Characters can also manipulate names as a way of assigning or removing respect or power from a given person.

She talks about the name she has given to her sister, which others have taken up as well: 'Sis- I called her Sis as a way of calling her out of her name and also, maybe as a way of claiming her' (38). Tish notes that names hold much more than just an arrangement of sounds. The role of names, naming, and identity runs throughout the novel from this opening scene to the final words. Tish also acknowledges that Fonny’s true name is Alonzo and that he too has an unrelated nickname. Christened as Clementine, Tish appears to have little to do with her 'true' name in all senses. If Beale Street Could Talk opens with the narrator Tish reflecting on the specifics of her own name. Yet Tish also casts judgement on Fonny’s church for their practices: “People did not often get happy in our church: we were more respectable, more civilized, than sanctified” (23). Additionally, as the church says something about the worth and values of its attendees, there are judgments and tensions between different church communities. Tish describes the pride which members of Fonny’s church feel towards the actual building structure: “To tell the truth, I think the people in the church were just proud that their church was so big and that they had somehow got their hands on it” (22). People also treat their church as representative of their community and, thus, their worth. The church is a place for the collective to unite and escape from the hustle and bustle of weekday routines Tish notes that this break has a noticeable impact on peoples’ moods: “They’re going to come home and fall out and be friendly” (20). So, here everybody is, cleaned, scrubbed, brushed, and greased” (20). The women have somehow managed to get it all together, to hold everything together. No matter what the damage was, everybody’s clean now.

Tish notes a palpable atmospheric change from the chaos of Saturday to the cleanliness of Sunday mornings: “on Sunday mornings the clouds have lifted, the storm has done its damage and gone. Spirituality is central to the community and social framework of If Beale Street Could Talk. Buy Study Guide African American Community and Spirituality

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