Why That Abbott and Costello Vaudeville Mess Never Worked with Black People
By Paul Beatty
who’s on first?
i don’t know, your mama
Beginning Paul Beatty’s The White Boy Shuffle we see that Gunner’s character takes a slightly different route than the voices of the protagonists we have heard so far. Gunner is funny, he also uses sarcasm in very divisive ways. Often Gunner makes light of things that we find uncomfortable, we as readers find ourselves unsure whether or not to laugh. I think Gunner’s use of laughter is connected to what we’ve discussed in Invisible Man. The Narrator often used laughter uncomfortably as well, he laughed at things that weren’t funny and that’s what made him “crazy”. I think this laughter that we see is in some ways a coping mechanism used by these protagonists to deal with the harsh realities they are facing.
“Playing the dozens” as we briefly discussed in reading Invisible Man is another way of describing this use of joking, laughter that we see often in the black community. If you don’t know, it is basically a game of insults that goes back and forth until one person quits. Despite the obvious idea that insults are mean, they actually bring people closer together. A good “roast” can actually be the fire to kindle a new friendship. I think the relationship we see with Gunner and Scoby where they relate to each other in what may seem slightly unconventional ways.
I think the use of laughter in these two novels is very similar. They both bring up the ideas of discomfort, laughter at the expense of a person or a situation. The types of lives that our protagonists experience aren’t funny or easy. But in Gunner’s case his humor is what makes him happy, what helps him to cope with the issues that he won’t let boil up inside of him. For the Narrator, in his mind his sanity is actually proven when he can laugh through the injustice he sees.
This is an interesting topic. I think that the reasoning for the use of laughter and sarcasm is very similar. I think that both characters use their laughter to undermine the injustice. Gunnar undermines the teacher speaking about colorblindness by suggesting a dog as a colorblind example. I think that their comedy is from a similar place.
ReplyDeleteThroughout all of The White Boy Shuffle, Beatty throws in the most comical/hilarious, absurd moments that lead the reader laughing and then also questioning why stuff that is sometimes SO dark is somehow written in an extremely humorous manner. Your comparison to Invisible Man is great, because of the narrator in Invisible Man laughs when he finally understands the absurdity of society (and all of its darkness).
ReplyDeleteThe satire in The White Boy Shuffle progressively gets darker and darker, and by the end I'm not sure to laugh to cry for Gunnar. I want him to continue to push back against the system and make some witty comment to send me doubling over in laughter again, but Beatty shows the wear that Gunnar receives after pushing back against the system so long. Gunnar begins to appear vulnerable and begins to doubt the purpose of his life. Despite all his success, he feels so isolated that he can no longer criticize and push back against the system and we begin to lose the witty funny comments.
ReplyDeleteWe see examples of "the dozens" in Ellison, Hurston, and Beatty. Remember in Hurston, after Janie responds publicly to Joe "talking under her clothes" and insulting her aging body in the store, she replies that when he takes his pants off he looks like "the change of life" (a menopausal woman??)--one of the guys in the store says, "Y'all are really playing the dozens tonight." This particularly nuclear burn doesn't cement a friendship, though--in this case, it seems to lead directly to Joe's withering health and eventual death. She goes HAM and emasculates him in front of the town, and he never recovers. (It's a scene I wish we'd had time to talk about in class.)
ReplyDeleteI like this because I think it's relatable. When Trump won, I was upset, but also laughed a lot because the situation is ridiculous. It was the cherry on top of the daily racism. Sometimes laughing is all people have. I also think laughter is an example of grief. People cry, yell, but also laugh. Though seemingly inappropriate, I believe it is a relatively common coping mechanism.
ReplyDelete