Moses, Man of the Mountain

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of suicidal ideation.

“‘No rest, no property, no babies, no gods,’ Amram gasped. ‘Why would anybody want to live? Why don’t we kill ourselves and be done with the thing?’”

In the early chapters of the novel, Hurston dramatizes the pain and trauma of Hebrew parents living in Egypt under Pharaoh’s tyranny. Facing the loss of his newborn son, Amram feels helpless and suicidal.

“They did not question too closely for proof. They wanted to believe, and they did. It kept them from feeling utterly vanquished by Pharaoh.”

Hurston subverts the traditional Moses narrative by establishing doubt about whether Moses is actually Hebrew or the true son of the Princess. This passage suggests that the Hebrews need to believe that he is one of them, regardless of the truth, in order to hold onto hope that they will one day be free, pointing to the novel’s thematic interest in The Political Value of Storytelling.

“He had answers in the form of stories for nearly every question that Moses asked and he told stories unasked because they just came to him to tell. They were unexpected visitors.”

Storytelling is an important motif in the novel, suggesting the importance of community and oral history in preserving Black culture. Like Hurston herself, Mentu uses narrative and storytelling to communicate important truths indirectly.