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.
Gunnar's story is a lot like a "growing up story", except where most characters that fit that story ending finding their place in the world and feeling at peace, Gunnar learns what being black means to him and how his blackness fits into society. Unfortunately, Gunnar doesn't give the satisfying closure of many "coming of age" heroes. Instead he gets the hopelessness that you described.
ReplyDeleteI think that Gunner's identity as a black man in the book develops but it never really changes. He has all these experiences in different settings and through each one he is continuing to learn about his identity and role in the world he lives in. He ends the book understanding that his blackness is solely his own, but his voice is actually really influential to these other black people as well.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that Gunnar's identity seems to change throughout the book highlighted by the many changes in location he experiences. One thing I noticed is that the fact that Gunnar sees the racism everywhere he goes (at his first school, in he Hillside community, on the basketball court, at Brown university, etc.) shows the extent of racism in society (either showing Beatty's own perspective about society or showing his choice to include it as such a prevalent issue). Either way, like you mentioned, it plays a great role in shaping his character, and the dark turn the novel takes towards the end sort of shows the impact of this idea.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good summary of the evolution of Gunnar's identity throughout the novel. Looking back, all of these experiences helped Gunnar notice racism and by the end of the book, he had made himself a huge following.
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting the difference between the two predominantly white places he went. In the beginning, the cool, funny, black guy was good. He was proud of the fact that he could sit around and entertain his classmates with stories of his family of Uncle Toms. But at the end, he has no interest in people thinking he's funny or cool.
ReplyDelete