Moses, Man of the Mountain is a 1939 novel by African-American novelist and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston.
[1][2][3] The novel applies a number of different motifs and themes commonly addressed in African-American culture, subverting the Moses story.
Jochebed gives birth to a son in hiding and decides to put him in a basket on the Nile River in order to spare him.
Mentu teaches Moses the traditional ways of Egyptian people, including battling on horses instead of chariots.
Ta Phar, first in line for the throne, dislikes Moses due to his peculiar interests and ways of living that he learns from Mentu.
Though Moses does not know that he had been born to Hebrew parents, he decides to leave Egypt that night and seek the Book of Thoth.
Moses travels through the night and eventually reaches Midian, where he assists young girls in escaping from boys who were bullying them.
Moses agrees to use his military skills to assist Jethro in ridding the land of Midian of thieves.
Moses tells Jethro how he found the book and that he now can command the skies and mountains and knows the language of all animals.
After Pharaoh continues to refuse to free the Israelites, Moses turns the Nile River into blood, the first of his ten plagues.
After Pharaoh still refuses to free the Israelites, Moses gives Egypt a plague of lice, making the Egyptians extremely uncomfortable and causing panic.
After Pharaoh’s firstborn child dies, he feels defeated and tells Moses that he is free to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.
Eventually, some of the Israelites begin to question Moses’ authority, to which he lifts his right hand in response and proves his power to them every time.
Moses is placed in a basket in the Nile river after his birth because infant boys of Israelites would be drowned if found.
After Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt, Zipporah joins him on their journey until she is brought back home to Midian by her father.
[3] Hurston questions the idea of a singular figure in power through the criticism Moses receives from the Israelites.
During slavery in the United States, God was a source of hope for those who were enslaved as well, which is reflected in Moses, Man of the Mountain.
[6] Brad Hooper emphasizes Zora Neale Hurston’s importance as a writer during the Harlem Renaissance and writes that the novel is a metaphor for the black experience.
[8] Other writers, such as Valerie Boyd also believed that the novel was a masterpiece and was powerful in terms of Black literature.
[citation needed] On the other hand, Alain Locke described the novel as caricature, believing that it did not portray anything of substance.
[citation needed] Ralph Ellison, Robert Hemenway, and Lillie P. Howard also believed that the novel did nothing for Black fiction and considered it a failure.