All of the books this semester have had some degree of
similarity, and we used those similarities to compare characters plots and
themes. One very unique theme present in each of the novels is minstrelsy. While
often not specifically stated or explained the ideas and notions come up very
often. However, each author has a different take on the implications and use of
minstrelsy.
Hurston’s outlook on Minstrelsy seems to be the most
positive. When Janie is living in Eatonville there are many scenes where we see
the use of minstrel entertainment. The gossip and comedy that occurs on the porches
is a prime example of black “performers” entertaining the white readers. Hurston
later also idealizes the muck and shows how the farmers live in the moment and
are always happy and having fun. Despite working under a white landlord, Hurston
chooses to focus on the pastoral aspects of glades. Hurston is criticized by
Richard Wright for this exact idea. Wright says that black writers should be continuously
advocating for more rights and protesting the system. He criticizes Hurston for
employing such an idealized view of sharecropping without any mention of
suffering or hardship. Wright makes his stance on minstrelsy very clear, that
every African American novel should be protesting the ideas that minstrelsy
creates, not promote them like Hurston does.
Ellison’s narrator encounters a blackface cast iron
figurine, and he freaks out. The narrator is appalled that Mary would keep such
an offensive object in her house. The figure depicts a performer with a large
grin. While the minstrel performer is supposed to be happy, it seems like the
grin could also be seen as choking. After freakishly beating the figurine into smithereens,
he packs it up in his briefcase and attempts to get rid of it. Every time he
attempted to get rid of the briefcase someone ends up returning it to him. He
is trying to get rid of the racial stereotypes put upon him, but it just keeps
coming back to him no matter how hard he tries.
A similar dynamic can be seen with Gunnar in White Boy Shuffle. Despite his seemingly
successful life, Gunnar is very apathetic in his basketball career. He always
feels like the oddball out. Even though the white kids in his school treat him
well, he is still treated in a special way. Even though he is put on a pedestal
and everyone idolizes him, he feels isolated. This is very similar to the narrator’s
experiences; No matter how successful he is Gunnar can’t get away from feeling
isolated and treated differently because of his race. Beatty even illustrates
this point by creating a satirical reverse minstrelsy dynamic. Gunnar dresses
himself in “whiteface” before his game against Phillis Wheatley. Gunnar
describes his endeavor “While the whites pep-rallied over banana pancakes, I planned
my first rebellious act.”(Beatty 163) This original minstrel dynamic displayed
white actors portraying black people because black people were deemed to be
inferior actors. Gunnar being the best player on the team dresses as a white
player implying that he is stooping down to an inferior level of play. This seems to be Gunnar’s attempt to defy the
white power structure and try to “fit in”. Of course this entire seen is made
into a satire, just showing the absurdity of the situation, and how it is
impossible for Gunnar to get away from the racialized stereotypes enforced on
him.
I didn't think about The White Boy Shuffle depicting a modern form of minstrelsy. That's interesting and it actually makes a lot of sense. Even when he's really little, Gunnar is a kind of show for his white classmates as the "funny cool black guy". He's defined by his humor and his ability to entertain. That's the same suffocation that led Scoby to his suicide.
ReplyDeleteBy embracing this minstrelsy do you think that Beatty is learning towards Ellison's reaction or Hurston's? He is very indirect in much of his book. But i feel with this minstrelsy, it is a much more direct statement.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is a really interesting topic. I feel like the minstrelsy in White Boy Shuffle is used in a critical way. Beatty seems to be showing the reader how Gunnar's basketball is a performance for his audience. I think that Beatty also gives us Gunnar's life as a sort of minstrel show, using comedy to make us enjoy Gunnar like people used to enjoy minstrel shows.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really cool post. Interesting to think about minstrelsy in all three of the novels we have explored. It's fascinating to think that Gunnar is constantly doing things for the entertainment of others, as depicted in the minstrel basketball, but even throughout the whole novel. Even us as readers cheer him on for our own entertainment. In this way it sees to be that Gunnar is sort of a minstrel character.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. You made a very strong connection with all the books. Minstrelsy is a huge part of White Boy Shuffle and Beatty makes Gunnar's entire existence a show through satire for us readers to enjoy.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say that Hurston represents minstrelsy itself as positive, but rather that the elements which Wright associates with minstrelsy don't necessarily function that way in her novel--in short, there is "love" evident in her depiction of these southern, rural black communities (as Alice Walker puts it, in the documentary). In minstrelsy racialized characteristics are being exaggerated and caricatured in a degrading manner, for the amusement of the majority culture. "Idealizing the muck" might be seen as an alternative to the romanticized, slavery-justifying "happy darkies" as portrayed on the minstrel stage--Hurston acknowledges the presence of the "boss man," but his influence over the sphere of black private life on the muck is limited. We get this potent picture of *freedom* once the working day is done, and this freedom, within the novel, takes the form of an independent black culture that happens completely outside the influence of whites.
ReplyDeleteFinding minstrelsy in all the books is interesting because of how subtle or blatant different examples can be. The scenes in Their Eyes Were Watching God and Invisible Man were quite blatantly playing on the idea of minstrelsy. The basketball scene in The White Boy Shuffle intrigued me the most because I feel like this dynamic is more subtle and can be missed. This made Gunnar's "performance" at the basketball game more shocking.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to compare and contrast how minstrelsy is depicted in each novel because they're depicted in very different ways. But I think out of the three, The White Boy Shuffle is the most blatant about openly defying or challenging black minstresly by putting on "white face".
ReplyDelete