Summary of If Beale Street Could Talk: Conversation Starters

By John Mani

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin: Conversation Starters 

Fonny, a sculptor, is arrested for the crime of raping a Puerto Rican woman. It's a crime he did not commit. Fonny's fiancee, Tish, is pregnant with his baby. In an attempt to appeal to the rape victim, Tish's mother goes to Puerto Rico to talk to her, but she only sees a woman who lives in even more dire poverty. Fonny's father, unable to bear seeing his son behind bars, commits suicide. James Baldwin's 1974 novel highlights primal emotions in his characters — love, terror, and hate— to stress the importance of human bonds and that human beings' survival is based on these bonds. Fonny's strong emotional bonds help him survive imprisonment. The thought of his unborn baby gives him hope. So do the desperate and heroic efforts of his family to get him out of jail.
If Beale Street Could Talk is adapted into a film by award-winning director Barry Jenkins. The movie brings to focus the late Baldwin's literary career and his theme of black intimacy at a time when racism prevailed.

A Brief Look Inside:

 

EVERY GOOD BOOK CONTAINS A WORLD FAR DEEPER than the surface of its pages. The characters and their world come alive, and the characters and its world still live on. Conversation Starters is peppered with questions designed to bring us beneath the surface of the page and invite us into the world that lives on.

 

These questions can be used to...

Create Hours of Conversation:

 

Promote an atmosphere of discussion for groups

Foster a deeper understanding of the book

Assist in the study of the book, either individually or corporately

Explore unseen realms of the book as never seen before

 

Disclaimer: This book you are about to enjoy is an independent resource meant to supplement the original book. If you have not yet read the original book, we encourage doing before purchasing this unofficial Conversation starter.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: BH
• Release date: Apr 3, 2019

Book preview

Introducing If Beale Street Could Talk

I

F BEALE STREET COULD TALK IS THE FIFTH NOVEL OF JAMES BALDWIN. THE novel, published in 1974, is hailed by critics as a story that celebrates love, between a man and a woman, and between family members. It tells the story of 22-year old Fonny, a black man who works as a sculptor and who is arrested for the crime of raping a Puerto Rican woman. It's a crime he did not commit. The rape victim is confused as he identifies him in a police line-up, the only black man included among suspected rapists. The distraught woman's testimony is influenced by the white policeman. Fonny's fiancee, Tish, is pregnant with his baby. In an attempt to appeal to the rape victim, Tish's mother goes to Puerto Rico to talk to her, but she only sees a woman who lives in even more dire poverty than them and who eventually loses her mind as she goes through a miscarriage. Fonny's father, unable to bear seeing his son behind bars, commits suicide just before Fonny is released on bail. The book ends as Fonny gets out on bail, not yet declared not guilty but full of hope for the