As we begin to delve into The White Boy Shuffle (I know, a new book already!) I think Gunnar's move to the hood is very interesting. At first, it seems as though he hates this neighborhood of hypodermic needle-littered parks and racist police officers. The 'hood' is very different from the environment he lived in in Santa Monica. There he had many friends, though he did feel a bit different from his predominantly white classmates, but in the hood Gunnar and his sisters are very much the outcasts. They are mercilessly beaten and insulted daily for being "white Negroes." And yet, Gunnar very much wants to become affiliated with a gang, which he describes as becoming a "soul brother".
At first I was very confused. Why would Gunnar want to forge a relationship with a group like the "Gun Totin' Hooligans" after he's abused time and time again by these gangs? But after our recent class discussions, it seems like his family legacy may have something to do with it. The Kaufmans have a history of being Uncle Tom's and bending down to racism (ex. Swen Kaufman running into slavery, Franz von being a 'seeing eye dog' for his master, and even his father being a sketch artist for the LAPD). But Gunnar tells the reader that while most fruit don't fall far from the tree, he's "tried to roll down the hill at least a little bit." By that, he means he wants to get away from his family's willing submissiveness to whites. So when Gunnar moves out of Santa Monica and into a neighborhood where he's surrounded by people of his own race, I think he feels it's an opportunity to break away from the Kaufman line (a gang member is definitely different than an Uncle Tom).
Of course, tied into this are wishes to fit in to a new environment and find some sort of identity, but I think that differentiating himself from his shameful lineage is the main reason for Gunnar's determinedness to join a gang, even if it means getting beat up and humiliated.
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