Digging Deeper
Even though there were many hints at the events that occurred near the end of the book of The White Boy Shuffle, I was still not ready for it. I think to me, it just really confused me why he was so instancing on this suicide. He is a successful man, a person who became a celebrity by chance and pure natural talent. There are many people in the world who would do anything to be in his shoes, yet he wants to get out of it. I think after pondering on this subject for a long time, I finally got a sense of his reasoning, but I still have many questions of my own.
I think one of the reasons is simply the pressure it brings and the lack of value it means to him. He never chooses to want to do any of this. He simply wanted to play some basketball with some friends, yet he is dragged through all of this. Even though he is kind of famous, he seems really tired of all the attention. Everyone is concerned about what he does and to a point, it must be very tiring to him. Yet, we as readers cannot even imagine what it is like to be in his shoes. He is in charge of all these people, which makes magnifies every action he performs. Yet is this enough to simply do this act and give up on life?
Is there a deeper purpose present in this protest? If there is, it doesn't feel clear. They are not doing anything that really pushes for change. Sure, they do talk about all the horrible things happening in their society but what are they actually doing by gathering? They are simply all hanging out waiting for their lives to be over. Is this truly anything behind it? I mean sure they will make a statement to the government, but it doesn't feel like it would be an impact worth losing this many lives over. These actions and decisions for suicide don't seem like something only for a statement to the government. It seems like they just want to get their lives over with. Parts of this mass suicide reminded me of seppuku in Japanese culture. But the more I think about it, it seems far from the honorable way to go out. I mean sure their lives are not the best, but this book makes me want to scream at Gunner "you have so much to live for." Even more, it feels unfair for Gunner to decide to end the lives of people who aren't able to decide for themselves, like his children. Yet I will never understand what he is feeling and thinking in the situation. What do you guys think?
I’m not so sure of the ending to the White Boy Shuffle either. What first to mind is that pressure that comes with popularity. Like many celebrities, at one point or another, some with succumb to pressure. As you have mentioned, Gunnar never asked for this. He was just naturally good at basketball and it just carried him through his life. Writing is his true passion, but he is dragged into this prime light because of his basketball talent.
ReplyDeleteI liked your point about Gunnar being tired of all the attention he found himself receiving. I think he hated making his white peers happy, and hated the fact that his basketball talent was doing so. Gunnar enjoys subverting them, as seen in the scene where he adapts his Shakespearean monologue simply because he knew his peers wouldn't expect it.
ReplyDeleteI think the weirdest part was when Scoby died, Gunnar seemed totally ok. Like, Nick literally comes up to him asking about the tallest building in Boston that he could access, and Gunnar's kinda like "oh yeah that one". Perhaps the effect of attention has really made him doubt his life. I feel like he just continued losing bits of humanity until the end.
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