Essay
If Beale Street could talk - James Baldwin book analysis
Book analysis of the book 'If Beale Street Could Talk' by James Baldwin. Written by a gymnasium 5 student. Grade: 9,0 out of 10
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Title: ‘If Beale Street could talk’Author: James Baldwin
First published: 1974
The facts
The title
A young man named Fonny Hunt is falsely accused of rape. This is mainly because
he is a black man. His family is trying really hard to get him out of prison. However
the victim swears it was him who raped her in an alley of Beale Street.
The title of the books means that if the street could talk, it would be able to tell the
truth and Fonny would not be in jail. The street is the only ‘witness’ of the rape. This
would also prevent discrimination against black people.
In 2018 the book was turned into a film and a theme song was composed by
Nicholas Britell.
Summary
Tish Rivers is living in Harlem, New York, in the same street as Fonny Hunt. They
have been friends since they were young.
Tish tells how they have spent their youth together. She has often visited the family
Hunt. Fonny’s mother is very religious and belongs to a fanatical Christian church.
Unfortunately she doesn't give Fonny much attention.
Tish and Fonny have fallen in love. They had just started looking for an apartment to
move in to together when Fonny was arrested. A Puerto Rican woman, Mrs. Rogers,
falsely accused Fonny of raping her. Although a black man has raped her indeed, the
racist white police officer Mr. Bell asks Mrs. Rogers to pick out the offender from a
line of people, amongst whom Fonny is the only black man. Despite being innocent
and having an alibi, Fonny has to go to jail.
Right after this Tish finds out she is pregnant. When she tells Fonny he is going to be
a father, he is determined to get out of jail before the baby’s birth.
Both Tish her family and Fonny his family do everything to get Fonny out of jail as
quickly as possible. Fonny’s lawyer, Mr. Hayward, tells Tish her mother to go to
Puerto Rico to talk to Mrs. Rogers. He hopes she will admit that she made a mistake
by accusing Fonny. Sadly, Mrs. Rogers does not want to help Fonny. She wants to
forget the rape and doesn’t want to be reminded of it.
Fonny’s family is working very hard to save money to get Fonny released on bail.
Fonny’s father was fired after his boss found out he had been steeling goods from
the company to get money for Fonny. After that his father commited suicide, because
he could not bear the thought of not being with his son.
Theme
Racism towards negroes is a very important theme of the book. Both Fonny and Tish
feel like they do not belong, because white people do not accept them. Baldwin tries
to explain what racism can co to people and what impact it has on their feelings and
lives.
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