Gunnar's Identity
I found it pretty remarkable that Paul Beatty's The White Boy Shuffle succeeded in depicting a pretty dark and powerful fight against racism in a comedic and enjoyable way. One thing within the novel that interested me the most was Gunnar's struggle of identity and fitting in after first moving to Hillside. I would say Gunnar is a pretty peculiar character considering his freakish natural ability to play basketball and the way he reacts to different situations. Gunnar seemed to be this embodiment of black culture and stereotypes while also being the opposite. He is amazingly good at this sport, basketball, which black people are stereotyped as being naturally good at, while at the same time being this incredible and studious poet with impressive grades. Usually, these two characteristics would not be associated with each other which is what makes Gunnar so interesting as a character. Gunnar's struggle with his identity and eventual acceptance and fight for his race was ...