Why the world of The White Boy Shuffle feels real to me

Why the world of The White Boy Shuffle feels real to me

In class we discussed the prospect of prospect of reality in The White Boy Shuffle, and I personally felt like this book is consistently realistic, even though some aspects are certainly outlandish once looked upon closely. Maybe this is because I can’t believe parts of my own life are real when I look back on them, even though I definitely lived through them, but I think there is more that supports this idea.

So I don’t think Beatty created a new type of world in this novel, it feels like he just chose to emphasize different parts of the same world we live in.

One of these reasons is that some parts of the book stand out as feeling extremely real. It’s certainly true that this novel hits on some pretty hard subjects. Some of the subject matter that the characters interact with is very heavy and very real. For example, racism and bigotry in general are pertinent forces throughout the book, but there are also more specific examples like the LA Riots and what it means to be black and good at basketball in high school. I think this book shows that the world we live in is full of both things that are real and heavy, and things that seem totally ridiculous, and often times these two types of things are connected and/or the same.

In contrast and conjunction with the stark realism present in this book, the tone and style of the narrator makes events and ideas seem more exaggerated. Beatty tells this story through Gunnar who has a strong sense of typically sarcastic humor that changes the way the story is told. This can be seen in the very first line of the novel. “Unlike the typical bluesy earthy folksy denim-overalls noble-in-the-face-of-cracker-racism aw shucks Pulitzer-Prize-winning protagonist mojo black man, I am not the seventh son of a seventh son.” However despite this unique voice, there is never a point in the novel at which the reader does not trust the narrator. This means that however bizarre the narrator’s statement is, the reader trusts it. I believe that this shows that the novel is realistic because otherwise the reader wouldn’t be able to digest it so easily.

The Gun Totin’ Hooligans exemplify this dynamic between stark realism and exaggerated quirkiness throughout the book. One example of this phenomenon can be observed through the depiction (and really existence) of the Gun Totin’ Hooligans. Gang violence is a serious and heavy issue, and the seriousness of it is not ignored in this novel. Psycho Loco kills multiple people in the book, and all of the members of the gang struggle with their realities in the book. For example, Psycho Loco at one point in the book can be found crying in front of Gunnar’s shower. This also shows the vulnerability of gang member in this book. While vulnerability isn’t a trait classically associated with those who partake in gang violence, it is an important part of the Gun Totin’ Hooligans. This aspect of the gang is realistic because members of gangs are real people and possess vulnerability just the same as any other real person. Psycho Loco’s gang is also fairly cartoonish in their methods, and much more feminine than your typical gang for several reasons we discussed in class. While these aspects may not be traditional to street gang culture, I don’t think that they are completely unbelievable because Beatty is already showcasing a less represented side of gang life. I think that this representation may come off as strange to anyone who is expecting Gunnar to join the kind of street gang the media promotes, but that shouldn’t make it any less realistic.

"Feminism" in Their Eyes Were Watching God

There is no evidence anywhere that Zora Neale Hurston purposefully wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God to be a feminist novel. From what I understand, Hurston wrote this novel about a black woman in the south simply to tell her story. The book reflects both Hurston’s sociological research in the south, as well as aspects of her own life that she experienced first-hand. Hurston wrote this book to share a folk-like tale about Janie, not just use her as a prop in a protest novel. I feel like some people are making the same argument about this book as Richard Wright, but with a feminist focus rather than a civil rights focus. By this I mean that people are saying that Hurston’s novel isn’t “feminist enough,” regardless of the fact that it is very unlikely that it was written as a feminist book. However, even though I acknowledge that this book might not be purposefully trying to suggest anything about what a woman “should” be, I think it it is interesting to think about in light of feminism.

I see Janie herself is a feminist character, but I do not see Their Eyes Were Watching God as a feminist book. Janie is the heroine of her story and often seen as a feminist icon, as she should be. She is strong, makes her own decisions, and is only 16 years old when her journey begins. Janie knows what she wants, even as a young girl who is predestined to follow the path of marrying up like her grandmother wants her to. Although she does marry Logan like she is supposed to, she has the agency and courage to take the exit and marry Joe. However, Janie doesn’t take no for an answer, and finally ends up marrying Teacake to achieve the more natural version of love she had set out to find when she was younger. In addition, she owns herself and her actions when she is telling her friend Pheoby her story.

Although Janie is an independently thinking being, we cannot say that men do not play a substantial role in the novel and in Janie’s development both as a character and as a person. Men help Janie discover her destiny. Although she is alone in her sweet melancholia at the resolution of the book, she wouldn’t have been able to get to that point without the men she encountered previously, especially Teacake. She would not be able to find her fulfillment if it wasn’t for Teacake who allowed her the opportunity to live as part of a group she was not a part of before. I don’t believe that is entirely Janie’s fault, because Janie did not go out searching for love. Instead, she was searching for a better way of living. Janie is a character who loves socializing, talking to people, and having a good time. Rather, I believe that the fact she needed men in order to find her serenity is the fault of the world she lives in, which can otherwise be thought of as the book as a whole. If it was up to Janie, she would very likely choose her own fate it she could, because she has so much agency throughout the book. But she can’t do that because the book necessitates a love story in order for herself to be fulfilled. Although Janie makes her own decisions about how she wants her life to go, it is the men provide the movement in the book. This is also evident because the book focusing on Janie when she is with a man, rather than by herself. For example there is a small number of pages compared to how much time has passes when Janie is widowed and working at the store in Eatonville. The periods of her life are marked by the different men she is with. This makes sense because she is living a different place with each man, so her life is drastically different with each one, but nonetheless it is her life only is different in each case because of the man she is with. Through these different adventures, the men drive the plot of the book, even though Janie herself is a “feminist” heroine.