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If Beale Street Could Talk By James Baldwin

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Kirby
If Beale Street Could Talk Essay
James Baldwin uses a vast and varied toolbox of writing techniques to illustrate and highlight the many themes of oppression, family, religion, sex and violence in If Beale Street
Could Talk. One technique that is used consistently throughout the text is a reliance on metaphors. “If you cross the Sahara, and you fall, by and by vultures circle around you, smelling, sensing, your death” (pg. 6), here Baldwin is using the Sahara as a metaphor for both the oppression that black people face on a daily basis and the way the system (the vultures) has chewed up and spit out, or rather is still chewing, on an innocent black man (Fonny). Another metaphor used by Baldwin is the statue that Fonny gives to Tish’s …show more content…

“The whole motion of the figure was torment” (pg. 35).
Another frequently used technique is flashback. Baldwin mostly uses this to give context to character actions and character relations. One example is the flashback to the time that Fonny took Tish to church (pgs. 19-26). These illustrate the controlling and harsh nature of Fonny’s mother, as well as the basis of the relationship that Tish has with his family. It also illustrates why Fonny believes himself to be more apart of Tish’s family than his own, and the very beginnings of his romantic relationship with Tish. Another flashback that illustrates the relationship between Fonny and Tish is the flashback to when the child was consummated (pgs
52-61). Here the intensity of feeling and love that Tish has for Fonny is illustrated by her narration of the event, describing Fonny thusly: “He was the most beautiful person I had ever seen in my life.” (pg. 52). This was after a more direct description of his scuffed shoes and nappy hair, and shows the way that characters who are in love tend to overlook flaws in other

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