Although taken out of context, Anna's impassioned advice to Toland may seem just a little corny or hackneyed, this moment stands as one of the most powerful and cathartic moments in Stuck Rubber Baby. Toland wrestles with the weighty issues of Sammy's death and his implicit belief that he played a part in it, his child, and coming to terms with his sexuality. All of these factors become the focal point through which his world and the decisions made within it become all the more confounding and difficult. It is for this reason that Anna's down-to-earth wisdom comes as a refreshingly simple breath of air. Amidst the immense struggles that Toland has faced throughout the novel, this brief, although powerful, piece of advice alleviates some of the intense drama that both he and the reader have endured through the story and almost miraculously, sets the story up for a happy ending. Even amidst the nearly unimaginable suffering and unbearable guilt Toland reckons with, a happy and even exciting ending can be reached, perhaps signaling that the Civil Rights Movement that the story is framed around, like Toland's own story, can have a satisfying outcome as well.
Question: Is the connection between Toland's struggles and the struggles of the emerging Civil Rights Movement compatible and was it Cruse's intention to offer a ray of hope for both battles at the end of his story?
I forgot I had to post until just now, my computer's battery is almost dead, AND I left my book at home- could this day get any better?
ReplyDeleteJames, I hope you'll pardon my last-miute piggybacking on your post. I just think that you're absolutely right is all: I think that Stuck Rubber Baby, as unbearably hackneyed as this may sound, is a novel about courage, about how much courage it takes to be honest with yourself when the world around you is strange and hostile. Toland's story, as regards race and sexual orientation and everything else, is a story about someone who has to come to terms with a lot of (often difficult) truths- and more importantly, it's a story about someone who learns to understand just what it is that makes those truths so difficult. Like Anna learning to sing without concern for who might be reviewing her performance, Toland comes to understand that his fear of coming out and his anxieties about the civil rights movement are tied to the attitudes of the society he lives in, not flaws in his own character.
I'll write a better post on Thursday.