Beloved Wrapping up the Semester

As the final novel of this semester, I believe that Beloved by Toni Morrison managed to wrap up many of the important discussions we had throughout the semester. Two of those major topics include psychological issues and the importance of the past. These themes were important in at least two novels, and seeing the overlap in these books helps validate the arguments being made by each author.

            The first theme, psychological disorders, was factor in both White Boy Shuffle and Beloved. In White Boy Shuffle, we were exposed to the issues plaguing Scoby before he committed suicide. In a novel that was very humorous, this event was sad and, for me, unexpected. Although the novel itself did little to address the illness itself (in the story it was never actually diagnosed) we still talked about Scoby’s death at length in class. Then came the next novel, Beloved, in which this topic arose again. Although it was not as clear as in White Boy Shuffle, there were still times when we saw problems in Sethe’s actions. The plot of the novel circles around the events during which Sethe kills her daughter to keep her “safe”. A critical point in the novel is when Sethe shares her story with Paul D, hoping that he will understand, but even he cannot get past the fact that she doesn’t know the difference between death and safety. This inability to see the difference drives Paul D away, and I think it could be classified as a mental illness. In both books, although the topic of mental illness is not openly discussed, the class still had important discussions.

            The other topic that was shared in a set of novels was the importance of history and not ignoring race. This occurred in Beloved where the idea of “rememory” is crucial to the understanding of the characters as well as arc of the narrative. We see throughout the novel that the past is fluid and never dies. Sethe makes it very clear that her past will be a part of her daughter, and there is no ignoring what happened at Sweet Home. Although the idea of “rememory” is unique, it is still similar to ideas talked about in Invisible Man. In the novel by Ralph Ellison, the narrator’s first encounter with the Brotherhood is not so pleasant because of an argument about not seeing race. This is an important scene because it talks about whether the “perfect society” that the Brotherhood wants is good, let alone possible. The narrator does not do much analyzing, but, as readers, we were left to see the issues with the Brotherhood ignoring race while hiring the narrator based off his race. In two different ways, Beloved and Invisible Man managed to bring into play the theme of how important the history is in forming the present.

            Each novel we read this semester had its own set of themes it addressed, and in these cases (as well as many others) those themes overlapped. Looking at what each author talked about in the novel helps to better understand both books.

"The White Boy Shuffle" Prologue: upon second reading

Both Invisible Man and The White Boy Shuffle start with a prologue that depicts the end of the novel. Unlike with the Invisible Man prologue, which left me confused, after reading the prologue of The White Boy Shuffle, I was shocked. I remember thinking that the events must be a metaphor for something else, because it seems crazy that a novel could end with nuking an entire part of the American population. As I continued to read the novel, I forgot about the prologue, but I think that rereading it after completing the novel helped answer a lot of my lingering questions.

            

            During the final day of discussion for The White Boy Shuffle, there was uncertainty on the topic mental illness and Gunnar’s feelings of hopelessness. Although the prologue does not completely answer all questions on this topic, I feel that it helps further that conversation. During the discussion, I wondered why Gunnar felt that his voice in poetry would never have an impact. I thought that maybe he did not understand how much of an influence his words could have had, but my thinking was incorrect. In the prologue Gunnar talks about his poetry, saying: “I spoon-feed them grueled futility, unveil the oblivion that is black America’s existence and the hopelessness of the struggle.” (1) I realized that Gunnar had already thought about the racial issues in America, and that he had come to the conclusion that there was no way to change, no amount of poetry could solve the problem. He talked about the hopelessness of the struggle as a whole rather than his own struggle to reach out to enough people.

            Despite this first realization, I still wondered why Gunnar believed that protesting is futile, and this was also touched on in the prologue:

In the quest for equality, black folks have tried everything. We’ve begged, revolted, entertained, intermarried, and are still treated like shit. Nothing works, so why suffer the slow deaths of toxic addiction and the American work ethic when the immediate gratification of suicide awaits? (2)

The quote really helped me to understand the mentality Gunnar had in a way that much of the novel could not. What Gunnar says about “suffering the slow deaths of toxic addiction”(2) linked to the epilogue when Gunnar tells Psycho Loco “Might as well kill myself, right? Why give you the satisfaction.” (256). Gunnar’s words in the prologue helped me wrap my head around why a young man who had so many talents would end his life instead of trying to fight back.

            

            A final part of the prologue that I found interesting was Gunnar’s description of all the different people present for the mass suicide. Although this section of the prologue did not relate nearly as much to the rest of the novel, I still found it interesting. Below is an excerpt from that part of the prologue to remind you of what it said:

They’re all here, the black American iconographic array, making final preparations for Elysium […] The well-dressed guy who worked in the corporate mailroom and malapropped his way through your patronizing efforts to engage him in small talk wonders if he left the stove on, then laughs aloud at the absurdity of it all. The innocuous Democratic ex-mayor of your city writes mediocre elegiac verse without a nod to the absurdity of it all. […] The woman who sat next to you clutching her handbag while you waited for the morning bus and then elbowed you in the solar plexus fighting for a seat plans to call her boss and talk shit until the last minute, then put the receiver to the explosion, saying, “I won’t be in to work tomorrow. I’ll be a fuckin’ evaporated carbon dustball. (2)

This section of the prologue I found especially interesting, because I interpreted it as Beatty showing how all these people came together for one cause but they are still all so different. In a world where Gunnar can be a considered the leader of an entire race, Beatty reminds us that the group cannot be defined by one person because they are all unique. He contrasts what different people think about and do before the nuke arrives. Beatty shows how some will think about leaving their stove on while others yell at their boss until their final moment.

            By re-reading the prologue, I realized how critical it was to the novel. It helped me to understand Gunnar’s thought process. In a short two pages, it managed to paint the true picture of Gunnar as well as the society he struggled with during the novel.

Knowing His History: Gunnar's family tree and how it exposes the racism in his classroom

The first chapter of The White Boy Shuffle by Paul Beatty focuses a lot on the ancestry of the main character Gunnar Kaufman. Although this serves as a funny way to introduce Gunnar and his school, I believe this story has a deeper meaning. Gunnar seems to be the only member of his class who is aware of his past (further than his grandparents), and I this ties into the racism seen in his “multicultural” classroom.

            In his novel Invisible Man, Ellison was extremely critical of the communist party which he portrayed through the brotherhood. A major issue that prevailed in the brotherhood was how the group tried to ignore race. We saw the anger whenever someone pointed out that the narrator was black. The way that the organization tried its best to overlook race led to many problems in Invisible Man which was Ellison’s way of critiquing the system.

            Those same problems that were prevalent in Ellison’s novel are found in the beginning of The White Boy Shuffle. We see in the “multicultural” school that Gunnar is one of the only black students and that the students are taught not to see race. The teacher even wears a shirt saying how she only sees people as humans, but on those days “she seemed to pay special attention to me [Gunnar]” (28). The issue with this philosophy is in how they the historical oppression of black people is ignored.

            Beatty is critical of this “colorblind” philosophy and has Gunnar joke about its issues. This commentary began at the beginning in the novel with the family trees. I think the purpose of adding the anecdote about the Gunnar’s ancestry was to compare his knowledge of his own history to the white students in his class. We saw how the other students were only able to talk about their grandparents, and this helped to show how they ignore their personal histories and possibly the history of oppression.

            The way that Beatty set up his commentary of “colorblindness” in the school really enriched his case pointing out the problems. The critique of white people ignoring historical issues was created through the family tree story, and Beatty’s commentary helped to build on what Ellison pointed out in Invisible Man.