As we discussed the ending of the
book in class today and the very dark/depressing development it took, I found
myself thinking about how great of a change the story had taken in comparison
to the beginning of the book or even just a few chapters before. Like we said
in class, it seemed like Gunnar was leading a generally happy and successful
life with basketball, poetry, and his friendships with Scoby, Psycho Loco and
Yoshiko. As we near the end of the novel, Beatty portrays the idea of the
racism Gunnar sees and experiences being so much greater than him, almost to
the point that its overwhelming. Gunnar feels powerless in the greater scheme
of society and its inherent racist qualities, the only success (“win”) being suicide
and not giving “them” the satisfaction. As we analyzed this final part of the
book and began to realize the greater theme Beatty is portraying through the
novel, I noticed a few similarities it shared with Invisible Man and the ever-changing identity and realization of the
narrator.
Like we have mentioned before, both
novels begin with a narrator having already experienced most of his life,
telling his story to the reader. In both stories, we see a gradual progression
of an underlying idea of the individual being powerless (or invisible) to
society and unable to make an impact. Throughout Invisible Man, the narrator thinks he is making a difference and
changing his identity, but by the end of the book, has realized he is
completely invisible and is just a small part of a greater, unchangeable,
racist system. Gunnar, although his realization is less gradual and much more
prominent towards the end of the novel, also begins to realize the blatant
racism in society (especially among his peers at the many high schools he
attended as well as college and the groups/extracurricular activities he
participated in), and by the end, he too is “tired of thrashing around in the
muck and not getting anywhere.” In a way, each character’s “solution” to the
problem they have realized is also somewhat similar as well. The narrator of Invisible Man feels that by secluding
himself from society, he is able to escape the racism and identity society
places upon him, and as long as he stays there, he is “free.” Gunnar sees the
dynamic more as a win or lose situation, but would most likely agree that
society is the problem and the only escape is getting away from it. He has been
“losing” his entire life, and the only way to “win” is to give them no pleasure
and commit suicide, putting him “out of his misery.”
One additional thing to note is the
time period in which each book was written. Invisible
Man published in the 1950s, and The
White Boy Shuffle, published very recently in 1996 sharing this similarity
of the deeper theme of racism in society serves to show that this problem is
ever present and most likely will be continue to be present for a while still. Beatty
even mentions the Rodney King incident and Gunnar’s reaction of shock and
complete surprise to its result as a reference to this problem in society. This
inclusion sort of hints at the fact that it would seem like something should
have changed by then, but really hadn’t.
This is great. Your addition at the end really resonates with me because I think it is important. We keep seeing these almost identical situations in these books that are decades apart. Showing that these issues have not have obviously not been "solved" as many people try to assume. I think Gunnar's feelings of disparity are shared by many people in his community and the feelings of people now 20 years later.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet I think the "optimism" of the Narrator in Invisible Man is contrasts greatly with the Gunnar's "falling out of society". Gunnar does not view his world as "full of infinite possibilities".
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting that in Invisible Man, the Narrator has a mmajor shift in his mindset and still finds hope at the end, while Gunnar has always been a very aware and challenging of racism and ignorance, yet is completely hopeless at the end.
ReplyDeleteI think the ending of the book was very interesting especially compared with Invisible Man because of how different they are, but when you compare the characters, they are also so different. Gunnar feels hopeless because he is a prominent figure, but he hasn't been able to change or lessen racism, while the narrator in Invisible Man isn't a prominent figure in society, so it doesn't really matter how he changes society.
ReplyDeleteI really like the fact that we can compare all of the books we have read so far this semester. With this book especially, I think that the point you make at the end is key. The fact that we can see reflections of similar trends in society over such long periods of time is very troubling.
ReplyDeleteI would argue that the Narrator's frustration in Invisible Man comes less as a result of a realization, but a lack thereof. The Narrator appears to escape the world in order to reflect and try to figure out all the stuff that's happening around him. It is not until he does so that he begins to realize everything that's going on. Gunnar, on the other hand, realizes it in the moment.
ReplyDeleteI like the point that you brought up about the time periods in which the the two novels were published. Although there are less racial issues now then there were in the 1930s, there are obviously still plenty of problems that Beatty brought up in The White Boy Shuffle. I think it is interesting to think of The White Boy Shuffle as a follow up to Invisible Man. The discrimination that Gunnar faces is not quite as severe as what the narrator in Invisible Man faces but he still has a more drastic reaction.
ReplyDelete