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.
Gunnar's irony and sarcasm definitely undercuts the idea of colorblindness. It would also be interesting to compare this to the use of laughter in invisible man. Also, I wonder why humor is so commonly used as a way to undermine authority and accepted perspectives in many of the books we have read so far.
ReplyDeleteI see how Gunnar's sarcasm and humor can do such a good job of emphasizing how he is singled out throughout the book because of his skin color. Him knowing so much about his family history is one of the examples of him being different from other. I think it's interesting how he seems very proud of his knowledge on this topic and all the attention he gets from it. In the other examples Gunnar talks about, such as his teacher wearing the shirt, he makes more of a joke out of it.
ReplyDeleteIt is a big issue, beyond even recognizing past history. While on the surface it is a step forward for civil rights, by ignoring the oppression that the white race inflicted on African-Americans is just as almost as dangerous as supporting those crimes. By being "colorblind", the school pretends that the past never happened, setting up conditions for a possible repetition of history since the social order isn't teaching the facts.
ReplyDeleteI think you have a good observation about the family histories of all the students. The other students ignore the history of oppression when they don't know about their family history, in contrast with Gunnar's knowledge of his family history for many generations. Building on your idea, I think it's worth noting that Gunnar is ashamed to talk about his father and how he ignores racism in his workplace. The other students talk proudly about their recent family history which Beatty could be using to say that Gunnar is ashamed that racism still persists and is still a problem, but the other students do not recognize this. This idea is prevalent in the classroom when one of the students remarks that Justice is colorblind in American society, and with the teacher's idea of multiculturalism in general.
ReplyDeleteI have a question, I thought Gunner made up his family history? But I guess that's beside the point. Whether or not it is made up, Beatty uses Gunner's family history to critique a "colorblind" system which you address well in your blog post.
ReplyDeleteHaving finished the novel, we can now see how this style of introduction frames the novel. Gunnar certainly knows a lot about his family tree, but by the same token, he knows the kind of men the Kaufman lineage has produced. They are subservient to the white man and perhaps might accept the "colorblindness" or even blatant racism (as Gunnar's dad did), but Gunnar shows he has proven it all wrong. He has embraced his heritage and became an "accidental" messiah by way of the the trials and tribulations of his life.
ReplyDeleteIs Beatty as outright protesting this issue as Ellison is? Ellison is very forward in his opinion of "color blindness." Ellison is also hopeful that it can change. Beatty's character does not seem as though he can see hope or a light at the end of the tunnel. The narrator actually is willing to try society out after his hibernation. Do you feel as though there is a hope for a perfect dystopia in which race and all disadvantages that go with it can be erased.
ReplyDeleteI feel like the idea of having a "colorblind" society is similar to the ideas of the communists in Native Son. Jan and Mary try to get Bigger to become their friend and completely ignore his past and seemingly believe they are "colorblind" and believe in equality for all. As you said I agree that the background of Gunnar's family is important to this idea. Though it is an important protest in the novel, it is not Beatty's main focus, as he touches on all sorts of other oppressions and critiques of society. Nice post!
ReplyDelete