Microblog #3: If Beale Street Could Talk

After a recommendation from my brother, I have decided to read the James Baldwin novel, If Beale Street Could Talk. This novel is a love story about two African Americans in Harlem. James Baldwin is an African American writer during the 1950s-1970s who was born in Harlem, as well. He grew up facing discrimination throughout his whole life, and he knows exactly what it's like to experience being discriminated against. As a ten-year-old, he was abused and teased by NYPD officers, the same way he would in his teens. Baldwin would be denied entrance into many restaurants, bars, and other establishments. He had to find any work he could find to help support his family, even laying down railroad tracks for the Army. He would live to move to Paris because he couldn't be in a place where he would be constantly discriminated against. In the novel, the two main characters aren't very religious, and one of them had a bad relationship with an extremely religious mother. James Baldwin put his own life experiences into this aspect of the story. Baldwin had a bad relationship with his stepfather who was as a pastor, and Baldwin would become a pastor, as well. He would later view Christianity as based on false premises. He was then a non-religious person, and he has his main characters both be non-religious, too. James Baldwin had gone through many traumatic and difficult experiences throughout his life. In having these personal experiences, the experiences of the characters become much more authentic, making the novel a better one. I am excited to continue reading If Beale Street Could Talk.