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1-Page Summary of Moses
Overall Summary
Zora Neale Hurston wrote a novel in 1939 called Moses, Man of the Mountain. It tells the story of Moses from an African American point of view. The book is about slavery and how it compares to black slavery in America. In addition, there are references to Hitler’s rise to power and criticism of Nazi ideology. Although Zora Neale Hurston based her powerful figure on her father, she did not write about him as he was during Reconstruction—as a leader who didn’t take advantage of his position.
In the novel, Moses is born to a Hebrew woman who tries to hide him from Egyptian soldiers. She places him in a basket by the river and he’s rescued by the daughter of the pharaoh. He becomes a respected military leader and is expected to succeed his adoptive father as pharaoh.
Moses begins to advocate for a better life for the Hebrews. One day, he sees an Egyptian beating a Hebrew and kills him in self-defense. Word gets out that Moses is actually a Hebrew, so he goes into exile across the Red Sea to Midian.
In Midian, Moses meets Jethro, a priest who believes in one God. Jethro is also a powerful magician and teaches magic to Moses. After learning the art of magic from him, Moses marries his daughter Zipporah. Later on, he travels to Koptos where he kills a dragon that guards the Book of Thoth. He reads from it and learns about his past and divine truths.
Moses decides to go back to Egypt and demand the release of his people. They were slow to accept him, so he had many arguments with them about their future and whether or not they should convert to Jethro’s religion. Two prominent Hebrews are Aaron and Miriam, who were responsible for starting the rumor that Moses is a Hebrew. Joshua was the only one who believed in Moses completely.
Moses is a talented politician and devoted to resisting the pharaoh. However, he has difficulty convincing the Hebrew people that they should be free. Hurston models the language of Moses’s speech after African American dialect, recreating small-town black dialect in order to represent Moses as two cultures: one from Africa and another from America. Moses also uses biblical language at times when referring to his status as a member of both cultures.
Moses wants to leave Egypt, so he uses magic tricks to scare the pharaoh into letting him and his people go. He knows that if he reveals too much of his plan before it is carried out, it will be less impressive. After using several different kinds of magic tricks on the Egyptians, they finally let Moses and his people go.
Moses parts the Red Sea so that the Hebrews can cross. However, when Pharaoh sees this he sends his army to pursue them. Moses allows the sea to sweep back into place and drowns Pharaoh’s army.
Moses promised the Hebrews a land of their own and led them out to find it, but before that they had to wander in the wilderness. They faced trials until they were fit enough to create their own state. Aaron and Miriam, who wielded equal power as Moses did, challenged him by building an idol and trying to take over his position. However, Moses destroyed the idol with his powers and swayed the Hebrews back onto his side.
The Hebrews continue to wander in the desert. They finally reach their promised land, but most of them have died by then. The newer generation is ready to found a state and Moses knows that his work as leader is done. He dies before he can enter Israel.
