The Amen Corner

Baldwin uses music to symbolize the two different men in Margaret’s life: David and Luke. The very thing Margaret values most in David, his musical abilities, is the very thing she loathes in Luke and what eventually pushes David from her life.

Margaret prides herself on having a son that plays the piano so well in church. She makes an arbitrary distinction between David and Luke’s musicality. She is convinced that David’s relationship with music is something purer than Luke’s, imbued with God. She says, “You got a natural gift for music, David […] the Lord give it to you, you didn’t learn it in no school” (19). Margaret doesn’t see the seeds of him wanting to leave the church that are already there.

Music is the one thing that truly connects Luke and David after so many years apart. Margaret did her best to keep David away from Luke’s music and is stunned when she hears it coming from the phonograph. When she asks what it is, David replies, “It’s one of Daddy’s old records. That you never let me play” (56). This is not only a moment of defiance but also a reminder that Margaret kept Luke, and anything related to him, out of David’s life.