"Later I'd look back nostalgically at the way my dad always took time to explain stuff to me in his fucked-up way (3)."
I literally laughed out loud when I came across this line (and I was at Flightpath, so I got some dirty looks) because it stated exactly what I was thinking. Even though Toland's dad assures him that their gardener, Stetson, is to be respected, he still makes a point to mention that white people's brains are more developed than black people's brains ("It's been scientifically proven!"). I see a recurring theme of irony in the library that Toland's parents keep but never use, the Rhombus that everyone knows is a gay bar but that the police ignore as long as everyone pretends to be straight, the fact that Toland continues to hide his sexuality despite that his friends probably won't care if he is gay, and the Chopper's excuse for closing down the park ("renovation and beautification") when in reality he is just trying to stop protesters from gathering. It seems that most of the "upstanding" citizens of the South in the novel (Toland included) like to pretend that everything is perfect and pretty and "Godly" in their world as long as African-Americans aren't allowed civil rights, despite the fact that everyone knows that the world is more complicated than that. I think that the above quote from Toland's father exemplifies this idealistic but twisted mentality because his father, like many southerners at the time and some today, acts as if the world is in perfect order with African-Americans that are smart enough to be respected but not developed enough to be equal with white people, when the truth is that his logic is, as Toland so eloquently puts it, "fucked-up."
Discussion Question: How do the illusions that the characters uphold (the library, the Rhombus, the park, etc.) reflect an image of the South as a whole? Why would southerners feel the need to project an image that even they know is unrealistic?
From its opening pages, Stuck Rubber Baby problematizes race relations in a way that the texts we've looked at earlier in this course have only hinted at; it isn't enough to say that racial hatred, race prejudice, or racial animosity are the essential social problems in Cruse's South. The complacency of Toland's father, who pays lip service to African Americans as he condescends to them, speaks not just to the deeply entrenched racial bigotry of the South, but to the ineffective and self-congratulatory nature of "enlightened" whites, who pat themselves on the back for how "respectfully" they treat African-Americans while failing to see (or choosing not to see) that they buy into exactly the same sort of essentialist and hierarchical thinking as more openly bigoted southern whites. In Stuck Rubber Baby, racism isn't simply the categorical disdain of members of a particular race- it's a system of thinking too pervasive and culturally sanctioned to fully escape. Whites in Cruse's novel do not get to simply "stop being racist," nor is it enough that they not dislike African Americans. Rather, racism is a set of received cultural cues that whites must educate themselves out of. Cruse seems to suggest that this process is arduous and lifelong.
ReplyDeleteDiscussion question: Why can't Tober's dad, despite his good intentions, learn not to condescend to African-Americans?
“Don’t ever make the mistake of failin’ to respect the colored man, son.” (3)
ReplyDeleteAlthough my quote isn’t the same as Claire’s I felt that this moment when Toland is speaking to his father would pretty much sum up the way the rest of the south thought. Not only does he point out that white people’s brains are more developed, he describes African Americans as if they are wild animals, needing tougher bones than white people to survive in the wild environment that they grew up in. Despite putting their yard man down with three consecutive negative comments, in the end Toland’s parents remind him that he must never be hateful towards a colored man. I agree with Claire when she says that there is a recurring ironic theme throughout the first 75 pages, and the ideals that Toland’s father has about the African American race help show that. However, I don’t agree with the idea that Toland pretends that everything is perfect in the world, because even he makes the comment that “People are just as screwed up an’ hateful to each other as they’ve ever been as far as I can tell.” Toland feels that all the marches and protests really have done nothing to change the South’s perceptions. The conversation between Toland and his father shows the ignorance of many white southerners back in this time period that believed it was acceptable to feel superior to African American’s, and as long as they didn’t show any disrespect in their presence, it was fine. The only logic that I see from any of the other characters besides Toland is one that helps show the south as completely ignorant.
Discussion Question: Why do many characters feel the need to clarify/justify their statements after they clearly show disrespect African Americans? And although this has nothing to do with my quote, why are some words typed in bold, while others aren’t?