Suicide or Protest
Why does Gunnar insist on passively waiting to die, like Psycho Loco says, why doesn’t he fight back? At this point, he could probably rally enough people to pose a serious threat to the US government, and so many white people also support him due to his fame. So why doesn’t he do anything with all this power? Why does he just spend his days hosting Misery Fest or relaxing? I think that there are probably a couple reasons for this, though it’s hard to tell. For starters, he’s just plain tired. He’s been at the center of everything for so long, people watching his every move. He’s spent years trying to entertain them and being seen as a celebrity, that probably gets exhausting after a while. His best friend also committed suicide and he now has a child to raise. It’s completely understandable that he wouldn’t want to deal with running a semi-revolution. I mean, he’s still constantly being followed, and people look to him as their leader, but at this point he’s made it so that he doesn’t have to deal with the racial aspect of it all which was probably one of the most tiring parts.
Another reason could be tactical. He is engaging in a form of peaceful protest, while also having to do very little work himself. As seen with Martin Luther King and Gandhi, peaceful protests can often end up being one of the most powerful forms of protest. Another potential bit of reasoning could be purely tactical and based off of the idea of a peaceful protest. At this point, the US government is threatening to drop a nuke on Hillside unless the people gathering there stop. Now it’s hard to tell what exactly the government wants them to stop, as they aren’t doing anything illegal. Which brings up the tactical reasoning. They are currently not breaking any laws or endangering anyone, so if the US drops a nuke on them, it would be seen as a government killing millions of unarmed citizens who are just minding their own business. They can’t hide behind the justification of there being a full-scale rebellion, so it ends up making the government look almost tyrannical.
The problem with looking at this as a protest however, is that they don’t really say what exactly they’re protesting. They just attend their Misery Fests and live their lives out fairly normally. Yes, they talk about oppression and racism, but they never try to make any changes. They’re just living their lives as a hyper-inflated community. This entire gathering is just that, a gathering. They’re not planning anything or protesting, just gathering together and chilling. I don’t know, the entire thing doesn’t really make much sense when you look at it. Does anyone else have any ideas? I’m really hoping that they aren’t all just waiting for death, and that there’s some ulterior motive behind it all, but who knows. Maybe that really is just all there is to it. Maybe everyone’s just so tired of life and society that they just want anything to change, even if that change is their death.
I agree- I wasn't sure exactly what they were protesting during these gatherings and what cause the mass suicide would be for. The end of the novel was so abrupt- at least in Invisible Man, I felt like the introduction was natural. The ending of The White Boy Shuffle seemed to come out of nowhere and in the prologue, Psycho Loco has to ask Gunnar questions to clarify the situation that still didn't make it much better (in my opinion). I think that Beatty could potentially allude to everyone awaiting their deaths. This is just a thought, but it could be satirically saying that since Gunnar had finished entertaining the white audience, his purpose had been diminished. This goes back to the professional basketball discussion but this kind of reminds me of Nate Robinson's NBA career; he's still a really good player but because he's in his mid 30s, no team will give him a chance. Then again, I don't see this paralleled in that people are still looking to Gunnar for guidance, but maybe that's the point? Good post!
ReplyDeleteI think the idea of a peaceful protest interesting. Violence and aggression can just make people be on the other side of your cause because all they see are these actions of brutality. By being peaceful, you seem much more innocent and that makes people more likely to listen to you. While Gunnar has this power over so many people, he uses it in a way that will grab people's attention but in a much better way. It's much better to be known through peace than violence. I don't think this is exactly what is motivating Gunnar to act the way he did, but it might be part of it.
ReplyDeleteI like your point about Gunnar being "too tired" to lead a revolution, as I had never though about a reason as simple as that to justify his abnormal actions. After being observed under a magnifying glass by his peers ever since he arrived at Hillside, it would make sense to want to relax and step out of the spotlight.
ReplyDeleteI personally think the point of the mass suicide is giving up, but the tactical way you outlined in your blog post. By giving up, they are showing that the government can kill millions of black people because they are protesting. They are making a point the government has no hesitation to kill them and doesn't care about the value of their lives. The government didn't say no to spare all of their lives, but are going to drop it anyways. But yea, I am also confused like you are.
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ReplyDeleteProtest by doing nothing is I think one of the most interesting ways to fight back. It reminds me of the civil right sit-ins where peopple were trained not to fight back. It's sort of a publicy stunt to show the nature of the system. I'm also confused as to what exactly they are protesting. My best guess is they're protesting the bombing, but knowing Gunnar it has to be deeper than that. If he's protesting the entire system's opression of Black American's then I'm confused as to why he's not publishing poems to spread his message. Anyway, the ending caught me by surprise, but it made me think.
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