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
with these environments? However, one of the most chilling parallels was towards the end in Gunnar’s poem
to his following. He tells the story of the slave master who searches for a
slave only to see that the mother killed her child. As the slave master saw the
scene he decided it was more cost-effective to leave the slave. I don’t think I
have to explain that parallel, but it’s shocking how similar of a scene Beatty
paints.
Beatty is a knowledgeable person, he made that clear
in every intricate line throughout the novel. Seeing as the books we’ve read
this semester are important parts of African American literature, I’m sure
Beatty’s allusions were not coincidental. Every book in this class is a significant
book in the story of not just Afr. Am. literature but American literature and I
wonder how many more references I’ll notice going forward.
I think you make a great point. The White Boy Shuffle is almost like a combination of the books we have read this year, especially with Native Son and Invisible man. I also did get a sense of nostalgia of Invisible Man from the prologue of The White Boy Shuffle. Both the narrator and Gunnar give off a sense of enlightens and clarity, which is evident in both of their prologues. As you have mentioned, there is a connection of Gunnar with Bigger. Although there paths are different, it’s almost like two versions of could have happened.
ReplyDeleteI think there is a lot that's similar between _The White Boy Shuffle_ and _Invisible Man_ especially. Both seem incredibly absurdist, moving from one stage of the protagonist's life to another and making incredibly pointed, indirect but obvious commentaries about things. There are huge differences about the narrators and the plot, of course, but I think that a lot of them have to do with the time difference. I think Beatty is capable of making his protagonist so self-aware about the flawed system and perhaps talk about the futility of writing because of the advancements in the times. In other words, _Invisible Man_ walked so that _The White Boy Shuffle_ could run.
ReplyDeleteI also find that this novel relates to many other important African American pieces of literature that we have read in class. The novel that I feel most closely resembles the White Boy Shuffle, in my opinion, is Invisible Man. In the prologues, the narrators of both of the novels seemed to be enlightened. They have both gone through a monumental shift on their perspective of being black in America. They seem to have become more aware of their identity over the progression of their respective novels. The plots do not resemble each other but their mental state and knowledge seem to grow throughout each of the stories.
ReplyDeleteI really felt the connections to Invisible Man especially, with the constant surrealist perspective taken up by the novel. The situations are different in the details, yes, but they're fundamentally similar. Things from real life are taken and then exaggerated to an extreme (or, in many cases, not exaggerated at all) to make a deeper point. The narrators' journeys end in very different, but similarly 'enlightened' places, where they've decided on a course completely separate from what is encouraged by any aspect of society.
ReplyDeleteI also noticed many of these allusions to the other books we’ve read, and it was always kind of rewarding to find them. Beatty makes so many references which end up being obscure to us that its always rewarding when you actually understand one of them. I was also trying to see if I could find any allusions to Hurston’s work, but I’m not sure if she had been “rediscovered” by then. Other than that, WBS almost seems to combine elements of all the books that we’ve read this semester, making it a perfect way to end the year. I am also excited to see how many other books will have references to things that we’ve read, and I think this class has taught everyone a lot about an important chunk of the history of literature in America.
ReplyDeleteI agree! These have got to be allusions to the novels we read. The beloved one was particularly interesting and deep at the end of WBS. It felt like every name in WBS was purposeful. Beatty would name a school or building some obscure political figure and make a not so subtle insult to the institution. It makes the book fun to discuss!
ReplyDeleteI also found these connections to be glaring while I was reading White Boy Shuffle. I especially thought that Gunnar was similar to the main character in Invisible Man, especially in the way both characters go through a self-discovery where they realize new things about themselves and the society they live in by the end of the novel.
ReplyDeleteI never really thought about how Gunnar was similar to Bigger, but now that you've stated it you're totally right. There was this chilling sense of inevitability as Gunnar and I'd say even more so Scoby got more and more depressed. It felt like a negative feedback loop and as if their environments were crushing them and their souls in a really heartbreaking way.
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