God's apostles bring redemption to every life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Shame, blame, all the same. Good artists breathe reality into existence, lies. Shame, blame, all the same. This is Gabriel's creation Gabriel's creative process is based on shame, blame, and his inability to free himself from the weight of his sins. In “The Creative Process,” Baldwin emphasizes the importance of artists being vulnerable with themselves. For an artist to achieve this vulnerability, Baldwin explains that the artist must understand themselves and the kind of person they want to be, therefore the kind of impact they want to have in the world. In Go Tell It on the Mount, Baldwin's character Gabriel is a preacher whose calling as a born-again Christian was sparked by a dream he had in which God promised him a son who would eternally consecrate his life to God. This dream controls the rest of Gabriel's life, causing him to shame anyone who sins, but fails to hold himself accountable for the sins he has committed. According to Baldwin's view on vulnerability, the character of Gabriel demonstrates what can happen to a person if they do not allow themselves to be vulnerable. Using the framework provided by Baldwin in "The Creative Process", an analysis of Gabriel's character reveals that his destructive behavior is not rooted in his lack of understanding of himself, but because of his lack of acceptance of self. Baldwin takes a closer look at the artists. as individuals in “The Creative Process” to convey that artists find their purpose in seeking out aspects of life that others are not willing to expose, and in doing so, artists make society a little more livable. In “The Creative Process,” Baldwin discusses the personal process an artist must go through in order for their art to change the world. He says: “The role of the artist is therefore precisely to illuminate this darkness, to trace routes through this vast forest; so that we may not lose sight, in all our actions, of its purpose, which is, after all, to make the world a more humane place to inhabit” (669). The "darkness" that Baldwin refers to is the depths of an individual that can only be found in solitude, and as such, it often constitutes an untapped part of the individual's soul. Artists must expose things that lie in the dark, people, places, or ideas that go undiscovered because the non-artist is too afraid to discover them. By doing this, they allow more space for people to express their flaws and create a more suitable environment for "humans" than the one we currently have. Gabriel, from Baldwin's Go Tell It On The Mountain, is a preacher, which arguably makes him an artist; the purpose of preaching is based on a written work, the Bible, – which can be considered an art form – but preaching is also incredibly performative, which in itself is an art form. Gabriel is keen to shine a light on the sins of the people around him, but instead of revealing the sins to provide advice on how to become better humans, thus fostering a community that would promote Baldwin's definition of the role of a artist, Gabriel holds these sins against those around him. who committed them. Gabriel's use and exploitation of women's bodies proves this. Every woman in Gabriel's life, including his two wives Deborah, then later Elizabeth, his mistress, Esther, and the prostitute he slept with before his revelation as a man“holy”, are exploited and used by Gabriel for personal purposes. gain, only to be humiliated by him afterwards. His need to control every woman in his life is linked to his ignorance of his abusive and controlling behavior. In doing so, it makes the world less "habitable by humans", because it does not allow people to be human. Gabriel never manages to hold himself to the same level of responsibility as he does with everyone else and, in return, makes the world more livable for him, but not for others. Baldwin proposes that creating a more humane world begins with accepting oneself; Gabriel's character, although he identifies as a sinner, continues to harm himself and others. In “The Creative Process,” Baldwin says, “We do the things we do and feel the way we feel, mostly because we have to – we are responsible for our actions, but we rarely understand them…if only we understood ourselves better , we would. we harm less” (671). Baldwin's description that humans do and feel things "because we have to" implies that there is a lack of control that humans have when acting on something or expressing a feeling. As a result, Gabriel, who demands control at all times, finds it difficult to cope with his own feelings and actions and thus harms himself. Understanding oneself “better” is relative, and it is unclear to what extent Baldwin suggests that one should understand oneself so as not to harm oneself. In Gabriel's case, there are several passages in the text that prove that he understands himself very well, but still harms himself and others because of his/their "sins." Following his affair with Esther, Gabriel is tormented by his inability to follow in the Lord's footsteps. He describes that with every church he enters, he feels the weight of his sins weighing on him. However, instead of taking the necessary steps to heal himself of these sins outside of the context of God, he knows he has a son there and he feels an innate connection and desire to care for him, but he knows it's not divine. to do so because the child is a bastard – he looks to the congregation and finds sin and ungodliness in all of them. He does this to compensate for his sins; discovering that his entire congregation has fallen makes him less guilty of what he did. This does not mean that he lacks understanding of himself, but it does indicate that he uses the sins of others to justify and absolve his own, in order to deal with the general lack of control he feels within himself. . As a result, Gabriel finds himself in a cycle of harming himself and others, by not allowing himself to be vulnerable with himself or others. Gabriel's inability to be vulnerable with himself harms him because it prevents him from accepting himself. To deal with his sins, Gabriel prays to God to repent, but he continues to sin more. He tends to pass off the sins he has committed as if he is moving away from God, but the real reason he does this is because he does not want to discover the root of his sins. Baldwin speaks of the artist's self-acceptance as necessary and as a means of dealing with the forces working against him in "The Creative Process" when he says: "All we can do is learn to live with them. And we can only learn this if we are willing to tell the truth about ourselves, and the truth about us is always at odds with who we wish to be. The human effort is to bring these two realities into a relationship that resembles reconciliation” (671). According to Baldwin, “telling the truth about ourselves” is a way of “understanding” ourselves. The root of his sins is hisinability to accept oneself and others as they are. Gabriel's habit of engaging with women who aren't "saved" and him trying to "save" them is what he thinks is his version of a "get out of jail free" card . He takes people into schemes to prove that he is a man of God, when in reality he is avoiding taking responsibility for his role in their sins. He is always trying to change people so that they can become what he wants them to be, but never looks closely enough at himself to realize that he must change to truly be forgiven for his sins. Baldwin's use of the word "reconciliation" is relevant in the context of Gabriel's life, because as a preacher, his goal is to be the provider of reconciliation for the congregation and their faith. Gabriel literally doesn't practice what he preaches when he refuses to accept people, and himself, for their mistakes. In this way, being a man of faith is the force working against him. Instead of being an outlet for Gabriel and a place where he can feel accepted, his faith makes him feel patronized. Gabriel does not learn to live with these strengths, because rather than working to become a better Christian, he becomes defensive and blames others for his actions. If Gabriel told the truth about himself, he would be able to accept himself because he would recognize his faults and take responsibility for them. Baldwin's suggestion that a person's truth reflects the person they want to be is interesting because it means that Gabriel may not know the truth about himself because he does not know the person he knows wants to be. Additionally, if Gabriel is afraid of the truth about himself, it may indicate that he is also afraid of the person he wants to be. Although the torment Gabriel experiences over his sins is an indication that he understands himself because he recognizes his wrongdoing, he does not allow this understanding to manifest into acceptance, as he spends much of his time making sure others are “saved.” ". Gabriel often uses other people to lash out at when he feels the weight of guilt for the sins he has committed, because his lack of self-acceptance spills over into his relationships, the leading to not accepting others This overall inability to accept and tolerate people in his life is what causes Gabriel to hurt them the most. He often uses their sins to shame them, not necessarily because he. wants them to repent and be "saved", but because by highlighting the faults of others, he feels absolved of his own sins. Thinking of Gabriel and his wife Elizabeth's son, Roy, Gabriel. infers that Roy's refusal to connect with God and the Church stems from Elizabeth's sin of having her first child, John, out of wedlock. However, Gabriel also has a bastard child who, unlike Elizabeth, he does not. had no part in his short life. The irony is that Gabriel didn't even consider that it was his sins that were the cause of Roy's bad behavior and rebellion. He does this because, just as he does not accept himself for his sins, he does not accept Elizabeth for hers. Elizabeth feels no shame in having John out of wedlock, but Gabriel does not understand this, although he somehow understands the sin he has committed, as he is convinced that he has been forgiven by God because he married Elizabeth independently of her. bastard child. Gabriel considers himself completely absolved of sin, but sees Elizabeth's sin as what prevents their son from wanting to follow in her footsteps and lead a life in the Church. Gabriel's inability not to forsake sins.