The Roll of Basketball
Paul Beatty's White Boy shuffle is a novel navigating through Gunnar Kaufman's delicate growing up process and along the way, addressing the various stereotypes pertaining to African Americans. Among these, include the 'black people are good at basketball'. Beatty applies the stereotype to her two main characters Gunnar and Scoby, one of whom somehow literally can't miss a jump shot. Our author, like we've discussed in class, loves to twist popular culture into something almost unrecognizable. Poetry takes the place of modern Hip-Hop in basketball and gangster culture for example. Weird to even think about in the real world.
I found the most crucial impact of the sport was when Gunnar finally realizes the power that he has over the school crowd when at the free-throw line. With the score tied he finds himself with the chance to ice the game, a position that is dreamt of by young adults throughout America. Ironically, it is in this position, at this moment, that the guy realizes that doesn't "give a fuck". After looking at the crowd, he fully realizes the power he has over them. He could have them leave dejected after missing or he could simply make them happy with the win. He misses the first to test his theory and seeing that it works, he nonchalantly sinks the second one to end the game. I found this realization of power to be super interesting, giving me some Bigger Thomas vibes. After mistakenly killing Mary, he also reaches this epiphany. Bigger's catalyst is Mary's death and Gunnar's is basketball.
Without basketball, could you guys think of a way that Gunnar breaks through? Maybe poetry? Which is more critical to the story? Comment down below!
I would argue that while basketball is crucial to how other people perceive Gunnar, he never really sees it as something significant for himself. He never seem to truly enjoy it or the attention it brings him. It's not as though he grinds hard to get good at it, he seems to have this talent unceremoniously thrust upon him, and throughout the course of the book it becomes more of a burden than a blessing.
ReplyDeleteI find your connection to Bigger Thomas very interesting. After being considered inferior their whole lives, they both discovered source of power and control and enjoy it. Bigger kind of messes with the crowd by missing the first free throw, and experiments with this power like you said.
ReplyDeleteI see the importance that basketball plays in Gunnar's life, however I think he comes to the realization that it is all a sham. When he moves further and further from street ball, we see his love for the sport diminish until it becomes nothing. For his whole life, white peoples actions have controlled his life, and basketball was the one thing that he thought he could have control over. Once that was taken away, it makes sense how we make it to the end of the book, where Gunnar believes fighting against society does nothing, and life is hopeless.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was interesting how playing basketball in high school and college took the fun out of it for Gunnar and Scoby. He acts with a level of indifference towards basketball and everything basketball related, while everyone else at his school and at Hillside is so into it. Rather than falling in love with the "power" and control he has over people, he doesn't really like it and grows tired of it, as it becomes more publicized and a source of communal pride.
ReplyDeleteYou ask if poetry or basketball is more critical to the story, and I think the answer is both. While in high school, basketball is how Gunnar gets his reputation and his first friends, most notably Scoby. Friendships and experiences that he develops through basketball shape his teenage years. However, his entire college experience and what happens thereafter is shaped by poetry. Without poetry in his life, I would argue that everything that happens in the latter portion of the story would not have happened. So basically, that's an unanswerable question.
ReplyDeleteBasketball seems to be what opens Gunnar's eyes to the idea of the White spectating him for entertainment and poetry seems to be Gunnar's escape and his way of expressing himself. In other words, basketball gives him the podium and his poetry is what he says with that opportunity. I'd actually say that in the present day, hip hop is a form of poetry and if you look at this way, poetry takes a huge role in music. Gunnar's control in that situation was very interesting and it was refreshing to see him finally be able to take control and learn the true impact of his actions when the Whites look at him and see him as just a black basketball player.
ReplyDeleteThe connection between Bigger Thomas and Gunnar is really interesting. You can also make an argument about the similarity between Gunnar and the narrator from Invisible Man. All three of them seem to reach this point of epiphany one way or the other. As you have mentioned, Gunnar reached his at the free throw line and Bigger reached his after killing Mary. Then the narrator reaches in progressively throughout the story. After they have reached it, they somehow obtained this clarity that allow to see abstract views of the world.
ReplyDeleteI think both poetry and basketball give Gunnar a sense of control over society. As he talks about in the prologue, he sees himself as a messiah over the people because they read his poetry. Both things seem of little importance to him and everybody else seems to love him because he's good at them. Gunnar's version of poetry is often about his issues, but white society loves them and praises him for them. His poetry seems to pander to white people as well, as opposed to the hip-hop we more typically associate with basketball. In this way I think both Gunnar's poetry and basketball appeal to white people and once he realizes this, he feels control over them.
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