If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin

First published: 1974

Type of plot: Realism

Time of work: The 1950’s

Locale: New York City and San Juan, Puerto Rico

Principal Characters:

• Clementine Rivers (Tish), the narrator and protagonist
• Alonzo Hunt (Fonny), her jailed boyfriend and the father of her unborn child
• Ernestine Rivers (Sis), Tish’s sister
• Sharon Rivers, the mother of Tish and Sis
• Joseph Rivers (Joe), the father of Tish and Sis
• Frank Hunt, Fonny’s father
• Alice Hunt, Fonny’s mother

The Novel

In the opening scene of the novel, nineteen-year-old Clementine Rivers (Tish), sitting with phone in hand on one side of a solid glass barrier, tells twenty-two-year-old Alonzo Hunt (Fonny), who is in jail, and on the other side of the glass wall, that she is pregnant with his child. That she is unmarried does not bother Tish. She knows that she and Fonny had planned to marry, and had Fonny not been falsely accused of raping a Puerto Rican woman, they would have been wed.

The novel is divided into two parts. Part 1, “Troubled About My Soul,” constitutes about 90 percent of the book; the remaining 10 percent is part 2, “Zion.” The novel begins when Tish is in her third month of pregnancy and ends as the birth of the child is imminent. Between these momentous events is the tale of the efforts of the families of Tish and Fonny to get him released from prison and to ensure the well-being of the first grandchild.

After telling Fonny that he is about to become a father, Tish goes home, where she tells her mother, Sharon Rivers, who relays the information to her husband, Joe, and her daughter Ernestine (Sis). Mrs. Rivers makes this moment into a joyous occasion, showing the support and love of this family for Tish, Fonny, and the child-to-be-born.

When the Hunts are told of the impending birth, Frank, Fonny’s father, is ready to celebrate. In contrast to Frank Hunt’s reaction is the response of his wife, Alice, who accuses Tish of destroying her son. Worse, she says, “The Holy Ghost will cause that child to shrivel in your womb. But my son will be forgiven. My prayers will save him.” This curse comes from a Holy Roller who is a self-righteous parent.

Sis has found a white lawyer for Fonny. The family is not always certain that he can be trusted, but he is the only hope they have. Hayward, the attorney, does believe in Fonny’s innocence. He knows that Bell, the prosecuting officer, is a racist and a liar who needs a victim. It is obvious that the wheels of justice will turn against Fonny unless Hayward can demolish the state’s case before a jury.

Although postponement of the case keeps Fonny incarcerated, the final paragraph of the novel provides some hope that one day Fonny will be free. Presumably the world into which this child is born will be a safer one than the one in which Fonny has grown up.

The Characters

Tish Rivers as narrator provides an account of the day-to-day events that move the plot forward, and she also provides the background information that gives credence to the evaluations that she makes of the people around her. Baldwin, writing from the female point of view, appears to understand the female psyche and has made Tish into a believable human being. That the vocabulary and the philosophy are sometimes those of James Baldwin does not make Tish less of a woman; instead, she appears at times to have wisdom beyond her age and education, to be fifty rather than nineteen.

The unborn child is the catalyst for the novel. Without the reactions to this expected birth, the gentleness and love of family life could not be told as effectively.

Fonny, the sculptor, is a sensitive young adult, secure in the knowledge of Tish’s love and in his ability to sculpt. His interactions with his friend Danny, when they meet by chance after Danny’s having been in prison, emphasize the positive aspects of friendship. Fonny’s asking Joe for Tish’s hand in marriage also adds to the portrait of a youth who is forthright in his dealings with people. Yet Tish does relate that Fonny quit vocational school only after stealing woodworking tools, breaking into the school, and stealing most of the wood from the shop. As far as Tish is concerned, these acts are justifiable because the educators are teaching the students to be slaves.

In the Rivers family, there seems to be ample love among the family members. Sis has two jobs. From one, she has the contacts that enable her to find an attorney for Fonny. She steals from the other employer to make life more comfortable for members of her family and also to help raise money to pay Fonny’s lawyer. Sis is the one who gives Mrs. Hunt a tongue-lashing for cursing Tish and the child: Sis’s loyalty to family cannot be doubted.

In addition to her daily support, Sharon goes to Puerto Rico to see the woman who has falsely accused Fonny. At the suggestion of Hayward, Sharon attempts to get this woman to admit that she really could not see her attacker and could not possibly identify him. Sharon hates to fly, and she is a novice at what she tries to do, but she does make the trip. Her husband, too, makes an effort that shows his support. Joe is willing to steal to raise money for bail. The love for Tish and Fonny is obviously a motivating force, although the morality is questionable.

In the Hunt family, the relationships are not as harmonious as in the Rivers family. Frank and Alice appear not to be in love, even though, as Frank says, they once were. Frank loves his son and his son loves him. That Frank will do anything for Fonny is shown when he steals in an attempt to help his son and is caught and fired from his job. Humiliated, he commits suicide.

Mrs. Hunt, although professing devotion to God, indicates through her actions that self-love is the primary force in her life. Her relationship with her son lacks warmth. Her daughters, Adrienne and Sheila, appear to do her bidding, but they are not wholly committed to pleasing their mother. Mrs. Hunt is really a hypocritical simpleton who loves herself, her fine clothes, and her view of her position in the Church. As a professed representative of the organized Church, she represents a destructive force in Christianity. She may know the Second Commandment, but she does not practice it. She, like her daughters, is light-skinned, in contrast to the members of the Rivers family and to the men in her own family, thus pointing to another reason why Alice Hunt feels superior.

Critical Context

Highly praised as a spokesperson for blacks, James Baldwin writes essays, short stories, and novels that are forceful, powerful, and brilliant. He has also received recognition as a competent dramatist.

If Beale Street Could Talk, Baldwin’s first novel with a female narrator, takes its title from the lyrics of “Beale Street Blues,” by W. C. Handy. Baldwin has used the blues thematically or as counterpoint in such works as the short story “Sonny’s Blues” and the drama Blues for Mister Charlie (1964).

If Beale Street Could Talk is based on Baldwin’s experiences while he was attempting to aid a jailed friend. The injustices that he observes are some of the same injustices on which he expounds in some of his provocative essays in Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son (1961), a volume which, along with his novel Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953), clearly established him as an artist of the first rank.

In Go Tell It on the Mountain, his first novel, Baldwin attacks the organized Church, and this attack is continued in If Beale Street Could Talk, where Baldwin portrays the Christians as less caring and less loving than those outside the Church.

Baldwin also uses many of the themes of this novel in Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone (1968), a longer, more rambling novel than If Beale Street Could Talk. The tautness of the latter strengthens Baldwin’s premises and makes the novel a very powerful work. Of If Beale Street Could Talk, Joyce Carol Oates writes: “[It] is a moving, painful story. It is so vividly human and so obviously based upon reality, that it strikes us as timeless. . . .”

Bibliography

Campbell, James. Talking at the Gates: A Life of James Baldwin. New York: Viking, 1991. A good narrative biography, with detailed notes and bibliography.

Kinnamon, Keneth, ed. James Baldwin. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1974. A part of the Twentieth Century Views series, this collection contains some important appraisals of Baldwin’s work and career by Langston Hughes, Eldridge Cleaver, and Sherley Anne Williams, among others.

Macebuh, Stanley. James Baldwin: A Critical Study. New York: Third Press, 1973. A good presentation of the social and historical background of Baldwin’s work.

Standley, Fred L., and Nancy V. Burt, eds. Critical Essays on James Baldwin. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1988. A collection of contemporary reviews and essays covering Baldwin’s entire career.

Sylvander, Carolyn Wedin. James Baldwin. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1980. A study that examines in particular the links between Baldwin’s works and his life.

Troupe, Quincy, ed. James Baldwin: The Legacy. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1989. Equally divided between memoirs of the writer and discussions of his work. Includes a very useful bibliography.

Weatherby, W. J. James Baldwin: Artist on Fire. New York: Donald I. Fine, 1989. An important biography written by one of Baldwin’s friends. Weatherby is, at times, too close to his subject to be objective.