Esther and Royal and promises to reveal the truth to Elizabeth. Meanwhile John speaks with Elisha who congratulates and encourages him until they reach John's home. Setting The novel takes place in New York City, primarily in Harlem in 1935. The flashbacks provide extended sequences in the American South, primarily in an unnamed town in the Deep South where Gabriel and Florence were born, and in Maryland where Elizabeth was raised. The flashbacks also recall earlier periods in Harlem and to a lesser extent other locations in New York. In the novel, New York City at once represents freedom and opportunity - especially for Florence and Elizabeth who escape confining family lives, and for John who contemplates the opportunities of the world outside Harlem as he walks through Midtown Manhattan - but also the vulgarity and perdition, particularly for Gabriel and through Gabriel, for John. This duality is used to enhance the other conflicts in the novel, particularly between holiness and worldliness and between John and Gabriel. For Elizabeth especially, but also for Florence and Gabriel, the promise of the city, the promise that drove the Great Migration of African Americans from the rural South to Northern cities including New York, turned out to be false. Elizabeth reflects that unlike the South, which promises nothing, the North promises but does not give and what is given can be taken away in an instant. Although the Great Migration led to the Harlem Renaissance and a flourishing of art and culture, the novel's depiction of Harlem is focused on the poverty, violence, drunkenness, and sexual depravity which were also a result. Themes Religion The religious theme pervades all aspects of the novel. However, critics have not agreed on whether it is "an ironic indictment of Christianity" or a "stirring vindication". Barbara Olson summarized the dispute noting that "those favoring vindication number in their ranks such notable critics as Albert Gerard, Donald Gibson, and Shirley Allen" while "those favoring the indictment position include Robert Bone, Michael Fabre, Nathan Scott, Howard Harper, Stanley Macebuh, David Foster and Trudier Harris." Holiness versus worldliness Many scholars have reflected on the tension between holiness and worldliness in the novel. The strict Pentecostal religion of the Temple of the Fire Baptized, enforced by John's father demands that believers live separately from much of the world around them. Much of Part One is taken up with John's thoughts on