This portrayal of futility with regards to black peoples' experiences in America has been a common theme throughout the literature we've encountered. In Native Son, Bigger Thomas is pushed every which way by extenuating circumstances towards his ultimate doom. A doom that the reader feels is inevitable throughout the course of the novel as we read about white people who fail to understand, a housing system that keeps Bigger in harsher areas, and a criminal justice system that works against him. In Invisible Man, the Narrator finds that no matter what he does there will always be someone pushing him and manipulating him, whether it be Bledsoe or the Brotherhood.
In all three of these examples, we see a portrayal of black life from a somewhat pessimistic perspective. One that suggests that outside forces have been and always will be at work, telling the black American population to simply accept it or move on. But also in all of these examples, there is backlash against these futile circumstances. In Native Son, Bigger kills in a rage-fueled frenzy of frustration. In Invisible Man, the Narrator joins a Communist-like organization in the hopes to combat social injustice. In "4/30/92 for rodney king", this futility is responded to by not sparing neighborhoods and by disposing pictures. In each case, there is an attempt to fight the perpetrators of the system in an attempt to put an end to these injustices that lead to such a futile life.
But in the prologue of White Boy Shuffle, we are introduced to a rather different take on the capacity of black life to be anything but hopeless. In fact, the narrator, Gunnar Kaufman, has become a messiah for the black community and has so inspired them that his novel "has sold 126 million copies". For those of us brought up on tales of the Civil Rights Era, the idea of a leader whose rhetoric all black people may rally to is the ultimate goal. It may seem like the one thing that can prevent the futility of all the years past.
And when he does mention futility, Kaufman does so very offhandedly and with little sentiment or sorrow. He devotes only a single sentence to "the oblivion that is black America's existence and the hopelessness of the struggle". It seems almost as if this futility is already an established fact for prologue-Kaufman and that it has already been pondered over as much as possible, unlike in the other works, where there is much pondering to be done on the topic.
But perhaps the most striking difference is how Kaufman reacts to this futility. Unlike any other figure we've seen thus far, this champion of black Americans simply decides for all the black people in America to die. Not to fight, but simply to die. This is perhaps the most futile of all the portrayals we have had thus far. Kaufman and the black population in the novel simply decide that there is no hope for them whatsoever, no matter how much they may try. Not even a messianic speech-giver could possibly turn the tide for them. It appears that Gunnar Kaufman will prove to become a rather pessimistic figure.
But in the prologue of White Boy Shuffle, we are introduced to a rather different take on the capacity of black life to be anything but hopeless. In fact, the narrator, Gunnar Kaufman, has become a messiah for the black community and has so inspired them that his novel "has sold 126 million copies". For those of us brought up on tales of the Civil Rights Era, the idea of a leader whose rhetoric all black people may rally to is the ultimate goal. It may seem like the one thing that can prevent the futility of all the years past.
And when he does mention futility, Kaufman does so very offhandedly and with little sentiment or sorrow. He devotes only a single sentence to "the oblivion that is black America's existence and the hopelessness of the struggle". It seems almost as if this futility is already an established fact for prologue-Kaufman and that it has already been pondered over as much as possible, unlike in the other works, where there is much pondering to be done on the topic.
But perhaps the most striking difference is how Kaufman reacts to this futility. Unlike any other figure we've seen thus far, this champion of black Americans simply decides for all the black people in America to die. Not to fight, but simply to die. This is perhaps the most futile of all the portrayals we have had thus far. Kaufman and the black population in the novel simply decide that there is no hope for them whatsoever, no matter how much they may try. Not even a messianic speech-giver could possibly turn the tide for them. It appears that Gunnar Kaufman will prove to become a rather pessimistic figure.
To further your point about Gunnar Kaufman as perhaps the most pessimistic character we've encountered so far, I think that we can read his claims of being a messiah as somewhat sarcastic. In that, as Mr. Mitchell said in class obviously no poetry book has ever sold 126 million copies, and so by presenting this exaggerated persona of a messiah I think Beatty wants us to see the take the end position Gunnar as humorous because he is spoofing the lense through which many see the Civil rights Movement: the messiah figure of Martin Luther King, often ignoring the collective effort.
ReplyDeleteLooking back on the novel as a whole, we can see that this prediction is quite accurate. By the end of the novel, Gunnar is quite jaded and the only thing that keeps him going seems to be Yoshiko and later, Naomi. He inspires many others to send in a poem and commit suicide, the ultimate figment of futility. That being said, Gunnar's heightened awareness makes the reader question everything he says toward the conclusion and ponder over whether or not this "suicide pact" is futile or the one final push to stick it to the man.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I'd disagree that Gunnar is a pessimistic character. I think that his critique of the civil rights movement isn't really a dismissal of it, but a reinterpretation of the methods. A staple of the civil rights movement was economic boycott and the suicide pact definitely is that.
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