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
performance at Hillside shows us what he's learned - he comes out in black face and even makes a point
of sitting down on his old school's bench.
By the time he gets to college, he's started to more fully understand where he stands in society. He is a
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
performance at Hillside shows us what he's learned - he comes out in black face and even makes a point
of sitting down on his old school's bench.
By the time he gets to college, he's started to more fully understand where he stands in society. He is a
pretty well-known poet, and he realizes that whatever he does, his fans idolize him. Even upon taking
off all his clothes in public and parading down the street, police officers don't arrest him because of his
poetic credibility. Gunnar comes to realize that whatever he does, people will judge him for what they
portray him as, not for who he actually is. This realization is the cause for his outlook on life. He doesn't
really care so much about pleasing his white audience. Rather, he does the exact opposite of what he
would assume they would want to see. It's almost as if his white peers see him as "something different,"
and even if they try to be extremely accepting, they will always be subconsciously incapable of viewing
him as anything other than a performer. Gunnar slowly begins to understand this, and uses it to his
advantage. We see this in a Hillside basketball game, where he misses a free throw in the final seconds
on purpose in a close game. He does this to almost make fun of the fans, and their passion for his talent
of making a ball go through a hoop.
The enigma of Gunnar Kaufmann is one that intrigued me from the prologue to the abnormal ending.
off all his clothes in public and parading down the street, police officers don't arrest him because of his
poetic credibility. Gunnar comes to realize that whatever he does, people will judge him for what they
portray him as, not for who he actually is. This realization is the cause for his outlook on life. He doesn't
really care so much about pleasing his white audience. Rather, he does the exact opposite of what he
would assume they would want to see. It's almost as if his white peers see him as "something different,"
and even if they try to be extremely accepting, they will always be subconsciously incapable of viewing
him as anything other than a performer. Gunnar slowly begins to understand this, and uses it to his
advantage. We see this in a Hillside basketball game, where he misses a free throw in the final seconds
on purpose in a close game. He does this to almost make fun of the fans, and their passion for his talent
of making a ball go through a hoop.
The enigma of Gunnar Kaufmann is one that intrigued me from the prologue to the abnormal ending.
Beatty does a fantastic job with Gunnar, and his defiant personality throughout the story made this a
novel that I will remember for a long time.
novel that I will remember for a long time.
A theme in all the novels we've read this semester is that black people feel they have to perform for white audiences. The narrator in Invisible Man delivers his speech despite being bloodied and booed, Bigger Thomas is asked to sing spirituals for his white employers, and Gunnar is expected to be the basketball star and "street poet" that white America wants him to be. Gunnar is hyper-aware of this pressure to perform, and his decision to deliver an improvised Shakespeare monologue demonstrates his refusal to comply with white expectations. Rallying black people to committ mass suicide offers the ultimate end to racially motivated performance and the final refusal to continue submitting to racist authority.
ReplyDeleteI think I will always remember this novel too. Gunnar is one of my favorite characters I have ever read about. I wonder what would have become of Gunnar if he had stayed in Santa Monica. Would he still be “blind” to the real world? Would he still become a world famous poet? I think it would be really interesting to see this scenario, and then compare it to White Boy Shuffle.
ReplyDeleteI wondered some of the same things. We see this moment of discovery, but what if he didn't change schools? Would he still be the "funny cool black guy"? Would he retain these "white" mannerisms? We see school as a crucial element in Gunnar discovering himself, so what would have happened if school remained a constant for him?
DeleteI agree, Beatty does an incredible job of portraying Gunnar as a unique and fluid protagonist. Gunnar's character fits in perfectly with the absurdity of The White Boy Shuffle as a whole as a talented basketball player-poet who's always out of place in any school he goes to yet is revered. Gunnar's uniqueness is what lands him in all these unique social situations, transforming from the funny black guy to the naturally talented basketball player to the God-like poet.
ReplyDeleteI also will remember this book for a long time because of Gunnar and his personality. Gunnar is like a cultural mulatto, which is just a member of the black community who is able to assimilate easily with the white community. He is part of both the black race but is also assimilated into the white race, so he can never completely fit into either of these environments until he becomes self-aware and enlightened on who he truly is and the results of being the person that he has become. Gunnar is able to go from being apart of the white community to then becoming the leader of the black community. He goes from "the funny black guy" to one of the biggest advocates for black rights. This book is very great and Gunnar is a character that will be very hard for me to forget about.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think Gunnar and the narrator in Invisible Man are similar in this sense that their past experiences and the people around them shaped them to become who they are at the end of the novel. Just as in Invisible Man, Gunnar goes through "life-changing" situations where he has to move and change schools, forever altering his outlook on life and his role within the black community.
ReplyDeletewhat you said about "people will judge him for what they portray him as, not for who he actually is" really stuck out to me. I guess this has been a common theme in almost all the books we've read this semester, It happens to Sethe, the narrator in Invisible man, and Bigger. However, Gunnar decides to play around with that instead of just hiding away and running away from the assumptions.
ReplyDeleteWhat you have said completely aligns with what I was thinking when I read the book too. Gunnar's character is so unique from what I usually read that it makes the book itself really intriguing to me. I think the character that Beatty built blends beautifully with the absurdity of the book. It goes over topics that are completely absurd and would never happen in the real life, but still feel real at the end of the day. Great blog post.
ReplyDelete