If Beale Street Could Talk Analysis

Baldwin uses the relationships between lovers in order to show the necessity of acceptance of flaws and struggles in order for a relationship to survive. In If Beale Street Could Talk, Baldwin focuses on a young black couple in love, surrounded by their optimism until culture and society fight against them (Welsh). While advising a friend, Fonny, the love interest of the main character, claims “Man… we just have to move it from day to day. If you think too much about it, you really are fucked, can’t move at all” (Baldwin If, 104). The main couple, while not religious, must resist temptation and continue along their struggle, accepting the challenges that present themselves as they appear. The couple struggles to hold onto their love through
excessive optimism, yet they face each challenge with the same optimism that landed them in the situation to begin with. They had to accept the consequences of sin and of racial oppression that were the main sources of their suffering (Welsh). The difficulty to accept challenges in order to achieve true, loving relationships is present in Another Country, in which the Vivaldo Moore is unable to deal with many of the issues present in his life. He attempts to ignore race in his relationship with Ida Scott and focus on love, but Ida claims their love can only be true if they accept race as an issue in order to become closer (Casale).