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It's an Allusion

     The White Boy Shuffle was a rollercoaster . From the opening scene that began at the end of the story to the apocalyptic ending it was hard to keep up with Beatty’s fast past plotline. I found it interesting that WBS had parallels, if not direct references to books we’ve read this semester. I enjoyed Gunnar as a sassy self-aware narrator, and of course that reminded me of Invisible Man. In fact, I was thinking of Invisible Man   from the first reading. The choice to start the story from the end is taking a page out of Ellison’s writing. Once the story was underway I was reminded of Native Son. Gunnar was like Bigger in a way because of the situations he was placed in. I don’t mean that Gunnar, was placed in the same situations as Bigger, but the effect of Gunnar’s situations are somewhat the equivalent in the modern American society. As readers we saw Gunnar as a social experiment in a way. It was like Beatty was asking us, how do you think a person like Gunnar will interact w
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Modern Son

     I’d like to start of this blog post by saying happy thanksgiving everyone. I hope everyone’s spending quality time with those you love. Now onto another American staple, Richard Wright. This past Monday, Mr. Mitchell screened HBO’s modern adaptation of Native Son. As I watched I felt that there were too many changes from the original plot and character in order to fit modern times. First, with Bigger, or Big, as he’s called in the movie adaptation. He takes on a whole new persona. What I found most interesting about him as a character (in the book) was fear of seeming afraid. A pivotal moment for him was the fight in the pool room. In the movie, Big had a counter-culture which made many of his actions questionable. At times I felt that his choices didn’t fit how he was portrayed. I was sad to see the fight scene omitted and adapted into a sad substitute, but that might be picky.      Without giving too much away, I did want to mention that I enjoyed the ending. I spent much of
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D

     I often worried for Sethe throughout the course of this book. She has been through a life of traumatic events. Her childhood spent as a slave without a family, and her older years spent with the haunting if her dead child. Many people go through hard times in their lives, but not many have scratched the surface of Sethe’s misfortune. For any person, time helps heal emotional wounds, but it is necessary to have support whether that be from family or friends. For Sethe Halle was that support in her life. After her “loss” of Halle Sethe turned to baby Suggs, the town leader and mother figure for Sethe. Apart from Baby Suggs, Sethe had the town too. Life seemed to take a turn for the best after her escape. It only took 28 days, for Sethe to lose everything.      We know well the lengths of Sethe’s love, so it’s difficult to imagine the effects of losing “her best part.” For 18 years Sethe beared the weight of her trauma with no shoulder to lean on. Instead Sethe had to care for he
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Sethe

     When Mr. Mitchell warned my class about Toni Morrison’s, Beloved , I proceeded with caution. I immediately realized that no warning could’ve prepared me for the wild ride Morris took me in just the first paragraph. In class, as we “unpacked” the first paragraph I noticed how much more I understood upon a second read. As we delve deeper into the book, I notice another trend that we talked about in class. Morrison travels seamlessly between the current world and the past. While it’s confusing to keep track of which facts go with which timeline, I think the mystery of it adds to the intriguing part of the book.      I like especially learning about Sethe’s past, because the history of her journey tells so much about who she is as a person. Up to this point I know that Sethe escaped from “Sweet Home” to Ohio. That alone is a tough story, but Morrison adds the fact that she ran away, separated from her family, with the hope of meeting them once she reached Ohio. And on top of all t
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Invisible Man Ramblings

     Why is it that Ellison chose to have the narrator reveal the truth of the story at the very end? Well I figure it’s because it’s not supposed to be a great revelation, the narrator’s actually showed us the whole time. I think what makes this novel particularly interesting after reading “Native Son” is the contrast between third and first person. Unlike “Native Son” the narrator chooses specific moments to share with the reader. Like Mr. Mitchell said in class, the narrator writes with an audience in mind. To me that means his accumulative revelations that he shows us are meant to be seen through a lens of current understanding. That might not make sense right away but here’s what I’m trying to say. The story is a first person frame narrative, so there are two layers. In the lens most zoomed in we are just following the narrators actions. In the second lens, we see the big picture. It’s in the second lens that we are meant to view the story because the narrator is training us as
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It's all coming together

     I can feel the narrator evolving, and I think you can to. In class we mentioned how the prologue narrator is beginning to shine through. This is especially in the scene with brother Tobitt and Brother Jack. In past scenes where his reality is contradicted, he doesn’t confront the people in charge, instead he tended to grow angry at himself for not expecting something wrong. Although he might’ve questioned Bledsoe and Emerson jr. he kept his thoughts internal. With Brother jack, the narrator asks directly “…isn’t the shooting of an unarmed man of more importsnce politically than the fact that he sold obscene dolls?” A charged question to Brother Jack is more than looking for an answer, the narrator is publicly challenging Jack’s motives. Jack goes a step further when he later starts to make jokes.      It’s interesting that the idea of humor as a tool is brought up again. I remember many people noticing that the vet reminded them of the prologue narrator. Back when we talked ab
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Running

For most of the book so far, our narrator has denied his grandfather’s message. Yet the narrator can’t deny he’s been kept running for all his life. As reader’s we first see the narrator on the treadmill during the battle royale scene. The narrator is riding a kayak in the middle of a tsunami. The order of events seem to make no sense, but he flows from one to the next with no question. Only when he figures the blindfold trick does he seem to have some control. That doesn’t last for very long because he still has to face the big guy with whom he can’t cooperate. The narrator doesn’t realize he’s being kept running because this is life as he knows it. At college he’s kept running again by administration. Bledsoe is using the narrator in an attempt to show the “founders” what they want to see. Weirdly enough, Bledsoe is the one running the narrator. Once the narrator is revealed the truth, he grows angry at himself for not realizing and acting in the way he was expected to act. Even
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