If Beale Street could talk door James Baldwin

Beoordeling 6.5
Foto van een scholier
Boekcover If Beale Street could talk
Shadow
  • Boekverslag door een scholier
  • Klas onbekend | 608 woorden
  • 3 april 1999
  • 168 keer beoordeeld
Cijfer 6.5
168 keer beoordeeld

Boek
Auteur
James Baldwin
Genre
Sociale roman
Taal
Engels
Vak
Eerste uitgave
1974
Pagina's
197
Geschikt voor
bovenbouw havo/vwo
Punten
2 uit 5
Oorspronkelijke taal
Engels

Boekcover If Beale Street could talk
Shadow

'One of the few essential novelists of our time' - New Statesman

Harlem, the black soul of New York City, in the era of Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles. The narrator of James Baldwin's novel is Tish, nineteen, and pregnant. Her lover Fonny, father of her child, is in jail accused of rape. Flasbacks from their love affair are woven into the compelling struggle of two f…

'One of the few essential novelists of our time' - New Statesman

Harlem, the black soul of New York City, in the era of Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles. The narrator of James Baldw…

If Beale Street could talk door James Baldwin
Shadow

Oefenen voor je mondelingen?

Komen je mondelingen er aan en wil je oefenen? Probeer onze Boekenquiz. We stellen je open vragen over de gelezen boeken.

Title

If Beale Street could talk

Year of first publication

1986

Summary

Tish is a young girl who lives in Harlem with her parents. Harlem is an area in New York where many Negroes live. She tells about her youth with Fonny. Fonny has been her friend for years, and now she is pregnant of him. They decide to marry too.
Tish often visits the family Hunt (family of Fonny), because she likes Fonny and his father. Fonny has two sisters, but Tish does not like them, and neither his mother.
In Harlem are many racists. Almost none of them like the Negroes. A friend of Fonny and Tish tells about how he gets in trouble because of that racism.
Fonny gets in trouble too, by a woman (Ms. Rogers) who is raped by a man. She says that Fonny raped her, and a white policeman attached that. The policeman has some pictures, and there is only one black man. Ms. Rogers accuses Fonny (because Fonny is black too), and he goes innocently in jail.
The two families have a lawyer, Mr. Hayward, who has the order to get Fonny out of jail. This lawyer says that this goal will be very difficult. Hayward has to prove that Fonny is innocent.
The families do everything they can to get Fonny out of prison. Sharon, the mother of Tish, goes to search for Ms. Rogers. Ms. Rogers has gone to Puerto Rico, and Sharon travels to Puerto Rico to look there for her. Sharon finds Ms. Rogers, but Ms. Rogers does not want to help in any way. The other family works very hard to earn money to get Fonny out of jail. They are successful, but then by the awful circumstance, Fonny's father commits suicide.
On the end of the story, the baby is finally born and Fonny is out of jail.

Characters

Tish (Clementine Rivers)
She is a young black girl about twenty years old. She lives with her family in Harlem (many Negroes live there). Tish is the main character in this book, and she also tells the story. She thinks very badly about people. She also thinks that that is the reason Fonny is in jail.

Fonny (Alonzo Hunt)
Fonny is also black and about twenty years old. He is a sculptor, and the future father of the baby of Tish. He is beloved by his family and of course by Tish. Everyone helps him (and Tish) to get him out of prison.
Theme

The theme is the racism against Negroes. In addition, the Negroes cannot do anything about the fact that they are the scapegoat in the society.
This is the theme because the book shows me the relation between Negroes and white people. Both of the groups have prejudices about each other. The white people dominate the black, and the Negroes have to live with that fact. It is a terrible thing to see how the white people put the black in jail because of their colour. It is just the same as a fisherman who catches a fish.

Style

I want to explain the difficult title. Beale Street is the street where Fonny and Tish grew up. In that street lives many Negroes. 'If Beale Street could talk' refers that if there is no more racism, and the black people get a place in the society, the world will be a better place to live.

Opinion

It is a touching story and a nice book to read. If you read it, you really think that the story is real. In addition, you think that it must be terrible to be the main character.

Boekenquiz 10 vragen

Nieuw! Open vragen worden nagekeken door AI
Hoe hebben Tish en Fonny elkaar leren kennen?
Hoe noemt men de gevangenis waar Fonny vastzit?
Waar ontmoetten Sharon en Joseph elkaar voor het eerst?
Waar werkt Tish?
Hoe heet Fonny's beste vriend?
Waarheen is Mrs. Rogers gevlucht wanneer Sharon haar gaat opzoeken?
We getuigde(n) er tegen Fonny nadat de familie Rivers en de familie Hunt ruzie hadden gekregen bij de bekendmaking van Tish's zwangerschap?
Hoe zijn Tish en Fonny aan een advocaat gekomen voor Fonny's rechtszaak?
Wie belt de familie Rivers om te vragen of ze iets van Frank hebben gehoord?
Op welk moment voelt Tish dat de baby eraan komt?

REACTIES

K.

K.

egt een toppertje!!! Heel erg bedankt! Groetjes Kiwi

23 jaar geleden

S.

S.

Hey Onno,

Dit is echt een VET goed uitreksel,
alles wat ik nodig heb staat er in.....

Groetjezzzzzzzzzz

22 jaar geleden

S.

S.

echt een supergoede samenvatting man. ik heb er echt veel aan gehad bij het maken van mijn verwerkingsopdracht. dank je wel!!

stefan.

21 jaar geleden

Log in om een reactie te plaatsen of maak een profiel aan.