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Fonny (Alonzo Hunt)
Tish’s mother. Sharon is a kind and accepting woman who doesn’t judge Tish for getting pregnant with Fonny’s baby. Instead, she tells Tish not to think of herself as a “bad girl,” later urging her to “trust” love to help her cope with Fonny’s imprisonment. She also helps Tish stand up to Mrs. Hunt, who is condescending and venomous when she learns about Tish’s pregnancy. In this manner, Sharon demonstrates her fierce loyalty to her children, her protective nature, and her willingness to stand strong when somebody tries to put down her or her family members. Later, when Mrs. Rogers flees the United States—making it impossible for Hayward to convince her to change her testimony—Sharon travels to Puerto Rico and tries to talk the woman into recognizing that Fonny isn’t the man who raped her. To do this, she tries to appeal to Mrs. Rogers’s sense of motherly loyalty, since Mrs. Rogers has children of her own. Showing her a picture of Fonny and Tish, she explains that Tish is her daughter and that she’s pregnant with Fonny’s child, saying that Fonny is a good man. However, this conversation only upsets Mrs. Rogers, driving her into hiding once more. Not long after Sharon returns to Harlem, she sits one evening in her apartment with Tish, at which point Joseph—her husband—enters and tells them Frank has committed suicide. As Tish processes this information, she goes into labor, and while the baby makes its way into the world, she stares ahead and sees only her mother’s eyes.
Sharon Quotes in If Beale Street Could Talk
The If Beale Street Could Talk quotes below are all either spoken by Sharon or refer to Sharon. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Troubled About My Soul Quotes
Now, listen, […] you got enough on your mind without worrying about being a bad girl and all that jive-ass shit. I sure hope I raised you better than that. If you was a bad girl, you wouldn’t be sitting on that bed, you’d long been turning tricks for the warden.
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Tish’s mother, Sharon, says this to her after Tish reveals that she’s pregnant. Although Tish is relatively happy about her pregnancy, she can’t help but feel somewhat ashamed that she is going to have a child at such a young age with a man she isn’t yet married to and who won’t necessarily be there to help her care for the baby. This is perhaps why Sharon goes out of her way to emphasize the fact that Tish has nothing to be ashamed of, saying, “You got enough on your mind without worrying about being a bad girl.” By saying Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti
Tish […], when we was first brought here, the white man he didn’t give us no preachers to say words over us before we had our babies. And you and Fonny be together right now, married or not, wasn’t for that same damn white man. So, let me tell you what you got to do. You got to think about that baby. You got to hold on to that baby, don’t care what else happens or don’t happen. You got to do that. Can’t nobody else do that for you. And the rest of us, well, we going to hold on to you. And we going to get Fonny out. Don’t you worry. I know it’s hard —but don’t you worry. And that baby be the best thing that ever happened to Fonny. He needs that baby. It going to give him a whole lot of courage.
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In this monologue, Sharon reminds Tish that the only reason she and Fonny aren’t married is because racist white people imprisoned him before he and Tish could make their union official. Of course, Tish already knows this, but it’s important that she hears her mother say it, since it helps her remember that she shouldn’t be ashamed of the fact that she’s gotten pregnant out of wedlock. Sharon also urges her daughter in this speech to “think about that baby,” framing the child as a beacon of hope in this otherwise uncertain and depressing time. Rather than dwelling on what Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque erro
She moved away from me a little and put my glass in my hand. “Unbow your head, sister,” she said, and raised her glass and touched mine. “Save the children,” she said, very quietly, and drained her glass.
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After Tish and her mother tell Ernestine and Joseph that she’s pregnant, Tish unintentionally drops her head as the family talks about the baby. Unlike Sharon and Ernestine, Joseph is somewhat skeptical at first, clearly disturbed by the idea of his young daughter giving birth to a child while her lover is in jail. However, Ernestine sees the effect his hesitancy has on Tish, and so she goes to her sister and gives her a drink. When she says, “Unbow your head, sister,” she does so as a way of making sure that Tish doesn’t approach her own pregnancy with Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. U
And Mrs. Hunt added, “These girls won’t be bringing me no bastards to feed, I can guarantee you that.”
“But the child that’s coming,” said Sharon, after a moment, “is your grandchild. I don’t understand you. It’s your grandchild. What difference does it make how it gets here? The child ain’t got nothing to do with that—don’t none of us have nothing to do with that!"
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Before Mrs. Hunt and her daughters finish arguing with Tish and her family members, Mrs. Hunt tries to shame Sharon for the way she has raised Tish and Ernestine, who have both been vocal about their disdain for the Hunt women. By saying that her daughters won’t give birth to “bastards,” Mrs. Hunt tries to make Tish feel guilty about the fact that she has become pregnant before marrying Fonny. What’s ridiculous about this statement, though, is that Fonny’s imprisonment is the only reason they’re not already married—something Mrs. Hunt surely already knows but is currently choosing to ignore. In Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est.
Time: the word tolled like the bells of a church. Fonny was doing: time. In six months time, our baby would be here. Somewhere, in time, Fonny and I had met: some where, in time, we had loved; somewhere, no longer in time, but, now, totally, at time’s mercy, we loved.
Somewhere in time, Fonny paced a prison cell, his hair growing—nappier and nappier. Somewhere, in time, he stroked his chin, itching for a shave, somewhere, in time, he scratched his armpits, aching for a bath. Somewhere in time he looked about him, knowing that he was being lied to, in time, with the connivance of time. In another time, he had feared life: now, he feared death—somewhere in time.
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As she sits in Hayward’s office and listens to him tell her and Sharon that they need to “buy time” before Fonny’s trial, Tish thinks about how torturous it is for Fonny to wait to find out what his fate will be. Indeed, while she and her family members scramble to help Hayward put together a solid defense, Fonny “pace[s]” his cell and “fear[s] death.” With each passing day, he experiences the physical passage of time, as his hair grows and his body itches. Similarly, Tish’s own body marks the passage of time, the baby growing larger in her womb Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus
I know I can’t help you very much right now—God knows what I wouldn’t give if I could. But I know about suffering; if that helps. I know that it ends. I ain’t going to tell you no lies, like it always ends for the better. Some times it ends for the worse. You can suffer so bad that you can be driven to a place where you can’t ever suffer again: and that’s worse.
[…]
I don’t want to sound foolish. But, just remember, love brought you here. If you trusted love this far, don’t panic now.
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Sharon says this to Tish after waking her daughter up from a nightmare. Having just had a dream in which Fonny drives off a cliff, Tish finds her mother staring down at her, and though Sharon acknowledges that she “can’t help” in any truly significant way, she still tries to give Tish advice. Admitting that sometimes things end “for the worse,” Sharon takes a realistic approach, trying to urge Tish to recognize that—at the very least—“suffering” does end. What’s more, she points out that Tish’s pain is simply part of being human. After all, pain is evidence that a person Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessit
My presence, which is of no practical value whatever, which can even be considered, from a practical point of view, as a betrayal, is vastly more important than any practical thing I might be doing. Every day, when he sees my face, he knows, again, that I love him—and God knows I do, more and more, deeper and deeper, with every hour. But it isn’t only that. It means that others love him, too, love him so much that they have set me free to be there. He is not alone; we are not alone.
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When Tish finally quits her job, she discovers that her mere “presence” has a profound effect on Fonny’s happiness. She, for her part, knows that her “presence” is “of no practical value whatever,” even suggesting that it could be seen as a “betrayal,” since her ability to see Fonny every day is the result of her decision to quit her job, meaning that she has willingly chosen to stop earning money to help get Fonny out of jail. However, this is seemingly a worthwhile sacrifice, since her daily visits fill Fonny with love, showing him not only that she loves Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis.
Zion Quotes
I opened my mouth to say—I don’t know what. When I opened my mouth, I couldn’t catch my breath. Everything disappeared, except my mother’s eyes. An incredible intelligence charged the air between us. Then, all I could see was Fonny. And then I screamed, and my time had come.
Fonny is working on the wood, on the stone, whistling, smiling. And, from far away, but coming nearer, the baby cries and cries and cries and cries and cries and cries and cries and cries, cries like it means to wake the dead.
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These are the last two paragraphs of If Beale Street Could Talk, and also the only subtle indications of what ends up happening to Tish and Fonny. In the first paragraph, Tish has just found out that Frank has committed suicide, but before she can even respond, she loses her breath and begins to go into labor. When she notes that “everything disappeared” except for Sharon’s eyes, Baldwin provides readers with an image that underlines the significance of motherhood. Indeed, Tish looks into her own mother’s eyes just when she herself is about to become a mother, thus finding strength Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. Mo
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Sharon Character Timeline in If Beale Street Could Talk
The timeline below shows where the character Sharon appears in If Beale Street Could Talk. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Troubled About My Soul
...Fonny about her pregnancy, Tish goes home to tell her family. She knows her mother, Sharon, won’t be upset by the news, nor will her older sister, Ernestine. However, she isn’t...
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Sharon guesses correctly that Tish is roughly three months pregnant. Soothing her daughter as she cries,...
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Saying that Tish is the only one who can make sure her baby arrives safely, Sharon says that she, Frank, and Ernestine will take care of everything else. What’s more, she...
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...himself a beer and speculates about how much Fonny’s lawyer will cost. As he and Sharon talk to one another, Tish stares at a wooden sculpture Fonny made two years ago....
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...help me, not even Sis,” she notes. Later, as the family sits around the table, Sharon brings out an expensive bottle of brandy and tells Joseph to open it and pour...
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...an explanation of how much Fonny and she love each other. “Your father know that,” Sharon says. “He’s only worried about you.”
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...After that, she didn’t see him for several weeks, and when he reappeared, he gave Sharon the sculpture that now sits in the family’s apartment. That day, they went to Greenwich...
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...important people who can “pull some strings,” though she hasn’t made any progress yet. When Sharon asks what Mrs. Hunt and Frank think about Mr. Hayward, they express their skepticism, and...
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...Hearing this, Frank walks over to her and backhand slaps her to the ground, and Sharon reminds him that she has a weak heart. “I think you’ll find it’s still pumping,”...
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After Frank slaps Mrs. Hunt, Sharon begs Joseph to take him out, and though he’s hesitant to leave, he eventually escorts...
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...this dispute continues, the Hunt women prepare to leave, and Mrs. Hunt says she hopes Sharon is “pleased with the way” her daughters behave, adding that her own girls won’t be...
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...a moment, Ernestine moves Tish out of the way, informing the Hunt women that she, Sharon, and Tish will make sure to never tell the baby about them, since “there’s no...
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...worried about her. She and Fonny travel uptown to Harlem. It’s now early morning, and Sharon opens the door, saying, “You’re just in time for coffee.” Unsurprisingly, Joseph is angry that...
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...the Monday after Tish visits Fonny in jail, she goes to Mr. Hayward’s office with Sharon. He informs them that Victoria Rogers—the woman who accused Fonny of raping her—has “disappeared,” most...
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Outlining the difficulties of Fonny’s case, Hayward informs Tish and Sharon that Daniel has been arrested by the D.A. and “is being held incommunicado.” In fact,...
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...the fact that time can’t “be bought,” Tish begins to cry. Coming to her aid, Sharon encourages her to be strong, reminding her that she’s “a woman now” and that she...
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...her mother standing above her. Admitting that she knows she can’t do much to help, Sharon talks to Tish about the nature of suffering, saying that it does “end,” though not...
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...courthouse will rattle him so much that he won’t seem reliable. Moving on, she says Sharon has to be the one to go to Puerto Rico, since Joseph has to earn...
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Sharon visits Hayward’s office to be briefed for her trip to Puerto Rico. He tells her...
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In Puerto Rico, Sharon asks an employee at the airport to help her find a driver, and the woman...
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Pleading with Pietro, Sharon urges him to consider why, exactly, she would let her daughter marry Fonny if she...
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In Puerto Rico, Jaime drives Sharon to Victoria Rogers’s address in a favela (a low-income area commonly compared to “slums”). When...
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Mrs. Rogers continues to evade Sharon’s questions. After a while, then, Sharon moves toward her and stands by her side. As...
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Zion
Sharon comes home and tells Tish about what happened in Puerto Rico, explaining that she stayed...
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...about something like this, promising to call if she hears anything. When she hangs up, Sharon comes in and says she hasn’t seen Frank, either. She then fetches Tish some brandy...
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As Tish loses herself in her thoughts, Sharon says Ernestine has managed to drum up the necessary money for Fonny’s bail. As she...
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