If Beale Street Could Talk

Fonny’s sculpture of a suffering Black man is symbolic of the impact of systemic racism on the characters in the novel, especially the African American male characters in the novel. Baldwin introduces the sculpture when he has Tish describe the sculpture as a piece that reminds her of her father, Joseph, who makes a world for his daughters in the harsh environs of New York.

The sculpture is also a symbol of the ability of Black art to provide a means of self-expression and self-love for African Americans in the face of American racism and white supremacy. Fonny creates these sculptures using tools and materials he stole from a vocational school designed to keep him and other African American youth in their place, according to Tish. His practice of his art serves a shield against the environment in Harlem, which destroys many people of his age with addiction, for example. His art also gives him a sense of self-fashioned identity that allows him to feel a measure of pride not generally allowed to young African American men in his time and his place.

Once Fonny is in jail, his imagined sculpting of pieces serves as a form of psychological cocooning that allows him to bear the overwhelming threats to his sanity and physical safety.