Florence’s Prayer
Part two of Florence’s prayer concentrates on her past and briefly focuses on John’s perspective in the present. Florence attends Gabriel’s church for the first time and still express her dislike for him same way he disliked John. This is because she flashed back her mother’s advice only to bow for Jesus and not any other person hence she would rather go to hell than bow down. She lives in trepidation after receiving messages of her death and prepares her house because her death is imminent.
When the memory of Florence’s past re-surfaces, she flash backs the rape of Debora, which occurred when she was 16 by a white gang. This incident enacted fear among the African-American community. This is described by Rachel, Florence’s mother when she prayed to God for protection. Her life is explained how she used to be a slave, she compares this African- American connection slavery to that of the Hebrews in New Testament.
Florence feels bitter about the favoritism by her mother towards her younger brother Gabriel because of his sex. He is given opportunity to go to school; however, his recounted sins and baptism makes Florence angry. When her mother dies, she decides to start life in New York. Later she receives a letter from Debora when she was in fraught marriage with frank, the letter explained Gabriel’s infidelity and his first son, royal.
The last return to the present explains how Florence feels angry and powerless to that again. She had kept Debora’s letter for long and wanted to use it to humiliate Gabriel over his sinful past but Florence became afraid since her death was approaching and could not use that opportunity. It ends when Florence cries for long at the altar.
