Gunnar Kaufmann is one of the more unorthodox main characters I have encountered in a novel. His upbringing is an interesting one, as a black boy growing up in a white, relatively accepting society. However, he is still seen as "different." He is dubbed the "funny, cool black guy," already a sign of disconnection from his white peers. He is invited to parties, but in class we mentioned that this may just be the kids wanting a "black guy," not necessarily Gunnar Kaufman. At this point, while he realizes his difference, he simply sees himself in the position he's assigned. It's not until he moves to Hillside that he begins to realize his life in Santa Monica was almost a surreal one. He soon makes black friends and becomes a basketball star. While his natural talent helps him rise to popularity, he starts noticing that he is seen as more of a "basketball machine" than an individual by the white coaches and fans. His final performa
"two boys with mossy teeth, one sucking on my breast the other holding me down, their book-reading teacher watching and writing it up." Schoolteacher in a nutshell. Schoolteacher arrives with his nephews to manage Sweet Home after the death of Mr. Garner . He seems to be an educated person but is very cruel from the start. He uses tactics of conventional slavery on the slaves of the plantation to replace what he saw as Garner’s too-soft approach. His oppressive regime of rigid rules and strict punishment reminded me how horrible slavery truly was. Being the only purely evil character in the novel, Schoolteacher is frightening for his detached and methodical cruelty. Not only does he beat and abuse his slaves, but he also takes notes on their actions and studies them like animals. He seems, literally, to see them as animals. His pursuit of certain "knowledge" is especially disturbing, because it demonstrates a horrifying justification for racism, leading