Throughout Paul Beatty’s novel The Sellout, the unnamed narrator undergoes an identity crises after the death of his father and the disappearance of his hometown. He struggles to answer the most important question his father would ask: “Who am I? And how may I become myself?” (39). By segregating Dickens, the narrator finds himself and his purpose, as his identity is closely linked to his home.
Having a childhood composed of psychological experiments, overbearingly clinical parenting, and homeschooling, the narrator’s identity is entirely dependent on his experiences with his father and with Dickens. He expresses this notion, saying, “Like the entire town of Dickens, I was my father’s child, a product of my environment, and nothing more. Dickens was me. And I was my father. Problem is, they both disappeared from my life, first my dad, and then my hometown, and suddenly I had no idea who I was, and no clue how to become myself” (40). Moreover, the narrator’s father died insisting that his son was special, causing more turmoil in the narrator’s identity.
The narrator spends the majority of his time growing spectacular crops, chasing after his one-true love, Marpessa, and hanging out with Hominy, but he lacks a defined purpose. After the narrator realizes the effects of segregating Marpessa’s bus for Hominy’s birthday, he finds a new purpose: redefining and segregating Dickens. The narrator explains, “I realized that segregation would be the key to bringing Dickens back. The communal feeling of the bus would spread to the school and then permeate the rest of the city. Apartheid united black South Africa, why couldn’t it do the same for Dickens?” (167). The narrator takes on this task wholeheartedly, as he states, “I decided to give my new career as city Planner in Charge of Restoration and Segregation another six months” (168). For the narrator, bringing Dicken’s back on the map and uniting its residents reinvigorates his life; he is desperate to redefine his home for himself, for Hominy, and for the citizens of Dickens. Additionally, the narrator realizes the ironic positive effects that the segregation of Dickens has on the town, and he hopes to redefine Dickens as well as himself in a more positive way. Upon successfully winning the Supreme Court Case and segregating Dickens, the narrator is overwhelmed with emotion. He declares, “I can’t stop crying. Dickens is back on the map” (284). The narrator finds himself and his sense of purpose through his segregation efforts, successfully bringing Dickens and it’s unique citizens back on the map.
In the Sellout by Paul Beatty, the narrator certainly undergoes an identity crisis until the celebratory reinstatement of Dickens as a town and his own understanding of himself. Through these pivotal moments, the author not only defines the personal identity of the narrator, but comments on the larger identity crisis within the black community. Considering the historical perception and treatment of black people in the United States, there has been little room to define themselves outside of other people’s expectations. When Foy Cheshire condemns the use of the n-word in the novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the narrator cannot help but to disagree. He believes Foy does not have the grit to explain to his children, or others for that matter, “that the ‘n-word’ exists” (Beatty 97). The narrator quietly thinks to himself, “No one will ever refer to them as ‘little black euphemisms,’ so welcome to the American lexicon—Nigger!” (Beatty 97). Here, the author refers to the unfortunate labels, such as the n-word, pushed unto black people. Their identities then suffer due to how others have stolen their ability to define themselves. Furthermore, while driving through a motorcycle accident, Hominy crazily jumps out of the vehicle with the narrator and begins screaming, “‘If you black, get back! White, to the right. Brown, go around. Yellow follow the whites and let it mellow. Red, full speed ahead! Mulattos, full throttle!’” (Beatty 86). Despite Hominy being generally unstable, his simple, fighting words capture the essence of the public’s prejudice towards different colors of people.
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ReplyDeleteThe narrator’s identity is linked to Dicken’s in several ways. His father tells him to ask himself “Who am I? and How may I become myself?” (39). Initially, the narrator couldn’t figure out the answer to either of these questions. This is illustrated literally though the fact that the narrator goes unnamed throughout the novel. His identity is unknown to himself and the other characters. The only name that he has is “Bonbon” and this is a name given to him by Marpessa (124). This indicates that he will only be able to find is identity though others. The way he does this is by putting Dicken’s back on the map. When he finally accomplishes this task he “can’t stop crying” because he is so happy that Dicken’s is back (284). This happiness comes partially from the reappearance of the city and partially from the fact that he found himself in the process. This acceptance of who he is as a person is seen in the last line. Foy tells the narrator that his father would be ashamed of him and that he won’t ever understand. Bonbon responds “And he’s right. I never will” (289). The acceptance of the fact that he will never understand why is father would be ashamed is an acceptance of who he is as a person. He doesn’t care what other’s think and is happy with his identity.
Linking the main character’s identity to the city of Dickens is an interesting way to understand the actions completed by him. It is understandable to the reader to justify these actions due to the severe emotional connections that he experiences throughout the novel. This also could be applied to external historical events where members of a certain minority segregate themselves in an attempt to avoid assimilation into the dominant culture. His strong ties to his community explain his interest in motivating himself towards achieving an added sense of security when he finds himself ultimately defenseless in situations outside of his control. Like much of the other areas of the novel, his attachment is overly exaggerated, as evidenced by his extreme responses to somewhat normal events, like his contentment expressed when he felt that the Career Day was so segregated that he remarks the “specter of segregation has brought the city of Dickens back together again” (168). Because of how the main character handles situations, it could appear as though he feels very outnumbered and questions his ability to understand situations, resulting in an extreme sense of fight-or-flight syndrome. His loose ties result in him acting like a stranded animal, finding pleasure in things that normally no one does. For example, the main character feels happiness when he is “clutching at [his] innards, I began to feel something akin to closure. I never heard the shot, but for the first time in my life I had something in common with my father- we’d both been shot in the gut by gutless motherfuckers” (261). His interest in establishing a connection with his father is explained by an out of control quest for power within himself and the situations he find himself in.
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