Fonny loved me too much, we needed each other too much. Tish also describes herself and Fonny as merging into one: “I don't remember that we ever had any curiosity concerning each other's bodies at all-due to the cunning of that watching moment which we knew was approaching. When talking about Fonny, Tish often equates his love to something greater than humanity: "I thought of Fonny's touch, of Fonny, in my arms, his breath, his touch, his odor, his weight, that terrible and beautiful presence riding into me and his breath being snarled, as if by a golden thread, deeper and deeper in his throat as he rode-as he rode deeper and deeper not so much into me as into a kingdom which lay just behind his eyes" (42). Trudier Harris in “The Eye as a Weapon in If Beale Street Could Talk" asserts: "Fonny and Tish love and save (figuratively and literally) by loving." Though the novel focuses on Fonny’s trial and the pain which it brings to Tish and the family, it is their love and perseverance which offers a hope of redemption throughout. Fonny and Tish's Love (Allegory)įonny and Tish's love is an allegory for Christianity. Thus, the innocence of a child is overriden by the harsh realities which black children also face, explaining and rationalizing how Fonny could create such a symbolic and emotional piece at such a young age. She also states that after her initial surprise, the piece began to make sense: “it seemed strange until you thought about it” (35). Though the piece could be interpreted to depict Fonny himself, Tish instead reads the work as a testament of a more general experience, recounting that “omething about it always made me think of Daddy” (35). The nakedness and the attempt to cover or protect the genitals also connotes vulnerability and perhaps even places the piece somewhere outside the present. The foot which remains stuck represents the constriction which Fonny feels throughout the novel, in school, in prison, and with his family relations The “torment” of the motion also stands in for the unstable and painful experience associated with such entrapment.
This sculpture stands as a symbol of the black male experience throughout If Beale Street Could Talk, not only in its physical similarities, made of “black wood,” but also in what it signifies. She describes the “motion of the figure” as “torment” and its overall creation “strange…for such a young kid to do” (35). Tish recalls the man’s “long legs,” one of which “seems planted, unable to move” (35).
The sculpture was made of “black wood” and depicted “a naked man with one hand at his forehead and the other half hiding his sex” (35). Buy Study Guide Fonny's Sculpture (symbol)Īfter he drops out of vocational school, Fonny starts creating sculptures and gives one to Tish’s mother.
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