In the novel, The Sellout, by Paul Beatty explores African-American race relations within society through the life of an unnamed, black narrator who is appearing before the Supreme Court. He is being charged for many things, most prominently holding a slave and attempting to reinstate segregation.
The life of the narrator is then explored starting with his father. His father, a sociology professor, was someone who adamantly believed in the concept of institutionalized racism and continued to believe in its presence in their community. He home schooled the narrator because he refused to have him sit through a white-dominated education system and often used his son as the subject of his social experiments. The narrator, however, did not believe that widespread racism still exists.
After his father's passing, the narrator assumed his father's role in the sense that he continued his work in society. This really seemed to pick up when he learned that the City of Dickens was erased from the map of California in order to boost property values. At a meeting of the Dum Dum Donuts, his father's inner community, he proposed a plan and vowed to bring the city back.
The narrator also reconnects with an old college affair, Marpessa, who drives a city bus and this is where he begins his attempts of re-segregatation. While celebrating Hominy's, the narrator's slave, birthday he sets up signs that affirm only whites may sit in the first third of the bus. This enrages Marpessa because she believes he is setting the black community back by 500 years. In a surprising turn, however, this bus quickly becomes the safest bus in the city.
By presenting these situations, Beatty is attempting to remark on the notions of racism and the perceived effects of it in society and it's actual effects when they are put into place. Critics have lauded the novel for its relentless demeanor and comedic integrity, however, in an interview with the Paris Review, Beatty said, "There’s comedy in the book, but there’s a bunch of other stuff in there, too. It’s easy just to hide behind the humor, and then you don’t have to talk about anything else".
What he is referring to is the clearly articulated instances of racism that are presented in the novel by creating circumstances that wouldn't necessarily appear in real life. But this is the point he is trying to make -- if people were to truly pay attention to the progression of race relations in America they would understand the sentiments of black people. However, it is easy for critics to speak to the humor and disregard the deeper ideas, which are more difficult to talk about. The comedy in the book doesn't necessarily deflect from the main philosophy, though. Rather, it is a byproduct of the instances that occur in the book that many find laughable due to their extremity and imagination but clearly it is very easy to be consumed by the humor and hide behind it when it comes to speaking of the real issue at hand.
The life of the narrator is then explored starting with his father. His father, a sociology professor, was someone who adamantly believed in the concept of institutionalized racism and continued to believe in its presence in their community. He home schooled the narrator because he refused to have him sit through a white-dominated education system and often used his son as the subject of his social experiments. The narrator, however, did not believe that widespread racism still exists.
After his father's passing, the narrator assumed his father's role in the sense that he continued his work in society. This really seemed to pick up when he learned that the City of Dickens was erased from the map of California in order to boost property values. At a meeting of the Dum Dum Donuts, his father's inner community, he proposed a plan and vowed to bring the city back.
The narrator also reconnects with an old college affair, Marpessa, who drives a city bus and this is where he begins his attempts of re-segregatation. While celebrating Hominy's, the narrator's slave, birthday he sets up signs that affirm only whites may sit in the first third of the bus. This enrages Marpessa because she believes he is setting the black community back by 500 years. In a surprising turn, however, this bus quickly becomes the safest bus in the city.
By presenting these situations, Beatty is attempting to remark on the notions of racism and the perceived effects of it in society and it's actual effects when they are put into place. Critics have lauded the novel for its relentless demeanor and comedic integrity, however, in an interview with the Paris Review, Beatty said, "There’s comedy in the book, but there’s a bunch of other stuff in there, too. It’s easy just to hide behind the humor, and then you don’t have to talk about anything else".
What he is referring to is the clearly articulated instances of racism that are presented in the novel by creating circumstances that wouldn't necessarily appear in real life. But this is the point he is trying to make -- if people were to truly pay attention to the progression of race relations in America they would understand the sentiments of black people. However, it is easy for critics to speak to the humor and disregard the deeper ideas, which are more difficult to talk about. The comedy in the book doesn't necessarily deflect from the main philosophy, though. Rather, it is a byproduct of the instances that occur in the book that many find laughable due to their extremity and imagination but clearly it is very easy to be consumed by the humor and hide behind it when it comes to speaking of the real issue at hand.
I find this analysis correct in many ways particularly what you said about Beatty’s true intentions in the novel. Beatty does want to remark on the perception of racism and the actualities of racism. I would argue that Beatty is criticizing the efforts of American society to ameliorate the effects on slavery on the black community. The deeper ideas that you are referencing are the things that horrify him about the state of Dickens, which could be any poor, majority minority small town. The mental health of the residents is in shambles, crime is rampant, children are often in one parent homes or have no parents at all, and the few intellectuals who rose from the community have no real interest in helping Dickens. This “social apartheid” (203) exists in the United States and Beatty uses humor to address them. However, I don’t think that it is easy to hide behind the humor in the book because it is juxtaposed with scenes of harsh reality and genuine emotion, like his father’s death at the hands of policemen. Beatty has to use humor because if you didn’t laugh at all the sadness in this book, you would have to cry.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete