Love Secreted in Concrete (If Beale Street Can Talk Essay)

2022 February 14

The novel and film adaptation of “If Beale Street Could Talk” by James Baldwin translates oppression through relationships and how it becomes the vehicle of how love can be cruelly intertwined. This message often lends itself to the character’s situations in the book where they believe that an unprecedented fate is certain and are conditioned to despair in an unjust reality. Nature versus Nurture is also one of the key focal points in regarding oppression through relationship since it allows the character’s distinction to be in the front when there appears to be a sense of division. Two scenes that emphasize this notion is when Tish announces her baby’s arrival to both families and Fonny catching up with his old friend Daniel. The interior voice gives itself credence to the spirituality of Beale Street, and how familiar experiences reminds black people on how much they must endure before they can cling on to love. Beale Street aims to show the humanity in a world of prejudice while analyzing the cold effects of racism and the resiliency of love. The two works share many differences and similarities that include the liminal agency of Black Americans in American ideology, the human capacity for love, and racial tension severing familial relationships.

The conversation between Fonny and Daniel illuminates the façade of the American Criminal Justice system and how the prejudice against Black Americans leads them to a pervaded disadvantage in society. Daniel’s time in prison mirrors Fonny’s experience as he explains the disheveled and ludicrously inept criminal system. In the novel, he tells Fonny, “They were just playing with me, man, because they could. […] Some of the things I saw, baby, I’ll be dreaming about until the day I die” (103). The similarities between this statement and the one spoken in the film is that Daniel’s anguish can be heard orally and in written form. Baldwin wanted to convey how oppression preys on their innocence and display that those in power will always choose winning side. Morality does not really factor into their oppressor’s headspace since it would minimize the disenfranchised mindset of their victims proving they have more worth than what their oppressor’s forced them to believe. This conversation shows the dissonance between humanity and the compacity for error. After this statement, “Daniel shudders when Fonny puts his hand on his neck and tears began streaming down his face” (103). Implicating that if society is being threatened in the oppressor’s view by acts of empathy or subjects that may bring revolutionary change it would disrupt the system they currently have going. Black Americans are forced to bear the brunt of that wrath by accepting an unjust punishment and choosing the least self-destructive outcome. Choosing any other action would result in more time away from loved ones and having the justice system to evolve under their jurisdiction. Unfortunately, these individuals are left permanently scarred which Daniel in the movie showcased brilliantly and how Fonny contemplates the things he values the most, so that he would not lose himself if he became incarcerated. It ultimately validifies that white people adhere to being loveless making them more susceptible of adopting supremacist values and ideals.

Moreover, the characters in Beale Street discover their capacity to love and how the absence of it can greatly change their view in life. In particular, the scene when Tish is announcing her baby explains this notion well since Tish feels like the whole world is against her without the presence of Fonny. Tish’s emotions evoke out after Adrienne insulted her and thought that she had no idea how to take care of a child, “I am, I said, “you dried up yellow cunt, and you keep on talking, I’m going to take mighty good care of you” (70). Tish outburst shares her mental state with trying to deal with pregnancy and the abhorrent behavior from Fonny’s family. That moment was supposed to be a space for her to feel comfortable and feel safe assured but because of how paranoid everyone is of whiteness, such a reality becomes further to achieve. It also negates the hope for races to come together since it breaks the interconnectivity black people needed when they are backed into corners. Sooner or later those corners will become frigid and lead them to fall into their own personal pitfalls. From both the novel and the film, the scene itself symbolizes unity and how it can prepare their loved ones to brave the force ahead or keep them out of the limelight indefinitely. This statement rings true when Tish spoke out against Mrs. Hunt insensitive remarks regarding her child, “Come on and kill it now. I dare you” I looked her in the eyes. “It’s won’t be the first child you tried to kill” (73). The intensity of this scene speaks volumes of how the river’s family sense of salvation and the Hunt’s family’s loyalty clash together. Love becomes stranded in the face of hate influencing Tish’s thoughts if love is everlasting and how long will it take before it dries out.

Racial tension between family members becomes a prominent factor when dissecting the scenes between the film and novel as colorism, prejudice, and bigotry complicates their relationships. This statement can be outlined within Daniel’s conversation and the Baby announcement by observing some of the character’s reactions to subjects that may raise racial tension. These heavy emotions come into fruition when Fonny notices that Daniel is afraid to leave at midnight and the novel comments on this stating, “Daniel, who cannot abandon his mother, yet longs to be free to confront his life; […] The song is old, the question unanswered (106). The film amplifies his feelings by focusing exclusively on Daniel’s facial expressions and how disgruntled Fonny is by seeing how uncomfortable Daniel is about venturing out at night. The problem is that he is supposed to safe in his own community, but he cannot feel that because of how much power the whites have and how they could manipulate the people closest to them. This scene is amplified even further when his own lawyers did not have his back in the face of an unjust arrest and those are the people that are supposed to have your back regardless of the circumstances. Moreover, in the baby announcement, racial tension has the power of cutting familial bonds as certain characters see themselves as superior based on their choices. Mrs. Hunt and her daughters come to mind, as they are blasting rude comments towards the Rivers, Ernestine exclaims, “You just cursed the child in my sister’s womb. Don’t you never let me see you again, you broken down half-white bride of Christ” (74). The distinction in this statement is that Mrs. Hunt and her daughters were behaving like white people boasting in their superiority. Not knowing that they can find themselves in similar circumstances and pretend to stand atop a pillar to justify their likeness to whiteness itself. In the film adaptation, they were not that fair skinned to avoid the conflation of colorism and focus on the problem of having love for their community. While in the novel they are described as fair skinned to contrast an “inherent” advantage over the rivers because of how they possibility of passing and living by white mannerisms. In the grand scheme of things, Mrs. Hunt and her daughters are stuck in a microcosm of ego-lifting since white people in that era would view them the same as any other black person. It only takes a pigmentation to let their oppressors know when they should open their mouths and when they should be in silence.

The director Barry Jenkins wanted to emphasize the purity of love within Beale Street while the novel acknowledges that there are layers to love that makes the audience question if its necessary or not. The absence of love itself can lead people to their darkest crevices and make irrational decisions because it is the only thing they can cling to. It beckons the intended audience to see if love is powerful enough to pull themselves out of a difficult situation or is it just buying time for the inevitable to happen. Luckily, with Beale Street, people see Tish and Fonny’s bond connect the dots of how real intimacy is displayed and not a simple act of romance. They each came from their own cloth in the story and the narrative weaves them together to tackle these situations head on instead of relying on the white man’s assistance. There are so many instances in the film where they were close to begging for their help, but the community had their back when they needed it. Sharon confronting Victoria on Fonny’s arrest, Ernestine standing up for Tish, and their connection Pedrocito who offers them food after being harassed by Officer Bell. The two scenes showcase Tish and Fonny’s relationship through the eyes of their support characters as they are braving them for what is next to come if they want to want to stay with each other. Being discriminated against, racially profiled, and working for liminal means sounds like a miserable world to bring a baby into; let alone growing up as a young couple. Yet not challenging these obstacles means they are denouncing their love and everything that they have experienced to be safe under the guise of being subservient to a white society. The world is pitted against the couple as they cannot rely on their personal decisions to bail them out of a situation. They must trudge and push on from a hammer that continues to weigh down on them with every step whenever they think they found a breakthrough. This is because in their society, they are pages of a book that people flip through to get to the good parts since they are the brutal details that are crucial to the climax. In short, the two works share similarities and differences to their accordance to their personal journey of American ideology in White America, the power of intimacy, and the severed ties of human interconnectivity.

Works Cited

Baldwin, James. If Beale Street Could Talk. London, Penguin Classics, 2019. Accessed 19 February 2022.

Jenkins, Barry. “If Beale Street Could Talk.” Beverly Hills, CA.: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2019. Accessed 19 February 2022.