice shown through prayer, worship, and moral behavior; here it is an outward performance that conceals private sin.
- saintlyadjectiveChapter 3 →
Extremely holy, morally pure, and devoted to God in a way that sets a person apart from ordinary sinners.
- introspectiveadjectiveChapter 4 →
Focused on examining one's own thoughts, feelings, and past experiences deeply and honestly from the inside.
- confessverbChapter 4 →
To formally admit to a crime or wrongdoing, especially under pressure from authorities; here done through beatings rather than free choice.
“He had been beaten, he said, to make him confess to something he had not done”
- tarry servicephraseChapter 5 →
A Pentecostal prayer meeting in which believers stay and wait — 'tarry' — before God, seeking the Holy Spirit and spiritual conversion, sometimes for hours.
- conversionnounChapter 5 →
The moment when a person is believed to turn from sin and be spiritually reborn, accepting God and entering the community of the saved; a central event in Pentecostal worship.
- salvationnounChapter 5 →
In this religious context, being rescued from sin and damnation by God's grace, securing one's soul for eternal life; the goal every believer at the church seeks.
- visionaryadjectiveChapter 5 →
Involving intense, dream-like images or revelations experienced during a spiritual state, as if seeing beyond the ordinary physical world.
- deaconnounChapter 1 →
A lay officer in a Protestant church who assists the minister, leads worship, and is expected to model upright Christian behavior in the community.
- PentecostaladjectiveChapter 1 →
Relating to a branch of Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of the Holy Spirit, expressed through fervent prayer, speaking in tongues, and emotional worship.
- Jim CrownounChapter 2 →
The system of racial segregation laws and customs enforced in the American South after Reconstruction, designed to keep Black Americans politically, economically, and socially subordinate to white people.
- hypocrisynounChapter 2 →
The practice of claiming to hold moral or religious beliefs while secretly behaving in ways that contradict them; the gap between public virtue and private sin.
- domineerverbChapter 1 →
To control others through intimidation, force of will, or authority, allowing little room for disagreement or independence.
Go Tell It on the MountainNovel by James Baldwin