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Through the novel, the title becomes symbolic of the specific human situation when a costly break with the past has been made and a new road, beset with dangers but promising salvation, has been undertaken. But with this faith, struggle and suffering is still present.

The cry of "Go Tell it on the Mountain" is much more than the mere announcement of good news it is a shout of faith. He wanted it to symbolize the unity of The Old Testament and New Testament.

The Novel: The ambiguity of the title was intentional on Baldwin's part.

The novel is broken down into: "Part One: The Seventh Day," "Part Two: The Prayer of the Saints-Florence's Prayer," "Part Two: The Prayer of the Saints-Gabriel's Prayer," "Part two: The Prayer of the Saints-Elizabeth's Prayer," and, finally, "Part Three: The Threshing-Floor". Scenes also tend to veer off into reveries. The novel is in a narrative voice that shifts between characters perspectives. Go Tell It on the Mountain is structured in a nonlinear structure. Baldwin uses multiple religious motifs to forward the issues that boil within the church and Grimes family. The protagonist John deals with many internal conflicts that result in external conflicts between his father, church members, and his family. The audience reads different voices from the Pentecostal Church throughout the novel hearing stories from John, his father Gabriel, his aunt Florence, and his mother Elizabeth. Gabriel is the pastor of what he considers the best Pentecostal church in Harlem. Baldwin's novel tells the story of John Grimes who desires to be nothing like his father Gabriel. The book explores several controversial topics in the history of the United States, including racism in New York's Harlem and the South, poverty, and the anger that racism stimulated.

The novel allows its reader to peek into the minds of multiple characters however, the story takes place during one twenty-four hour period. Go Tell It on the Mountain is an emotional story that contains time gaps throughout seventy years. This parallel is seen as a interpretation to Baldwin's relationship with Africa. Things like sermons, music, and spirituality in the novel took inspiration from African-American culture, but also the Wolof ethnic group of West Africa. James Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain also reflects elements of African-American folklore, similar to the ones found in West Africa. He applied the previous African American Great Migration to his character backgrounds and to allow for contrasting views. Baldwin decided to use art, literature, and the culture expansion of his hometown of Harlem for inspiration for the novel, despite all of the day to day war media. While the US was involving itself into three different wars, Korean, Cold, and Second Red Scare, The Dial Press was publishing "Go Tell It On The Mountain" in 1953.