Beale Street By James Baldwin Analysis

If Beale Street Could Talk, by James Baldwin, is a story about a man who has been falsely accused of a crime, simply because he does as doesn’t conform to the white society’s expectations of him. As Hans F. Hanson says, “It takes nothing to join the crowd. It takes everything to stand alone.” By putting Fonny, one of the story’s main protagonists, in the position where he has to defy the expected standards of society, Baldwin is able to achieve his purpose of creating an honest but brutal story that displays his character’s courage to not accept life’s circumstances and “join the crowd,” and instead carve his own path for his life, which results in many troubles that Fonny is forced to endure as he gives everything he has

The Southern portion of the United States ranging from the East Coast to Texas is commonly referred to as the South. Two different versions of this area exist. One is the true South that anyone who drives through states like Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi will see. The other South is a popularized depiction of this region. Hollywood has played a part in constructing this version of the South by creating countless movies that have depicted a stereotyped South fixated on the Antebellum Era. The 2002 movie “Sweet Home Alabama” poetries Southerners that are trying to preserve the way of life that existed before the Civil War.

If there was no characters, there would be no story. Characters make up a story, along with other aspects of course, but characters come with different types of personalities. With the characters and their personalities it can create different types of moods for the readers. The characters bring these moods in stories such as a scary story, which is very important. Characters make the story have mystery and suspense. In the story Where is Here, by Joyce Carol Oates, the author uses one of the characters in the story to create a mysterious mood because he was very strange. With the character being strange it builds mystery by making the reader want to know what his next move is. The author uses characters to establish many characteristics

Disney has faced a large amount of criticism from critics over the tropes and stereotypes that it portrays in its animated films. This is not a recent event however. One of Disney’s most notorious and controversial films, Song of The South, was released in 1946. Song of the South, set during the Reconstruction Era, focuses on a young boy named Johnny who learns that his parents will being living apart for an unknown amount of time, moves to a plantation in Georgia, while his father continues to live in Atlanta. Depressed and confused over the recent events Johnny decides to run away to Atlanta, but is drawn to the voices of Uncle Remus, an ex-slave living on the plantation, telling stories of Br’er Rabbit. Although it is implied that the African American workers are no longer Johnny’s family property, the black characters are still wholly subservient and are happy to be so. James Baskett plays Uncle Remus as a blissfully, happy companion ready to please. Due to this “magical negro” trope, the characters’ ridiculously stereotypical voices, and the unrealistic happy and joyful relationship between the white landowners and their black help, Song of The South, is one of Disney’s most offensive, racist, and fictitious film. Disney’s portrayal of Uncle Remus is his veiled justification of the mistreatment that minorities received before and after the Reconstruction Era.

Throughout If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin the main characters have to overcome the challenges of racism, and the traits that go hand and hand with it, justice and prejudice, to realize what they actually needed was the family love they already had. Even though there are many romantic and even some graphic passages in the book, Baldwin mainly focuses on how they had to come together as a family when Alonzo (Fonny) was in jail and awaiting trial. If Beale Street Could Talk is essentially a story about the human capacity to love.

In reading the story "Sonny 's Blues" by James Baldwin, we learn of two brothers and their lives growing up in Harlem. The narrator, who is the older brother in the story, narrates the trials and tribulations he and his younger brother (Sonny) had to endure growing up in such a harsh environment in Harlem (due to the drugs, violence, and Black 's being looked down upon in general in the mid-1950s). We start in the future (present), with the narrator having a somewhat successful future being a teacher and having a wife and two kids (with one of them passing away due to the polio disease). We learned very early that Sonny was locked up due to possession of heroin. The narrator originally found out about the tragic news from a newspaper, then later, an old childhood friend of the two made a trip to inform him while he was leaving school. The childhood friend tried to inform the narrator of the harsh reality of the situation Sonny was in, and would never change by telling him "Listen. They 'll let him out and then it 'll just start all over again. That 's what I mean" (Baldwin page 50), with the narrator already being mindful of the situation and conceivable consequence of him diving into that lifestyle. He initially didn 't care, but came to the realization that he had to care about his younger misguided brother as he and the fellow converted then parted ways. This gave light into where the story was heading with the two siblings, as they would write letters back and forward

In the short story, Sonny’s Blues, by James Baldwin, there are two brother that live in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance. The older brother, whose name is never mentioned, was given responsibility of Sonny by their mother before she passed away. Sonny is the younger of the two and wants to be a jazz pianist, but his older brother does not understand this, while he is an algebra school teacher. Sonny and his brother stop communicating. Later, the older brother is going to his job when he sees in the newspaper that his younger brother, Sonny, had been arrested for selling and possessing cocaine, or as it is called in the story, horse. Sonny’s brother never writes Sonny in jail until his daughter, Grace, died of polio. After Sonny gets out of jail, they begin to get close and his brother starts to appreciate Sonny’s love for jazz.

Discrimination has afflicted the American society since its inception in 1776. The inferiority of the African American race – a notion embedded within the mindset of the white populace has difficult to eradicate – despite the efforts of civil rights activists and lawmakers alike. Many individuals are of the opinion that discrimination and racism no longer exist and that these issues have long since been resolved during the Civil War and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. However such is not the case. Discrimination is a complex issue – one that encompasses many aspects of society. The impact of discrimination of the African American race is addressed from two diverse perspectives in the essays: “Notes of a Native Son” by James Baldwin and “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King .

While reading “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin theme, symbolism, and motifs were discovered throughout the entire short story. Sonny one of the two main characters, is dealing with a drug addiction and is now following his dreams of becoming a jazz musician. The narrator, whose name was never given, does his best to keep the promise he made his mother years ago, to be his brother’s keeper.

If Beale Street Could Talk Analysis Essay In the novel, If Beale Street Could Talk, James Baldwin uses many rhetorical strategies to emphasize the unfair treatment that African Americans faced in early US history. Through the point of view, imagery, and time elements, the situations of which the characters find themselves in are more effective. Each device is place and used to allow readers to feel as if they are going through the difficulties and the happiest moments as another character in the book, and raises awareness to the trials that they faced.

In James Baldwin’s short story “Sonny’s Blues,” one of the most pertinent themes throughout the story is the contrast and duality of light and darkness. More specifically, the author explores this theme by using light and darkness to explain the characters coming to terms with their realities and the realities of many people who live in their community. The theme also is key in explaining the relationship between Sonny and the narrator. In this paper, I intend to explain the significance of the tension of identifying one’s reality in “Sonny’s Blues,” by exploring the many instances that Baldwin uses light and darkness to explore one’s reality.

In the story “Sonny’s Blues”, written by James Baldwin, the narrator and his younger brother, Sonny, interact with musical elements that serve as a redemption for Sonny. Baldwin believes in the power of music to rescue or minimize the suffering that people go through. Both characters isolate themselves with several instances of music and issue their reactions toward it. Sonny is an uprising musician that wants to portray his life by playing the piano. This story is about Sonny’s Blues. His sadness about his escape from his childhood, his frustration with being a musician, as well as the lack of support from his brother, when he knew that Sonny was hurting the most, are expressed through the wooden black and white keys. At first, Sonny uses

They make the plot more important. We semi get attached to these characters. In the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" a character that is important would be Scout. Scout is important to this novel because one she sticks up for her family and herself, second because she’s brave, and third Scout is very honest.

One place he stayed at the Beale’s. The Beales take care and love MM like an actual son even though MM is white and the Beales are black, as shown on p. 48 when the Beales took MM to the doctor when MM didn’t feel well. Push aside their racial differences and the Beales would be a normal, loving family. MM was helpful around the house, as shown on p. 46. when he does many of the daily chores. In turn, Maniac was a helpful & loving person to the Beale

characters such as John the Savage, as well as to achieve a level of relatability within the reader.