Gunnar's Identity

Following the life of Gunnar Kaufman in The White Boy Shuffle, it is interesting to focus on the ways he thinks about the world and the how these thoughts shift throughout the book. Especially towards the beginning of the book, there are many times where Gunnar stands out and struggles to fit in. We meet Gunnar when he is living in Santa Monica, among a predominantly white population. At this point, he is known as the “funny, cool, black guy,” and went to a school that downplayed race, sexual orientation, and gender. At this school, everyone claimed to be “colorblind.” We see this particularly with his teacher who liked to wear a shirt advocating for colorblindness, and yet apparently paid special attention to Gunnar every time she wore it. As Gunnar put it, “Everything was multicultural, but nothing was multicultural” (29).

Gunnar’s mom moved the family to Hillside because Gunnar and his siblings refused to go to an all-black camp, since they were “different” (37). Surrounded by more black people, Gunnar still initially feels out of place. Once Scoby calls him the N word, Gunnar describes his euphoria and finally feels like he fits in. Scoby introduces Gunnar to basketball and takes him shopping for shoes and a haircut to make Gunnar fit in even more. Finding friends in Nick and Psycho Loco is really what makes him have a sense of belonging in Hillside. However, as he grows older, Gunnar gains a new perspective on his identity.

Following the Rodney King case, Gunnar says “I never felt so worthless in my life” (130). We see a change in Gunnar, and he really understanding what his blackness means to him. Going to BU, he stands out in a different way than before. There, he is everyone’s favorite black author and has students following him to his apartment and asking if they can keep his clothes. Here, too, people claim to not be racist, yet Gunnar is treated very differently because of the color of his skin. To me, one of the most important parts of the book is when Gunnar shows us that he has finally understood how his blackness prevents him from ever truly fitting in. He shows that he really has given up when he gives a speech at a rally at BU, referencing a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. In giving his speech, he realizes that white people will never treat him with respect and see his life as equally valuable to theirs. The book ends with a mood of hopelessness and Gunnar having an entirely different view of what it means to be black.

Wright vs. Hurston

In class, we began discussing Richard Wright’s critique of Their Eyes Were Watching God. Part of his critique is that Hurston does not make enough of a statement about racism, carrying no message or thought. I’d agree that Hurston’s novel is not a protest novel in the same way that Native Son and Invisible Man are, but just because Hurston is black does not mean she should be expected to make a statement about race relations in her book.

Even so, I believe that Hurston was making a statement in a different way, concerning discriminatory relations within a single race. By setting the majority of the book in Eatonville, an all black town, she can make comments on how members of the same race can be discriminatory of one another. When Joe Starks and Janie arrive to town Amos Hicks has doubts about Joe’s goals, saying “us colored folks is too envious of one ‘nother,” so it would be unlikely for them to make any progress (48). Joe and Janie are completely separate in class from other people living in Eatonville, despite being the same race. They even have a fancy spittoon cup that most people would use as a vase. Also, throughout the book even after Joe’s death Janie is set apart from others by her wealth and appearance.

I feel that Hurston’s biggest statement on this topic is when Janie befriends Ms. Turner in the Everglades. Because Ms. Turner is of mixed heritage and looks different, she believes she is set apart from the other black people. The main reason she becomes friends with Janie seems to be because Janie is also fair-skinned. Ms. Turner is strangely racist, and makes many comments about her dissatisfaction at living with black people and being lumped into the same group with them.

Although this is just a small part of Hurston’s comments on race, I would argue that she is still making a point. It doesn’t seem like Wright saw this criticism very clearly, but focused more on his own definition of a protest novel written by an African American author.