The Amen Corner

Margaret, as a single mother, does her best to prove to herself that she made the right choice in leaving Luke. She says, “I praise my Redeemer that I got him raised right—even though I didn’t have no man—you think David missed Luke?” (18). Even though she is certain that she raised David well on her own and that women are better off leaving men who aren’t following God, there is a shred of doubt within her that propels conflict in the play.

The narrative implies that Margaret is the first woman preacher her congregation has had, at least for a long time. When the church members are discussing the previous pastor, Elder King, they remember his insistence on maintaining traditional gender roles within the church power structure. Sister Moore says, “He’d done got too high. He was too set in his ways. All that talk about not wanting women to preach. He didn’t want women to do nothing but just sit quiet” (22). Here, Baldwin uses dramatic irony, where the reader or audience is aware of something that the characters are not. He does this by having Sister Moore, a character who is also set in her ways, speak this line.

Both the men and the women in the play are quick to pick out faults in each other yet slow to realize that human flaws transcend gender. In the first act, Luke illustrates his perception of a gendered distinction between men and women. He compliments Margaret’s figure, saying, “You ever notice how men, they tend to lose weight in later life, while the women, they gain?” (27). There is the literal interpretation, which is that Margaret’s lifestyle led to more comfort, even without a man by her side, whereas Luke’s drinking led him to develop tuberculosis and lose weight. Figuratively, Luke is realizing that he’s lost so much over the years in terms of loved ones and a sense of community. Margaret, meanwhile, kept David and gained a friend in Odessa and a group of people who look up to her. The difference in their priorities led to vastly different outcomes.

After leaving Luke, Margaret has become bitter and lost sight of the value of partnership between men and women and the value of men in general. When the church members contemplate Margaret’s seeming apathy toward Luke’s illness, Brother Boxer tells his wife, “Well, you’s a woman, sugar, and quite natural, you want your man to come to heaven. But I believe in Sister Margaret’s heaven, ain’t going to be no men allowed” (37). Ultimately, Margaret learns that her partnership with Luke is not what makes her weak but in fact what gives her strength. She regrets not sharing her grief over their child with him. By the end of the play, it is implied that she is transformed by the experience of losing him and realizing what she’s lost.