Finishing up Paul
Beatty’s White Boy Shuffle I am nothing but impressed. The last few
chapters really come to a closing, a lot of time has passed and many things
have happened but the flow stays the same. And despite the fact that the final
scenes of the book may be seen as depressing or completely hopeless, Beatty
continues using his witty banter all the way to the end.
In our final class
discussion for the book, we discussed the final chapter and more specifically
the final pages of the novel in detail. A couple years have passed since
Scoby’s suicide and Gunnar’s subsequent attempt. Despite the mass of suicides
and scheduled bombing of Hillside, Gunnar’s life seems somehow positive. He is
married to Yoshiko, they have their daughter Naomi, and Psycho Loco often comes
to visit. It seems like Gunnar is living this relatively laid back “happy
family life”. When Psycho Loco asks him about suicide though, Gunnar is still
adamant about his stance on it. He explains to Psycho Loco and the reporter
earlier on, that suicide isn’t just giving up and quitting life. That’s the
“western” idea of suicide as Gunnar puts it, but his suicide isn’t that. I
would describe it as an act to pull himself out of his torture. If life is your
hell, the idea of going to hell can’t seem that bad right?
Gunnar describes himself
as the horse that pulls the stagecoach, he is always pulling the burden of
everyone else along. If any of you remember from US history, for me this idea
evokes images of the Reconstruction, “This is a White Man’s Government” cartoon
we discussed in class. The black man in this image is being stepped on, and
broken down by the white man and the white man’s government. What I mean by
this is, even if the white man doesn’t literally step on the black man, with his
power in controlling the government and legislature he will always crush the
black man in the end. This cartoon though drawn in 1868 is relevant, Gunnar’s feels
like he has always played that role. Suicide is the only way that Gunnar sees
these crippling pressures arise from off of him.
If we look at Scoby’s case, he decides to commit suicide at a time where he is completely overwhelmed by his feelings. Despite Gunnar’s help, Scoby realizes through Gunnar’s philosophy that it was his time to set himself free. Scoby didn’t have a lot to lose (although I’d hardly say any life is more quantifiable than another) in comparison to Gunnar, so we see his death slightly differently. Most significant I think, is the note he left behind. The note is purely for Gunnar, his best friend. I think suicides notes often have a negative connotation, that the victim is attempting to get some acknowledgement or attention. In this case it is clear that Scoby doesn’t really care about anyone else, he cares for Gunnar (as well as Yoshiko and Psycho Loco) and wants to say his one last farewell to the people he knows. His ending of the letter where he says he is waiting for Gunnar up there one day, I think is especially meaningful. Moving onto Gunnar’s attempt to suicide I think the readers find him position different than Scoby’s. Because of his fame, his voice, it seems that he has a lot to lose if he dies. But to Gunnar it is fairly obvious that it doesn’t mean anything to him. Basketball clearly isn’t on his priority list, and writing his poems is personal, for him and not for anyone else (even though others are inspired by it). Gunnar knows that the people closest to him Yoshiko, Psycho Loco, his mom, would understand if he needed to commit suicide. The only thing that pulls him out of the water, is the idea of seeing his daughter grow up. Gunnar in this moment at least, is willing to sacrifice his freedom to for his child.
I think there's something important about the rhetoric for suicide that we see Gunnar employ. For me there is the dynamic that "white America and the whole system has made life hard (understatement) for black Americans, and there is a real insult to injury to have them (perhaps even the readers) be appalled that he doesn't feel obligated to 'keep on fighting.'" In some ways I think too it is a rejection of responsibility, but not in a bad way. He is trying, I believe, to cast off the mold of culpability that others have put him in.
ReplyDeleteHow do you feel about Beatty's over the topness? He seems to always be pushing his characters to an uncomfortable level for his readers. Do you think this affects the relationships between like Scoby and Gunnar? Is it intensified through Beatty's intensification of the novel.
ReplyDeleteOne of the aspects of "White Boy Shuffle" we as readers in the U.S. find it hard to understand is the notion of suicide in a non-Western context. I think you do a great job of framing Gunnar's argument of suicide as freedom. Another aspect of this is Yoshiko's influence on his views, particularly as it relates to Japanese kamikaze bombers which he references in the novel.
ReplyDeleteI really like your interpretations and explanations of their different motivations for suicide in this post. I haven't actually seen the political cartoon you mention, but it seems like a very apt context for Gunnar's struggle for identity in this novel. Like Gunnar says in the epilogue, it isn't so much that he is enemies with america, but that he is tired of America throwing him into the figurative (and literal) mud and just watching him struggle. The non-western idea of suicide really makes sense in this context, and your post does a good job of explaining it.
ReplyDeleteYou make an important statement about Scoby's life being equally significant as Gunnar's. In the novel, readers are not really introduced to or involved with Scoby's family. Beatty frames Scoby's loved ones as essentially his friend group. No one is dependent on Scoby, so as an independent, though his death upsets readers, I do believe readers would have slightly different feelings if Gunnar had committed suicide instead. I believe Gunnar would be more criticized for being selfish and abandoning his wife and child.
ReplyDelete