From the very beginning of the novel, I was a mixture of
fascinated and horrified by the experiments conducted on the narrator. My
biggest concern with was how this influenced the father-son dynamic. When the
narrator introduces his father, he doesn’t refer to himself as his son, but
rather as “his gangly, absentminded black lab rat” (Beatty 27). At that point,
I fully expected a heart-wrenching story about an abusive father and his underappreciated
son. The absolute last thing I expected was to laugh as a father began to beat
his son in front of a crowd, only to have the crowd join in and help the
father. While I could understand the horror of getting beaten by a crowd of
people, the description of the crowd with “their faces still sweaty and chests
still heaving from the efforts of their altruism” was such an absurd image I couldn’t
help but laugh. In reality, the only reason I was able to enjoy the
experiments, as strange as that sounds, was because of how absurd they all
were. The idea of a father beginning to beat his own son, only to watch a crowd
of people help him, and they have the audacity to survey those people instead
of checking on the welfare of your child evoked the dark humor I always
guiltily laugh at.
While I found the experiments hilarious, when I
looked back on what I had a read and distilled what had exactly occurred, I
began to feel a little uneasy. In class discussion when we discussed the
experiments I didn’t remember the wording the narrator used, but rather the
acts that occurred. This created a bit of a moral dilemma for me, as I was effectively
laughing at the psychological abuse of a child. It was especially hard to
explain to my friends why I found the novel so funny. You come off a bit
strange when you tell people you’re laughing because “This kids dad started
beating him and everybody around started to beat him too”! Eventually, I was able to solve this by coming
to an understanding of why I found the experiments funny. I couldn’t help but
laugh because of the absurd way that the experiments were framed and described.
Each line has an incredible amount of irony, and the word choices made me
question if I truly understood the meaning of it. Overall, the social
experiments were a clear example of the absurdity of the novel, and serve as a
reminder of the novels commentary on deeper issues.
I can relate to your reaction to the humor in this novel because I had a very similar experience. I think the idea of absurdity in the novel is an excellent way to examine the character of our narrator and the conflicts of the book. A famous French author named Camus defined The Absurd as the conflict between the human tendency to look for meaning and our inability to find any. We see this idea explored in many of the characters, but the narrator and his father are great examples. Like you said, the father would subject his child to many “experiments” to further his research and find meaning in his existence as a black man and the development of black psychology. Ultimately, those experiments didn’t yield the results that he was hoping for but he kept insisting that he would one day crack the code of black existence all in an effort to explain his own life. Similarly, the narrator uses the segregation of Dickens to give purpose to his life saying, “Dickens was me” (40). However, he understands the absurdity of his goal and so uses humor to cover up his inner conflict.
ReplyDeleteI related to the fascination and horror felt while reading The Sellout. Many of the experiments were just done so the father could apply racist acts, or conduct studies of his son to see how he would respond. The father was trying to raise a child who, after being subjected to racism and experiments, would be the saving grace of the African –American race and, more importantly, the father’s career. The experimentation only ends after the narrator chooses Ken and Barbie over Harriet Tubman and Malcolm X. “My father lost his scientific objectivity and grabbed me by the shirt. “What? Why?” he yelled. “Because the white people have got better accessories”” (35). This was one of the most absurd points of the story, and the experiments in particular. The father is frustrated that his son, a small child at this point, is choosing the toy with more accessories. Most children would choose the toy that has the most accessories or looks more fun to play with. But to the father, his son was a failure for not choosing his own race all the time. “I was a failed social experiment. A statistically insignificant son who’d shattered his hopes for both me and the black race” (35). The importance of the social experiments are a clear example of how it is absurd that racism still exists in the U.S. and that we need to continue to work towards equality.
ReplyDelete