White Boy Kerfuffle
As most of us have discovered, Paul Beatty is funny. Like really funny. The first time I've laughed aloud reading something assigned for homework funny. However, that's not what this blog post is about. Behind the facade of potty humor is dead serious political commentary. At this point in the novel, I'm not completely sure whether Paul Beatty uses humor to hide or strengthen such quips at society.
One of my favorite examples of such moments is in the classroom at Gunnar's elementary school. It's clear that Gunnar sees straight through his elementary school's civil rights "education". His answer to the reflection on the story of a group of black and white elephants is especially real and thought-provoking (The elephants hated each other for their different skin colors, but Gunnar quickly points out that the elephants are completely equal in other regards, unlike their human counterparts).
4. What do you think will happen to elephants in the future?
"Just like some human babies are born with tails or scales, some unfortunate baby elephants are going to be genetic flashbacks and come out albino white and summer nap's black. Then the whole monochrome utopia is going to be all messed up."
Instead of depicting the classroom response to Gunnar's answer, Beatty just abruptly transitions to a frivolous discussion on Eileen Litmus, Gunnar's first real crush. The White Boy Shuffle is full of these types of quips, sandwiched in between laugh-out-loud humor but at the same time forcing you to stop reading and think. Political humor is nothing new, but it's hard to decide whether Beatty's prose is more politics or humor. Either way, you simply cannot ignore Beatty's political commentary, and I appreciate that in The White Boy Shuffle.
One of my favorite examples of such moments is in the classroom at Gunnar's elementary school. It's clear that Gunnar sees straight through his elementary school's civil rights "education". His answer to the reflection on the story of a group of black and white elephants is especially real and thought-provoking (The elephants hated each other for their different skin colors, but Gunnar quickly points out that the elephants are completely equal in other regards, unlike their human counterparts).
4. What do you think will happen to elephants in the future?
"Just like some human babies are born with tails or scales, some unfortunate baby elephants are going to be genetic flashbacks and come out albino white and summer nap's black. Then the whole monochrome utopia is going to be all messed up."
Instead of depicting the classroom response to Gunnar's answer, Beatty just abruptly transitions to a frivolous discussion on Eileen Litmus, Gunnar's first real crush. The White Boy Shuffle is full of these types of quips, sandwiched in between laugh-out-loud humor but at the same time forcing you to stop reading and think. Political humor is nothing new, but it's hard to decide whether Beatty's prose is more politics or humor. Either way, you simply cannot ignore Beatty's political commentary, and I appreciate that in The White Boy Shuffle.
Teaching civil rights in a classroom of children seems like a very hard thing to do. Even in college courses it seems like a teacher would have to be extremely careful as to not step on anybody's toes. However, Beatty uses humor to convey the effects of racism in a rather unique way. He doesn't take away from the importance of the subject, yet still seems to make a joke out of it as well. That's one of the things I like about this book.
ReplyDeleteI think that the way Beatty approaches his political commentary is very high risk high reward. There seem to be a few options for the readers: completely miss the commentary itself, get offended because of how it makes fun of your racist views, or receive the commentary better because it feels less negative. The reward is very high: receiving it better than a more negative book, and I think might actually be able to change more people's minds than a book like Native Son (maybe simply because it holds their attention for longer). However there is a risk just like with any politically oriented book of completely alienating readers and especially if you make fun of the potential reader's views. However, if you notice the "risk" is not that people don't take the subject as seriously and that is something Beatty does very well: maintain the focus of the novel. It is definitely refreshing to read a new, and so effective, method for political commentary and that is part of why I think I like this book so much.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's really quite interesting how Beatty uses humor to discuss race and politics while maintaining a lighthearted tone. He's able to allude to controversial topics without offending his readers.
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