Irony of Understanding Sethe through Schoolteacher’s Viewpoint

In class we discussed the scene in Beloved where Sethe kills her own child, and the rationale for presenting this scene from the four horsemen’s viewpoint. Initially, I thought of two different reasons why Morrison may have done this. This scene unfolding from the four horsemen’s viewpoint can be more shocking to the readers. Rather than being walked through the process that led to Sethe killing her own child, we enter the shed with the four horsemen to see the baby’s throat already cut and Sethe in the process of swinging Denver at wall. The entire picture is a gory mess. The sight of “two boys bled in the sawdust, and dirt at the feet of the n***** woman holding a blood-soaked child to her chest with one hand and an infant by the heels in the other” (149) is quite overwhelming. The other thought was the four horsemen’s point of view gives the reader a clean slate without any emotions from the character projected onto them. The four horsemen view Sethe and her family as animals which is evident when he thinks, “unlike a snake or a bear, a dead n***** could not be skinned for profit and was not worth his own dead weight in coin” (148). The four horsemen equate the process of bringing back a runaway slave to that of hunting a snake or a bear. Because of this, the four horsemen do not empathize with Sethe. Readers draw their own opinions about Sethe’s actions devoid of the influence of the emotional responses of the characters in the novel. As the discussion progressed, Mr. Mitchell mentioned the importance of being able to see the four horsemen’s perception of Sethe and it got me thinking about how an understanding of the four horsemen’s views on Sethe could shed light on why Sethe felt justified in killing her own children.

Earlier this year when we read Native Son we read about another murder which seems almost unbelievable taken out of context. When Bigger murders Mary, we understand it is an accident and that Bigger was backed into a corner, but in class it was still necessary to discuss the absence of any other options for Bigger because of the absurdity of the murder. It was crucial to understand the sheer terror and sense of entrapment Bigger was feeling in the moment.

The premise of Sethe slitting the throat of her own child seems even more absurd. How could we ever possibly understand the logic behind killing one’s own child? Morrison narrates this story through the viewpoint of the four horsemen and shows us what Sethe is up against. I really appreciate Morrison’s narration perspective shifts throughout the novel, and I think this one in particular is quite powerful. We have seen these men physically and sexually abuse Sethe, but a look into their minds adds something new. We see the twisted nature in which they see runaway slaves as animals. Sethe’s reaction seems a lot more understandable with this information.

How would Native Son have changed if we had seen the murder through a different perspective? I pondered whether this would give us a better understanding of why Bigger feels so trapped. Mrs. Dalton physical blindness symbolizes white people’s blindness to the problems black people face. If this scene were played out through Mrs. Dalton’s perspective I suspect Mrs. Dalton inability to understand Bigger’s struggles would be more apparent. Another case this perspective shift could be useful is later in the novel when the reporters question Bigger and when they open the furnace to find Mary’s body. This would give us readers a better understanding of the oppressive force Bigger experiences.

Driven to the Point of Suicide

            Earlier this week in class, we discussed the heartbreaking conclusion of The White Boy Shuffle by Paul Beatty. By the end of the novel, my favorite characters had already committed suicide or were preparing to do so. The novel provides an unconventional look at suicide as a way to beat the system set up by white society. This idea interested me, and after the class discussion I could not stop thinking about how Gunnar transitioned from the happy skater at the beginning of the novel to the man who somehow found himself the leader of a mass suicide.

            The ending of the novel was a shock even though the mass suicide was disclosed in the prologue of the novel. A major factor in this was the success of the characters Beatty develops. Nicholas Scoby and Gunnar Kaufman gifted both athletically and intellectually. Scoby is incredibly talented at basketball, he cannot miss a shot even if he tries. Gunnar has an innate skill for basketball. As a seventh grader, he dunks the ball in his first time playing to the astonishment of all the other players. Scoby’s intelligence is apparent in the first passage we are introduced to him when we are informed that “Scoby was a straight-A student” (66). Gunnar has a knack for coming up with impressive commentaries on society on the spot. At a Shakespearean soliloquy finals that Scoby and Gunnar attend, Gunnar criticizes the way the other contestants and judges stereotyped and belittled their talent before they started their presentation. When Gunnar attends the predominantly white high school and plays a basketball game against Scoby’s team he ridicules the rest of his school’s attitude towards him. He recognizes that he and the other black players on the team are accepted because of their basketball skill so he wears white gloves and powders his face to expose the minstrel show dynamic. Although readers are aware of the racial prejudice the characters face, we are still hopeful that this skill is enough to secure them a bright future. The fact that even their intellectual and athletic abilities are not enough to prevent their suicides makes the end that much more crushing.

            Gunnar’s improvisation is a sign not only of his intelligence, but also an indication of his general nature. Gunnar meets racial prejudice head on with clever retorts. He always fights back and refuses to let racial prejudice pass unnoticed. The first time we see this falter is when he sees the results of the Rodney King trial. Gunnar has no response, all he can do is sink into the couch and let the crushing reality of extent of racism in America weigh down on him. Gunnar’s response to the Rodney King trial sets the dynamic for the rest of the novel. Before this section, Gunnar definitely recognizes how he is discriminated against, but he always puts a humorous spin on it. After the Rodney King trial, we get a much bleaker picture of the racism Gunnar has faced. Although Gunnar never faces the racism as extreme as the protagonists in Native Son and Invisible Man, he still has to sustain extremely dehumanizing experiences. One example of this is when Psycho Loco and Gunnar have a conversation about the instances they have been stopped by the police.

            On the final page of the novel, Beatty voices one of his criticisms of American society when Gunnar explains his rationale for suicide to Psycho Loco. Gunnar explains that fighting back is just playing into society’s twisted role for black people in America. There is no fight to be had, “me (Gunnar) and America aren’t even enemies” (226). The imagery of Gunnar as “the horse pulling the stagecoach” (226) is very powerful in that it shows how American society can just control him. Gunnar realizes that the best way to fight back is to take control over his life and not give America the satisfaction. This concept is illustrated earlier in the novel when Gunnar talks to Scoby about suicide. Scoby asks, “‘To kill yourself you don’t need a permit do you?’” to which Gunnar responds “‘Naw, I don’t think so’” (204). This quite cynical interaction shows the mentality that suicide is the only path free from control.

            I think that it is worth briefly differentiating between their suicides and when Gunnar’s father commits suicide. Gunnar’s father lived a life as “the horse pulling the stagecoach”. He is a part of the corrupt LAPD and does not stand up for his race. Rather, he laughs along with the jokes and lets them use his face as a basis for identifying criminals. When he commits suicide he dies by “choking on the firing pin” (226). He intends to shoot himself, but instead chokes on the firing pin which symbolizes his lack of ownership over his life.

            By no means am I saying that Beatty encourages his readers to think that Gunnar’s choice is the correct solution. Beatty uses suicide to shock the reader and force the reader to see how the severity of Gunnar’s predicament. Throughout the novel exaggerates scenarios for stronger reactions from the readers. For instance, the overnight move to hillside and the nature of some of the characters stand out. Not only are the suicides there to demonstrate the extreme impacts of racism, Beatty uses the suicide to point out American society’s perverse means of satisfaction. This is demonstrated when the smirk on the reporter’s face tells Gunnar the results of the Rodney King trial before he even hears it. Suicide as the only means to win shines a light on the corruption of American society.

Racial Equality, Not Ignorance

In the novels we have read so far this year, we have encountered multiple white people attempting to crusade for racial equality fail when they ignore the differences society imposes on the races. This happens in Native Son when Mary and Jan try to treat Bigger Thomas as they would treat any of their white friends, and in The White Boy Shuffle when Ms. Cegeny, Gunnar Kaufman’s teacher, tries to show the narrator that she does not see color. Both of these attempts backfire, and ironically, these events highlight the gap between the races.

            The episode in Native Son takes place when Bigger drives Mary and Jan around town. Part of my Native Son paper covered Bigger’s inexperience with the white community and how he was unprepared to spend a night out with Mary and Jan. Mary and Jan try to appeal to Bigger’s race rather than seeing him as his own individual. At the beginning of the night, Mary tells Bigger they are on their way to pick up his friend instead of telling him they are picking up Jan. She tries to show that they are on his side, but instead just confuses him. Mary and Jan try to appeal to Bigger with their knowledge of African-American music and restaurants. They try to treat Bigger as an equal, but Bigger still views them as the white symbols of power he has grown up seeing and even says sitting between them is like “sitting between two vast white looming walls”. Instead of making Bigger feel accepted, Mary and Jan make Bigger more aware of their differences. He becomes more aware of his black skin which makes him feel “naked, transparent”, and even as if it is a “badge of shame”.

            Gunnar Kaufman’s third grade teacher, Ms. Cegeny, makes a similar error. Kaufman remarks that classroom multiculturalism “reduced race, sexual orientation, and gender to inconsequence”. The signs of this mentality are all over the classroom. Ms. Cegeny owns a shirt that reads “Black, White, Red, Yellow, Brown, Human” with all the words except for “Human” crossed out. A poster in the classroom reads, “Eracism – the sun doesn’t care what color you are” which Ms. Cegeny makes sure to bring attention to when she wears her special shirt. This obsession with erasing differences in the classroom yields similar results to Native Son when the students are made even more aware of their differences. Kaufman notices on days when Ms. Cegeny wears this shirt, she pays special attention to the racial minorities and those are the days he is called on the most. The education with this mentality is dangerous. Ms. Cegeny teaches the students that Justice is colorblind in American society. She ignores and marginalizes the struggles of minorities to receive equal treatment in the eyes of the law.

Janie's "Pear Tree" Idealization

            Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God criticizes society’s restraints on Janie as a woman. From the beginning of the novel, Janie is forced to make hard decisions while under intense pressure. Janie compromises her ideal vision of a marriage and ends up making bad decisions in regards to her first marriage. This then leads to more decisions and a failed second marriage as well.

            When Janie marries Logan Chillick, she abandons her idealization of a marriage all together. Because of Nanny’s past experiences, she pressures her to marry a man for financial and social stability. Janie does not find Logan attractive, on the contrary she actually finds him repulsive. In order to set Janie up for a good life, she abandons the idea of love to satisfy her Nanny’s sense of security for her life.

            Janie’s second marriage is also not a result of her feelings for Jody Starks, but rather finding Logan repulsive. When she runs away from her life with Logan, she even says it does not matter whether Jody was there to meet her, she just could not stand a life with Logan. She is attracted to the things that make him different from Logan. She likes his ambition and work ethic as opposed to Logan’s sedentary life style. She also likes the way he says he will treat her. She was offended when Logan said he would buy a mule for her, but likes when Jody says he will treat her daintily and almost like a trophy wife. She acts with an impulse rather than thinking through a life with Jody. As a result, instead of feelings respected and valued by Jody, she feels repressed and neglected while they are married. When Jody dies, Janie feels relieved and as if a large pressure had been lifted off of her. For a brief period after Jody dies, Janie simulates mourning. She wears the appropriate clothing that would go with mourning, but is not actually depressed by his death.

            Janie’s life after her second marriage is the first time she acts on her own without outside influences. Although there are people who give her advice against Tea Cake, she chooses to ignore them. They warn her to be cautious because of the age gap and difference in economic status, but Janie chooses to follow her feelings. She gets closer to her “pear tree” ideal vision and make her romantic decisions based on love. Because of this, her time with Tea Cake is the first time in the novel the readers are hopeful for Janie. Although we do not yet know what happens, Tea Cake is the first time Janie’s relationship has a possibility of a positive outcome.

            

The Narrator’s “House in the World”

House in the World
I’m looking for a house
In the world
Where the white shadows
Will not fall.

There is no such house,
Dark brothers,
No such house
At all.

— Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes’ “House in the World” is a powerful poem with two distinct voices in the different stanzas. During Isandro’s recitation we discussed how the first stanza features a young black voice looking for a place of comfort free of white culture’s influence and oppression. The second stanza acts as the voice of an older black voice warning the younger individual that he has searched every corner of the world but has found there is no place free of white influence. The discussion prompted me to look into how this idea applied to the narrator in Invisible Man. I looked into how the narrator’s hope that he can gain some power in the world without any white influence is gradually diminished through the novel. The voice in the first stanza is like the narrator at the beginning of Invisible Man, hopeful and ambitious, but the narrator by the end of the novel is like the voice in the second stanza, realizing the harsh realities and bleakness of the world.

In the beginning of Invisible Man, the narrator is quite naïve. In the battle royale scene in Chapter 1, the narrator is pushed around and does not initiate any actions of his own. In class we talked about how the narrator is almost in a dreamlike state where he is not fully aware of his surroundings and he is not fully aware of his own actions. This relates to how he does not really react when the white men abuse him for their entertainment because of his race. Finally, when he receives the scholarship for the college, he is still hopeful for a new beginning and the prospect of the success the education can lead him towards.

Once the narrator is at the university he ignores the signs of racism that are even present at the university. He is oblivious enough to take Mr. Norton on a path that leads them Mr. Trueblood. The first signs of the narrator realizing the impossibility of a black man finding success without white influence is when he sees Mr. Bledsoe’s mask. When the narrator first meets Mr. Bledsoe he holds a great respect for him and sees him as a role mode, but this image is shattered when he realizes Mr. Bledsoe’s appearance is all a front. When the narrator sees Mr. Bledsoe lose his temper with him, then immediately reconstruct his appearance to talk to Mr. Norton, the narrator sees that Mr. Bledsoe has built his power and success by essentially kissing up to the white men with power. Despite this slight discouragement, the narrator is still hopeful to find his place when he is sent to the north.

 The narrator’s new attitude is apparent when he is skeptical of Brockway. When the narrator meets Brockway he is exposed to a black man who has a false sense of ownership and power but who lives in a constant state of paranoia. Brockway is completely under the control of the white executives of the company and constantly afraid for his job. This experience grows the narrator’s awareness of the realities of a black man’s life in a white world.

When the narrator meets the Brotherhood, he is more cautious than ever before, even rejecting the job offer at first. He eventually accepts their job offer and pours his life into working for the organization. He truly believes that he can work hard and succeed within the organization, even remarking that the Brotherhood is the one organization in America where he could rise to the top. After a long period of time he realizes that he does not hold any importance in the organization and the white men have complete power over him. He is used by the Brotherhood as a face for their organization even telling him at one point that he is paid to talk not to think. The Brotherhood controls him so completely that at one point he is moved away from his work entirely to work on women’s rights. The organization he devotes his life to eventually turns out to be a scam that exploits the black community of Harlem.

This ending takes us full circle to the prologue where we meet the narrator after the events of the entire novel have taken place. The narrator has embraced his invisibility and now appears to live apart from society, on his own. At each step through the book, the narrator’s aspirations are shrunken as he learns the extent of white culture’s influence. In the very beginning of the book the narrator believes he can get an education and hold a position of significance. Next he believes that even if he cannot get an education he can hold a job of significance, but after this sense of hope is erased, he holds onto his hope. He believes that a specific organization supposedly meant to work for racial equally is where he is destined to make a difference, but even that is filled with white men with power exploiting the black population. The narrator realizes there is no place where he can hold power without white culture overpowering him in a similar way that the second voice in “House in the World” realizes there is no place where he can find peace without white culture’s contamination. It is arguable that even when the narrator is supposedly invisible and removed from society, he is under the control of white people in power. The narrator is obsessed with this fight against Monopolated Light & Power. He dedicates all his time wiring light bulbs to waste the company’s power, yet it makes no difference to the company. Although this waste of their energy may appear as a small victory for the narrator, even here, his life is run by the executives of a company who are not even aware of his existence.

Liberty Paints as an Extended Metaphor for Racial Inequality

In class we discussed the obscurity of Liberty paints and what made it different from a normal paint factory. We explored Liberty paints as an extended metaphor for racial inequality and whitewashing. I chose to look deeper into this and find more instances this metaphor is apparent.

            Ellison uses symbolism from the very start of Chapter 10. The fog is mentioned three times in the first two paragraphs of the chapter. The fog interferes with his vision, but he is still able to see the massive sign that is on display. The name of the factory, “Liberty paints” and the fog mean that in a sense the narrator does not have a clear view of liberty. This suggests that liberty in America has been distorted and that as a black man he does not truly have liberty.

Despite the fog, the narrator can see a sign with the motto of the factory, “KEEP AMERICA PURE WITH LIBERTY PAINTS” (196). This is more important when the specialty of the factory, white paint, is revealed. The whiteness is seen as pure and the fact that the pain is used all across the country, especially in government buildings, shows the whitewashing all across America, especially the white political power.

The process behind the missing of the paint itself is quite interesting. To get the famous white color, the factory needs to add 10 drops of a black liquid. The white paint covering the black liquid represents the power and privilege white people have in society, but the brilliance of the white paint once it covers the black liquid represents how white people oppress and take credit for the accomplishments of black people in order to gain their power and privilege. This idea is again exemplified through Brockway role in the factory. Although the narrator seems skeptical of Brockway, Ellison presents the idea that Brockway is integral to the company. Despite his importance, he is cast aside to the depths of the company. He is insecure about his job and the rest of the people in the factory do not take him seriously.

Chapter 10 illustrates the struggle to reach racial equality. In the chapter the narrator faces less racism at first glance, but Ellison uses subtle signs of racism to question the progress towards racial equality. The narrator has just moved to the north where there is supposedly better race relations, but there are still signs of racism everywhere. Ellison plays with liberty, one of the most basic rights of Americans, and questions whether black people have liberty by filling the chapter with symbols of white oppression and privilege.

Invisible Man and the Narrator's Oblivion

In Invisible Man, the narrator worries that all African-Americans will be stereotyped by the actions of just one individual. When he drives Mr. Norton around, he is worried that the people Mr. Norton sees will influence his opinion of African-Americans. The narrator is anxious to leave Mr. Trueblood’s farm because he does not want Mr. Norton to hear Mr. Trueblood’s story. While Mr. Trueblood is talking he thinks, “How can he tell this to white men, I thought, when he knows they’ll say that all Negroes do such things? I looked at the floor, a red mist of anguish before my eyes.” (58). For this same reason, the narrator does not Mr. Norton to enter the Golden Day and see the shell shocked veterans. Although he is worried about the misrepresentation of African-American men, he does not notice the similarities between the white characters he meets.

In Chapter 1 of the novel, the narrator is humiliated before a large group of white men, including the school superintendent who he refers to as “All of the town’s big shots” (17). He is forced to fight other African-American men, but his suffering is treated as entertainment by the white men. The narrator, beaten and exhausted, then delivers his speech where he is ridiculed and humiliated. Once he has finished, he is given a scholarship to the state college for Negroes.

In Chapter 2 of the novel, the narrator accompanies Mr. Norton and listens to Mr. Trueblood tell Mr. Norton about how he impregnated his own daughter. The story has an odd effect on Mr. Norton, most likely because of his relationship with his daughter who passed away. After the story, Mr. Norton gives Mr. Trueblood 100 dollars, which confuses the narrator. He fails to see the similarity between his experience and Mr. Trueblood’s storytelling.

 At first glance, Mr. Trueblood’s storytelling does not seem to play the same role as the narrator’s fighting and speech, but Mr. Norton’s shock seems to be a result of his obsession with his daughter rather than his disapproval and disgust of Mr. Trueblood’s actions. He is intrigued and exclaims, “You did and are unharmed!” and “You have looked upon chaos and are not destroyed!” (51). He refuses to leave even when the narrator is uncomfortable and prompts him to go, “I looked at Mr. Norton and stood up, thinking it was a good time to leave; but he was listening to Trueblood so intensely he didn’t see me”. Mr. Norton and the superintendent both view the humiliation of the African-American men as a source for their own entertainment. Not only would they pay for things like this, Mr. Trueblood remarks that the Sheriff and other white men would give him food, drink, and tobacco to tell them the story.

All the white men in the novel share the same perception on the uniformity of African-American men. In Chapter 1, the narrator expresses he feels superior to the other “tough guys” in the elevator with him. Although the narrator notices the difference between him and the other men, the white men use them for the same purpose: their entertainment. Mr. Norton shares these views although they manifest subtly. He speaks on the founder’s role in the college as “a king, or in a sense, of a God” (45). The vet recognizes this and comments Mr. Norton views the narrator as “a mark on the scoreboard of your achievement, a thing and not a man, a child, or even less – a black amorphous thing” (95). The narrator dismisses what the vet has to say and stays under the control of white men who, in a sense, keep him running.