The White Boy Shuffle by Paul Beatty brings upon the topic of racial identity, which is something we haven’t read before in this course. As we have learned, Gunnar’s upbringing is non-traditional compared to other characters such as Bigger or Janie. He grew up in Santa Monica, a place where he describes as being the only African American kid in school. Despite standing out, he still feels comfortable and is able to assimilate to his environment.
With the conclusion of chapter 2, there’s a sense that Gunnar knew his identity thanks to David Schoenfield who taught him, “somehow through being with you I learned I was black and that being black meant something…” (Beatty 40). Yet, after Gunnar’s mom decided to move to another area, where Gunnar describes as being in the “hood”. Although Gunnar’s appearance is similar to the people around him, he is actually very out of place. He dresses differently and speaks differently. For example, he doesn’t talk in slang or wear more worn out clothing compared to a person on the street. Furthermore, Gunnar initially had trouble making friends. As we have seen, he definitely tried his best to make friends, even by living in a tent by a department store waiting for people to come by. Gunnar would eventually assimilate to this new environment while becoming a basketball phenom in the process.
In some way, I feel like I can relate to Gunnar. Much like Gunnar, I had a change of environment as my family immigrated to America when I was 8 years old. I definitely went through the same culture shock as Gunnar. I dressed differently and kept rewearing the same clothes for weeks. I didn’t speak the language and could not understand what anyone at school was saying. I couldn’t make friends even with my best effort.
For this particular book, I found many things I could relate to Gunnar with. In what ways do you guys relate to Gunnar?
Gunnar sort of does try to "make friends" with the Gun Totin' Hooligans when he sees them in Montgomery Ward, testing out crossbows (and it's funny that he later does end up becoming part of the gang, thanks to Psycho Loco being impressed with his singing), but he retreats to the department store sporting-goods section in order to avoid people, to hide away with his books and take a "transcendental" approach to "finding himself"--like Henry David Thoreau at Walden. It's not really a strategy to make friends--it's a way to try and avoid what seem like automatic beat-downs every time he talks to someone!
ReplyDeleteI think many of Gunnar's actions are relatable, even for those who weren't taken from their home and moved to a new environment. I especially connected with Gunnar hiding out in the library to avoid the basketball players because I too have found myself hiding in strategic locations with the purpose of trying to avoid certain people.
ReplyDeleteI could understand Gunnar's view on how some people treat sports as an extension of their own life even if they have no connection to it besides watching the game. Obviously, I've never played a sport on as big a stage as Gunnar, but I have still encountered people who treat sports teams as if they are a part of them. I fully agree with Gunnar that this is annoying, although he says it's more than just annoying, but I also felt like this treatment of sports was more or less harmless up until reading this novel. I didn't ever look at it from the point of view of someone on a professional sports team, so I didn't think about the immense amounts of stress such a thing could cause. In addition to stress, I can only imagine the anger it would cause me being yelled at by fans for missing a free-throw or block.
ReplyDeleteI think Gunnar is very relatable to a lot of us, like you have described. I think a lot of the actions and feelings that Gunnar feels also feels similar to me, all be it in a lesser degree. The change of environment really makes people feel vulnerable. Its hard to be normal or fit in after going through such a culture shock like Gunnar does. I think Beatty did a great job of bringing absurdity to the book while making it feel really real and connecting with a broad audience.
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