Synthesis Essay On If Beale Street Could Talk

A story that still sticks with me from the book was when a young girl pinched the man and he responded with, “Ouch, have you lost your mind?” The girl responded, “That did not hurt you, you can’t feel” (Thurman). She looked at him as if he was not human, like he was not capable of feeling pain. I wonder if it was from so many stories like this that African Americans didn’t think whites were capable of love. This girl’s worldview effected on how she treated a person. Multiple factors play into worldview and how one defines a human.

All of these little details contribute to Kingsolver underlying message of the varied kinds of families that exist, and the importance they play. Ryan acknowledges that Taylor has always known that a father and mother and 2.3 children don't necessarily make a family (80). Taylor recognizes the existence and importance of makeshift families, and knows what can be gained from the love of others. Kingsolver repeated theme of the extended family and how it benefits and helps one grow, is evident throughout her novel. She uses Taylor to illustrate her belief in Socrates idea of the communal family, and how it is often the best thing for the upbringing of a child.

Poor or no communication creates intense barriers of misunderstanding and resentment between family members. Particularly between siblings who are rivals fighting for their mother’s love. Personal needs trump familial duties, though these selfish acts are masked with the pretense of devotion. The Bundren family’s journey to Jefferson is driven by familial duty, not by familial love.

Firstly how does the novel show the theme of family in the novel. An example from the novel is when Ada wants to move to the city to find a job in the city. But she can’t because she has to stay at home and look after her family because her mum has died and her dad is always drunk, so if she leaves things might go badly. Also, family is shown in the novel when Willand Murray don’t talk much anymore because after what happened

An example of how her family values each other is her description of the conventions and norms of her family. They are thoroughly supportive of one another, attending every graduation, baby shower, birthday, and house warming party. Her father and siblings have burial plots together so that they are never separated. Life is lived with everyone being connected and concerned for not only each person’s well-being, but happiness as well. She says her “relatives form an alliance that represents a genuine and enduring love of family…”

After Mrs.Rogers had been found Officer Bell “swears that he saw Fonny running away from the scene of the crime (Baldwin pg. 93). Later it is revealed that Officer Bell was a racist (Baldwin pgs. 138, 182). Earlier Tish and Fonny had been shopping and this man tried to attack Tish and Fonny attacked the man and Officer Bell was ready to arrest Fonny, mostly on the the bases that he is black (Baldwin pgs. 135-138). “She says she was raped by a black man, and so they put one black man in a lineup with a whole lot of pale dudes” (Baldwin pg. 182). During the time of racism the colored families had to stick together. Through love and kindness Tish is able to keep him in his right mind while he is in jail. “The heart that cries- let it but hear/ Its sweet love answering,/ Or out of ether one faint note/ Of living comfort wring” (Source D). Love is what kept Fonny going after all that

We know from Baldwin’s last chapter Zion that over the last nine months, Fonny has been stuck in jail and his outlook has changed incredibly over that time, as he tells Tish that he’s “beginning to see things that he’s never seen before, and that he doesn’t have any words for those things, and that he’s scared.” (Baldwin, 182) Had Baldwin chosen to put the story in Fonny’s point of view, the plot could’ve been more dramatic as it focused on how Fonny was changing during his life in jail, but instead Baldwin put the story in Tish’s point of view, which ultimately ended up serving his purpose of showing the effects the cruel and condoning world had on them, despite the fact that Tish wasn’t the one being convicted of a crime. Placing the story in third person would also have worked nicely for this story, but in the end it wouldn’t have ended up serving Baldwin’s purpose. There are many instances where, had the story been narrated by an unnamed narrator, it would have lost it’s sense of intimacy and therefore wouldn’t have been nearly as effective as it was. Through the duration of Tish’s pregnancy, we are able to see the inner workings of Tish’s mind and sense her connection to her baby. So, ultimately, by put the story in Fonny’s or third person point of

To show first hand to the whites the inequality’s and hardships that the blacks face, the entire first section is in a narrative and a descriptive format. The use of these types of essays lets the readers feel more involved in the story and feel things for themselves. Split into two sections within itself, this first paragraph juxtaposes two stories — one about a “young Negro boy” living in Harlem, and the other about a “young Negro girl” living in Birmingham. The parallelism in the sentence structures of introducing the children likens them even more — despite the differences between them — whether it be their far away location, or their differing, yet still awful, situations. Since this section is focused more towards his white audience, King goes into a description of what it was like living as an African American in those times— a situation the black audience knew all too well. His intense word choice of describing the boy’s house as “vermin-infested” provokes a very negative reaction due to the bad

Setting is an important feature of novels. This narration takes place in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1960. A time that saw the segregation of black people and the dominance of white people in the southern United States. In this novel the setting of 1960’s Jackson, Mississippi exposes significant themes such as racial discrimination, social partiality. The setting also supplies decisive insight into character inspirations and views.

Many tragic events happen in this short story that allows the reader to create an assumption for an underlying theme of racism. John Baldwin has a way of telling the story of Sonny’s drug problem as a tragic reality of the African American experience. The reader has to depict textual evidence to prove how the lifestyle and Harlem has affected almost everything. The narrator describes Harlem as “... some place I didn’t want to go. I certainly didn’t want to know how it felt. It filled everything, the people, the houses, the music, the dark, quicksilver barmaid, with menace; and this menace was their reality” (Baldwin 60). Another key part in this story is when the narrator and Sonny’s mother is telling the story of a deceased uncle. The mother explains how dad’s brother was drunk crossing the road and got hit by a car full of drunk white men. Baldwin specifically puts emphasis on the word “white” to describe the men for a comparison to the culture of dad and his brother.

As time moves on, so does the love Pauline and Bonbon accumulate for each other. At this point no other man is able to claim her, she now belongs to Bonbon. Having their two twin boys together, Billy and Willie, both Pauline and Bonbon love their children very much. Bonbon not only has children from Pauline, but other daughters of his own. Although white men, at this time were not bashed for sleeping with a black woman, falling in love with a black woman was not something that was normal. Bonbon genuinely cared. “After so many years, Pauline falls in love with Bonbon. She couldn 't help but fall in love with him” (66). Here the reader can understand that even though white men despised black people, Gaines has turned the tables. “He wanted to be with [Pauline]-yes, you could tell from watching them at the table how much he loved her and wanted to be with her; but he had to go to a black man, and a respectful way, and ask that black man for a room. He didn’t know how to do that. He didn’t know how to talk to a black man unless he was given orders” (145). Readers suggest that Bonbon is depicted as a hypercritical person, but change into what may seem as a white man caring for black people. He loves Pauline, as well as his two twins, but cannot fully express his feelings for them. “They looked at each other like they

From the beginning of the story, we are shown racial inequalities. Ellison introduces us to our character who is a broke and hungry African American economically struggling to save his lady friend’s, Laura’s, life. The protagonist “got no birth certificate to

Claim: Forman claims that racial profiling is an ineffective way to enforce the law and should be stopped.

hardship out of anyone. She has a still-born baby. This was the one thing in Rose of Sharon?s

The last topic is about the strength of quality. African Americans over the time has become united as one and tried to follow their dreams. Her poem is a prime example of how some egos are bigger than others and how it can also blur someone’s