Paul Beatty’s The Sellout is a satirical portrayal of the racial issues that American society is experiencing. Most importantly, the narrator has played a crucial role in revealing how African Americans have encountered various difficulties in the community due to the lack of appropriate support that they should enjoy. To some extent, readers might be unable to retrieve a suitable interpretation of the themes and understand how the message applies to the real-life issues. The crisis of identity is an essential aspect that the narrator addresses in order to educate readers on various ways of dealing with racism and some of the feasible solutions to undertake. In recent years, the ideas of racial equality and economic empowerment have been quite useful in seeking long-term solutions that can sensitize African Americans of their rights. However, the narrator explores a strange way of building a communal identity that the ethnic group requires in dealing with various challenges that have arisen. For instance, he suggests that the community should reintroduce an all-white school and slavery. Over the years, African Americans have strived to place the dark cultural past behind their lives, but the narrator wants the entire community to embrace this new identity. Most importantly, an identity usually represents the qualities, beliefs, or even personalities that an individual or a community exhibit. The narrator believes that the collective identity will help blacks to get in touch with their respective traditional values. This essay reveals how the narrator has altered his identity in order to engage in some of his selfish ideologies that will undermine black community.
A CHANGE OF IDENTITY AFTER THE LOSS OF FATHER AND DICKENS
After the death of the narrator’s father, he has to change his identity in order to undertake new responsibilities. Evidently, the narrator wants to engage in activities, which could shape a new identity, and help him in finding a sufficient objective in life. Immediately after his father’s death, he is forced to inherit his land and undertake his n*****-whispering gig, which is a new identity for him (Beatty 50). These new responsibilities were expected to help him in understanding the role that his father played in the society. However, the same circumstances also made him stop exploring some of his expectations because he was not aware of any specific initiatives that he should accomplish. For instance, the narrator insists, “I was an every-other-month crisis negotiator, a farmer doing a little n*****-whispering on the side” (Beatty 50). He felt that the responsibilities were not in line with his ultimate purpose. As a result, he started exploring other initiatives that could make his life a bit satisfactory. He did not want his identity to be shaped by his father’s unfulfilled expectations and he wanted to create a new personality, as well. The narrator was a bit confused and he did not understand the appropriate way to deal with the unexpected loss in his life (Yosfika et al. 6). In this regard, he wanted to initiate a new identity, which could exhibit his new purpose and the various measures that he wants to achieve. To some extent, the sudden loss might be the reason for the strange interpretation of various events in the community because he wanted to restore the historical injustices in order to recreate a new purpose. Based on the fact that he was also a subject of his father’s experiment, there was the urge for the narrator to rely on the same mechanism to initiate another social study. His father’s experiment had the ultimate objective of ending the financial woes that the family was experiencing. Unfortunately, the narrator’s approach was not expected to nurture a sense of collective black identity in a positive way.
ACTIVITIES THAT HAVE LED TO AN IDENTITY CRISIS
The narrator faces a crisis of identity due to the loss of Dickens, which is the community had shaped his beliefs, qualities, and personality, as well. Evidently, the narrator believes that Dickens is a part of his life and removing it from Los Angeles will interfere with his identity. As a result, throughout the novel, he struggles to reinstate the position of Dickens in the Los Angeles map in order to restore his identity. To some extent, the narrator believes that the removal of Dickens from the map will portray how African Americans have achieved economic and social empowerment. However, the narrator wants African Americans to portray the identity of a community that has failed to explore some suitable economic alternatives to succeed. Instead, the narrator wants to keep working towards building a new society, which has reinstated the discriminative policies that were evident in the slavery period and during the civil rights movement era. For instance, the narrator reveals that he is a product of his father and the environment of the Dickens community (Beatty 35). In this case, he outlines how Dickens and his father were the most crucial aspects in shaping his identity and the personality that he possessed. In this regard, “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” (Beatty 35). Hence, the loss has left him without any social support that might foster clarity and awareness to deal with other challenges in the society. It is clear that the narrator does not love the idea of re-segregation because the concept has undermined his identity. He appreciates the feeling of acting as a victim of oppression and racial discriminative policies. He believes that the new identity will help his community restore their dark past, which was associated with widespread racial segregation. He does not acknowledge the progressive changes that the community has initiated as a way of seeking development and equality.
Throughout the novel, he strives to remind the community of Dickens to prioritize the collective and cohesive identity of victims of segregation and slavery. Evidently, he believes that introducing slavery and vast racial segregation in the educational system will reinstate the African American’s identity. These acts have even caused various conflicts with the law because the narrator has violated a number of provisions in the Constitution. For instance, he decides to keep Hominy Jenkins, who has volunteered to act as the narrator’s slave (Beatty 94). He does not even understand how slavery is a violation of the existing laws, which have abolished such discriminative and inhumane actions. Later, he ends up in the Supreme Court because he has failed to acknowledge and honor the Constitution. Furthermore, King Cuz, who is another determined young black man, also supports the narrator in restoring the reputation of Dickens (Beatty 85). However, based on his conversation with King Cuz, it is evident that he is not familiar with the adverse implications that might arise from such measures. Instead, he believes that he is offering his support for the social transformation of Dickens. The narrator even reveals, “I sympathized with the parents, because after being up all night in the lingering remnants of the Stank, building an imaginary all-white school, I was tired, too” (Beatty 155). The statement shows how parents and children have arrived to be a part of his all-white school. In this case, one can notice how the narrator wants to reintroduce institutional racism, which was quite rampant in the 1950s. He does not comprehend the level of fight and commitment that played a part in eliminating some of the racial and discriminative policies in the society. Although he has encouraged the existence of the collective identity, he has failed to reveal how the community will work towards achieving progressive ideas. Instead, the community has to move backward by forgetting about their recent accomplishments, which have contributed to a society that is free from any intimidation.
HOW THE IDENTITY CRISIS HAS UNDERMINED COLLECTIVE IDENTITY
The narrator even opposes the group members Dum Dum Donuts Intellectuals who are trying to eliminate the use of the ‘n-word’ and nurture racial awareness. Over the years, the ‘n-word’ has always exhibited a derogatory and discriminative way of describing African Americans. Hence, most of them have strived to eliminate the impact of the name by ensuring that young African Americans comprehend that they are powerful and they do not deserve any inappropriate descriptions. For instance, Foy and his colleagues argue that they should work towards eliminating the ‘n-word’ in various aspects of literature (Beatty 81). The intellectuals are trying to avoid their younger children from going through these concepts and believing that their identity relies on the ‘n-word’ and its real meaning. Even Foy insists that “The ‘n-word’ is the most vile and despicable word in the English language” (Beatty 81). Evidently, their insights highlight how they want to introduce other useful phrases that can describe African Americans by capturing their vast diversity and other crucial aspects of their identity. In fact, the intellectuals insisted on how they have replaced the ‘n-word’ with phrases such as “‘warrior’ and the word ‘slave’ with ‘dark-skinned volunteer” (Beatty 78). Such phrases might be more useful in helping younger people comprehend that they are important individuals in the society. As a result, they should work towards achieving higher accomplishment and attaining their civic responsibilities, too. However, the narrator opposes these ideas and he believes that the ‘n-word’ is not derogatory at all. Instead, he insists that African Americans should keep using the ‘n-word’ because it captures their identity and historical origin, thereby offering sufficient context on their background. The presence of these insights highlights how the narrator creates a crisis in the nature of identity that he wants the vast community to embrace and exhibit in the various day-to-day activities that they undertake.
In reality, the removal of Dickens from the map was a way of initiating economic progress and changing the collective identity, but the narrator does not agree with the new initiatives. The regulatory and administrative agencies had wanted to initiate some appropriate changes, which could help the community have some progressive projects. In the process, these initiatives were crucial in empowering the local community and ensuring that the residents access some favorable opportunities to uplift their socioeconomic level. For instance, the narrator reveals, “When the housing boom hit in the early part of the century, many moderate-income neighborhoods in Los Angeles County underwent real estate makeovers” (Beatty 49). In this case, the narrator believes that the new residents came into the community due to the need for affordable housing plans. Although the new residents might transform the community negatively, they have also fostered economic development, which might benefit the incumbent occupants quite positively, as well. however, the narrator fails to acknowledge some of these positive changes and he wants the residents to shift to the dark past, which had allowed the existence of segregation and discriminative policies. Furthermore, the narrator argues, “In the wee hours of the night, after the community boards, homeowner associations, and real estate moguls banded together and coined descriptive names for nondescript neighborhoods” (Beatty 49). The narrator believes that these initiatives are unnecessary and inappropriate because they do not capture the identity that Dickens had created. Evidently, such progressive initiatives usually strive to eliminate most of the images or ideas of historical injustices that the community has encountered in the past. As a result, introducing new names for the different neighborhoods can nurture the cleansing or renovative measures that the new occupants want to make. Based on the description, it is evident that the new entrants were playing a crucial role of uplifting Dickens and ensuring that the community helps everyone and ends economic inequality.
The narrator even tries to alter individual characters in order to build a new communal identity, which does not prioritize the concept of economic development. To some extent, he is striving to help the community move back to the state of alienation. More specifically, the identity of Blacks in contemporary America has focused on economic empowerment and racial integration. However, the narrator seems to oppose most of these ideas because he wants the community to go back to the dark past. In this novel, the satirical portrayal of the African American politics and the pursuit for racial equality. One can notice that even if the vast Black community tries to revolt against oppressive policies, the narrator is pushing towards total system dominance. The situation is in contrast to the practical measures that the community needs to adopt and implement as everyone wants to achieve equality. Most importantly, the idealistic desire for economic and racial empowerment should be the most appropriate way for the community of Dickens to succeed. In most instances, identity usually arises from the individuality and a sense of collectivity that someone depicts. In this case, the narrator strives to nurture a feeling of inferiority among his colleagues and reminding them that whites still retain sufficient racial superiority. The satirical portrayal of the struggle initiatives has shown the difficulties in achieving individual and collective redemption from the issues of racial and economic inequality. For instance, the narrator keeps pushing his colleagues back to the shared cultural past and the challenges of institutional racism. He does not acknowledge that it is time for the community to seek financial and cultural empowerment that will create a suitable foundation for the younger generation. The narrator looks at Dickens as a crucial component in defining the black identity. Hence, the removal of the community shows the need for communal black identity in fighting for the restoration of the cultural past. These insights have captured some of the useful insights that the society needs to undertake in such circumstances.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the narrative has captured some useful insights that highlight how the narrator wanted the collective identity to transform the society. The use of a satirical approach has fostered the crisis of identity, which is evident throughout the novel. For instance, the narrator believes that taking the community back to its dark past will help individuals to appreciate their lives. In this case, the narrator even suggests issues such as slavery and a segregated form of education. More specifically, the narrator even decides to keep a slave and he embraces some oppressive behaviors that are similar to the slave masters in the ancient years. Furthermore, the introduction of an all-white school is also another initiative that the narrator undertakes in order to deal with the new way of life. To some extent, the narrator keeps pushing the community back towards the historical injustices that they have strived to forget over the years. However, the narrator believes that the collective identity will be stronger if the members of the community decide to shift back to their dark past. In the process, residents of Dickens even decide to refer to him as a traitor because he does not value the emotional, sociological, and economical progress that the community has achieved. Instead, he wants residents of Dickens to forget about their ideals, values, and focus on how they can transition back to the segregated society, which did not respect the interests of African Americans. Based on these circumstances, it is evident that the death of the narrator’s father was a negative aspect of causing the various challenges that have led to the new mindset. Evidently, he wanted to recreate a new identity that could help him in achieving his purpose in life and helping the vast community, as well. Although he does not rely on the same objectives as his father, he still sticks to the idea of undertaking a controversial social experiment and initiating a project of cultural empowerment in the community.
Works Cited
Beatty, Paul. The Sellout: A Novel. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015.
Yosfika, Ridho, Desvalini Anwar, and An Fauzia Rozani Syafei. “Demolishing Stereotypes in Paul Beatty’s Novel The Sellout (2015).” E-Journal English Language and Literature, vol. 7, no. 2, 2018, pp. 1-9.
