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Sharon
Tish’s father, and Sharon’s husband. Like Sharon, Joseph is an unjudgmental person who readily accepts people and their problems. In keeping with this, he insists that he doesn’t think Tish is a “bad girl” for getting pregnant with Fonny’s child, though he does show concern at first about the fact that she’s going to have a child at such a young age and without the father present. However, this is nothing more than a form of parental worry, not a negative judgment of Tish herself. In fact, he soon gets over his worries and is elated that he’s going to be a grandfather, calling Frank and telling him to come over with his wife and daughters. Then, as Mrs. Hunt argues with Tish, Sharon, and Ernestine, Joseph takes Frank out for drinks, wanting to celebrate the good news and also wanting to remove his friend from the tense situation, since Frank can’t stand his wife’s harsh reaction to the news of Tish’s pregnancy and ends up slapping her in the face. Later on, when it becomes clear that they’ll need extra money to pay Fonny’s legal fees, Joseph insists that he and Frank start earning supplemental incomes by stealing from their employers and selling the goods in Harlem and Brooklyn, so he starts filching materials from his job as a merchant on the waterfront. Shortly thereafter, Joseph urges Tish to quit her own job, knowing that she’s working too hard. Saying that she needs to focus on her baby, he tells her that she needs to visit Fonny every day because her pregnancy is the only thing giving him hope. He then reassures her that he and Frank are making enough money to cover the legal fees that Tish is so worried will go unpaid if she quits her job.
Joseph Quotes in If Beale Street Could Talk
The If Beale Street Could Talk quotes below are all either spoken by Joseph or refer to Joseph. 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:
).
Troubled About My Soul
Quotes
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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I know you worried about the money. But you let me worry about that. I got more experience. Anyway, you ain’t making no damn money. All you doing is wearing yourself out, and driving Fonny crazy. You keep on like you going, you going to lose that baby. You lose that baby, and Fonny won’t want to live no more, and you’ll be lost and then I’ll be lost, everything is lost.
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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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Joseph Quotes in If Beale Street Could Talk
The If Beale Street Could Talk quotes below are all either spoken by Joseph or refer to Joseph. 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:
).
Troubled About My Soul
Quotes
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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Explanation and Analysis:
I know you worried about the money. But you let me worry about that. I got more experience. Anyway, you ain’t making no damn money. All you doing is wearing yourself out, and driving Fonny crazy. You keep on like you going, you going to lose that baby. You lose that baby, and Fonny won’t want to live no more, and you’ll be lost and then I’ll be lost, everything is lost.
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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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