Literary Analysis

Margaret opens the play by Baldwin by introducing the reader or audience to one of the themes of the play, which is what it means to be holy. Margaret is preaching to the congregation that when the world needs saving the world turns to the holy. She preaches that if they want to save the world, they have to be holy and that the holy keep themselves separate from the world. This idea is at the core of who Margaret is, for she left her worldly husband after her daughter died and she could not handle the grief. She blamed her husbands worldliness and determined to be holy and to have her own church and to raise her son up in an environment different from that of his fathers.

Margaret is the protagonist of the play, but she is also the antagonist, because she is opposed to herself...

She states with regard to her son, I praise my Redeemer that I got him raised righteven though I didnt have no man. (Baldwin 27). She leaves out the part about herself leaving her man. She is like a haunted character. It would seem that Luke, her husband, is the antagonistbut he is more like a ghost of Christmas Past come to haunt her and to remind her of her true self. Luke is not the antagonist, for he even rebukes Margaret at the end of the play and tells her that she should not...…out safe spaces for itself. Love is giving to all. Love is patient, love is kind, and so on. Margaret sings, I been walking my faith, / Praying with love, / Looking up above (Baldwin 20). But this attitude of hers is somewhat self-deceiving: she has been looking to save herself from risk. Luke, David, and Brother Boxer all show how angry the males are with her: she has tried only to save herselfshe has not tried to show them real love at all. She is a self-centered woman. Luke dies, but he forgives her and tells her he lovesand he has shown it, too, for he has gone looking for her even though he was sick. David leaves to be a musician, and Margaret…