Having read the first few chapters of The White Boy Shuffle, I
think that the most interesting thing for me is the writing style and Gunnar's
style of speaking and writing. Gunnar starts out the novel in the Santa Monica
culture talking "proper," but the narrative still has some aspects of
slang in it, despite the poetic aspects that it also has.
But it gets really interesting when Gunnar
moves to Hillside. He is forced to leave behind his "proper" way of
speaking and adopt the more slang, street, almost thug language of Hillside.
Despite this change in how Gunnar talks he still thinks himself a poet and his
style of speaking still has poetic aspects to it. A reader can see this in the
conversations he has with Nick Scoby. But the most interesting part to me is
when his poetry and his Hillside language meld together. This is first seen at
the Shakespearean contest when he goes up, and recites a version of Shakespeare
but much more adapted to the style of speech he has learned to use in Hillside.
This is increased when he earns his status of poéte
maudit for the Gun Totin' Hooligans and for the neighborhood in
general. When he is asked to speak at Pumpkin's funeral he delivers a poem full
of Hillside dialect, truly displaying the result of this melding.
As well as Gunnar's language I think that
the language of the novel itself is different from that of most novels. Paul
Beatty writes it with a much more laid back tone. No real fancy language or
flowery styles, to me it makes the book that much better. As well as being kind
of laid back, Beatty's writes in a way that allows him to flow fluidly in and out
of Gunnar Kauffman's character. His writing meshes very well with Gunnar's
style.
I think the narrative voice of the White Boy Shuffle is my favorite aspect of the book. You make a really interesting observation about how Gunnar's speech and word usage is dependent on his location in the book. I don't know if I am the only one who feels this way, but when I read the book I feel like one of those enthralled classmates that is sitting in Gunnar's class as he talks about his crazy family tree. He is, just like you said, a poetic, but a genuine storyteller.
ReplyDeleteI love how Paul Beatty writes Gunnar's narrative voice. You're right about it being very laid back, but at the same time it's so witty and intelligent. Gunnar talks in an extremely different style to his friends compared to how he narrates the story, so that makes me really curious about where he is in his life at the time he's narrating (I know we get a little bit of information at the beginning, but I'm so excited to finish the book and see how it ends!).
ReplyDeleteWe see Gunnar's speech style (and writing style) develop over the course of the novel, as part of his character development--so his reading of Greek classical literature and transcendentalist poetry in Montgomery Ward is as influential as his conversations around the basketball court--but we observe this blending of discourses in his narrative voice from the very start of the novel. Just as the prologue sets out a scenario that the novel will eventually explain, it establishes a voice that Gunnar's character development will eventually lead to.
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