If Beale Street Could Talk (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: James Baldwin
- First Published: 1974
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Realism
- Time of Work: The 1950’s
- Setting: New York City and San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Genres: Long fiction, Realism, Social realism
- Subjects: 1950’s, Family or family life, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Prisoners, Racism, Love or romance, New York City, Pregnancy, Rape, Theft, Puerto Rico or Puerto Ricans
- Locales: New York, NY, Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Characters Discussed
Clementine “Tish” Rivers, a salesclerk at the perfume counter of a department store, a very slim, nineteen-year-old black woman. Her two foci in life are her fiancé, Fonny, who languishes in jail, and their unborn child. Although not naïve, she is essentially a trusting person, a result of innocence and youth. She draws for her strength on her love for Fonny and the love her family feels for her. Because she has never had any other lover, paramount in her life is getting Fonny, falsely imprisoned for rape, freed so that they can get on with their...
[The entire page is 798 words long]
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