Moses, Man of the Mountain

Within Hurston’s political allegory, the Book of Thoth—a difficult-to-obtain book containing all of human knowledge—acts as a powerful symbol of literacy and technical training. As a young boy, Moses first hears of the Book of Thoth from his mentor, Mentu. Mentu claims that “when you read only two pages in this book you will enchant the heavens, the earth, the abyss, the mountain, and the sea” (56). Significantly, the Book is hidden within six boxes and guarded by a deathless snake—precautions that suggest that the knowledge it contains is dangerous in the hands of the people. As Mentu warns, anyone who reads it “would be too powerful for the palace” (57). Ultimately, Moses does find and read the Book of Thoth as an adult, and as a result “a divine power [is] with him” (117). This divine power leads Moses to God in Mt. Sinai, and ultimately to free the Hebrews from Egypt.

Because the Hebrews correlate with enslaved Africans in Hurston’s political allegory, the Book of Thoth functions as a symbol of literacy and radical self-reliance. Enslavers in the American South fought literacy among the enslaved in order to prevent them from working together and sharing their experiences.