Thoughts on Angry White Black Boy

Macon vs. Mansbach           

In class we talked about the similarities between the main character of the novel Angry Black White Boy, Macon Detornay, and the author Adam Mansbach. Mansbach intentionally makes the parallels easy to spot by making both him and the character Boston based Jewish men. Despite these similarities, Mansbach makes the differences in their approach to white privilege quite clear. Macon’s obsession with black culture is fueled by his hatred of white privilege and whiteness. Mansbach views white privilege differently saying “Of course, the opposite of white privilege is not blackness, as many of us seemed to think then; the opposite of white privilege is working to dismantle that privilege”.

            Mansbach uses Macon as a commentary on white people who like hip-hop. Macon is a representation of someone who Mansbach is addressing in his quote and who he sees as motivated by the wrong reasons. From the beginning of the book, Mansbach points this out by highlighting Macon’s hypocrisy. When Macon arrives at Columbia University, he tries to impress his black roommate, Andre, and his roommate’s friend, Nique, with his knowledge of the history of hip-hop. His goal is to fit in with them and for them to no longer see him as white. He wants to get to the point where they are completely fine talking about things they would never talk about around other white people, where the ultimate goal is to be able to complain about white people without restraint. Ironically, when Macon sees a black person, their race is what he focuses on most. When he meets Andre and Nique, he immediately tries to appeal to them with his knowledge of black culture. Initially, they do not even give him much indication that they are interested in hip-hop, but because of the color of their skin, he immediately assumes certain things about them. In his effort to show that he is “on their side” and that he is “woke”, he actually takes a step in the other direction. He wants other people to not see him for his race; however, he restricts what he thinks of other people based on their race.

            On the other hand, Mansbach critique of Macon shows where he stands. Mansbach places characters like Andre and Nique to show the flaws of such a character. They constantly remind Macon of his place. They show the boundaries of a white person who is part of the movement. When Macon critiques the black student union, his ideas are eventually unsuccessful which shows his limits. By including these characters, Macon’s flaws are exposed.

Macon’s Redeeming Qualities?

            Macon is not a completely flawed character, there are times where he makes important points. Some of his talk show appearances fall apart, but on the Joe Francis Show, he challenges other people who view themselves as activists. He criticizes subconsciously thinking that white as “normal” and the inferior education that black students receive despite legal “equality”. At times like these, Macon is respectful and seems to make progress. This sets up Macon, who is overall quite an extreme character, as one that can be identified with real life people. The critiques of Macon can be extended to real life white activists.

Unequal Punishment and Legacy

            Throughout the novel, Macon is conscious of the favored treatment he receives because he is white. When he is bailed out of prison, he comments on how the bail would have been higher for a POC. Another reappearing idea is Macon’s critique of white people historically praised as martyrs for the black rights movement. He talks about how John Brown was not really committed to the cause, and it is apparent that Macon views himself as superior to John Brown. When the book ends, Macon is killed by a white supremacist, but this takes places after Macon has moved to “embrace his whiteness”. However, Macon is still being talked about in the media as his old self. It is easy to imagine that Macon will be remembered as a martyr and not for walking away at the end of his life. In the end, Macon’s criticism of John Brown came true for himself. Despite Macon’s failures he will still be revered for his brief period of activism. Mansbach critiques the unequal treatment of black activists and white activists, and the reverence afforded to white activists is always disproportionately higher.

Sorry this post was all over the place, it is my only post on Angry Black White Boy, and I just had a few things I wanted to comment on.

A Rewriting of Jack's Escape

Intro (by Daniel)

The novel Room by Emma Donoghue is unique in many respects. Donoghue chooses this sensitive subject of kidnap, sexual abuse, and growing up under a lie; yet does not hold back on the emotional turmoil resulting from a life in captivity and fully explores the ramifications after escape. Interestingly, she focuses on the bond between the mother and son, as well as both character’s growth. She makes a pointed effort to steer the attention clear of Old Nick, the kidnapper, and focus on how Ma and Jack live in this situation.

Donoghue’s most striking decision that sets her novel apart is the choice to narrate the book from Jack’s point of view. His narration adds much to the novel. Jack’s objective viewpoint brings clarity to an inscrutable situation, and his innocence brings hope to an otherwise bleak atrocity. Rather than having a kid without much agency, we read about a creative and intelligent character who, although young, is capable of his own hero’s journey. We get to see things through his eyes and fully understand what he is thinking. It is hard to understand how much of an affect growing up isolated inside the room has had on him until we see the world the way he does. The obscureness of his mindset would be impossible to capture from any perspective besides his own.

Given the way Donoghue is able to spin an entire novel from this unique perspective, we thought we would give it a try. Focusing on Jack’s escape (p. 138-155), we chose four different takes on this climactic scene. The dog rambles on a (hopefully) humorous take on the scene, and similarly to Jack, describes the scene unfolding from a perspective that defamiliarizes many commonplace things to the reader. Ajeet provides the perspective of the man who ensured Jack’s safety from Old Nick and gives an outsider’s perspective to Jack’s heroic feat. Officer Oh provides the perspective of the first person from the outside of the room who is able to figure Jack out and is the one that leads Jack back to reunite with Ma. Ma, as the other main character of the novel, contemplates the event that she has been preparing for seven years as she painstakingly waits for news of Jack’s escape.

Raja (by Daniel)

I crouch low and sniff the green pelt underneath my feet. The smell of the small brown furry animals and tiny creatures but nothing more. Nothing to be afraid of. Big two-leg brought Small two-leg today. The small one brought its friend. I don’t like it. The friend doesn’t smell like the other ones. I’ve never seen it move, it is always being pushed by Small two-leg and it doesn’t do anything, sometimes I think I see it move and then I turn around and it doesn’t. I still try to catch it off guard though, I will surprise it sometime maybe if I set up a trap… Small two-leg moves too much, it’s running around and around and I can’t keep track of it. Big two-leg should keep it under control. Maybe Big two-leg should put the rope on Small two-leg and not on me I bet I can keep watch on the small one… There! The tiny creature with wings! I spring forward at the colorful creature but my feet slip from underneath me as the rope pulls back on my neck. I whip around trying to place the tiny creature, but it is gone never to be seen again, but the flower is still there. The flower smells weird, does that mean it will taste weird? maybe it will, let me try. Nope… It’s time for me to release. Where’s the best spot? Over there is short green pelt which means it won’t hurt my bottom when I release. I start to release and Big two-leg walks over. Fuck off. “Back!” Give me space. “Back!” There, it heard me. After I walk away the big two-leg always keeps my release, I don’t know why it keeps my release, maybe it has a collection of it, I should look for it, maybe I can find it, I wonder how much release I have ever done, that shit makes my mind spin…There’s another two-leg stuttering over. Is today a special two-leg gathering day? This two-leg is small, but not as small as Small two-leg, so I will call it Medium two-leg. Medium two-leg is trying to go as fast as it can, but there is something weird about this two-leg. Usually a two-leg sees another two-leg and slows down and they make noises back and forth. This two-leg is still going fast, and it’s going straight for Big two-leg, what does it want. It’s not moving properly, it doesn’t have control of its two-legs, and looks like it will fall over, that’s why it should be using four legs, because that way is better, and you can go faster with four, and it’s easier than using two, I tried to move on two once, but it didn’t work, and I fell too. Maybe this two-leg used to be a four-leg but it’s pretending to be a two-leg…I look up and the two-leg is a lot closer. I’m warning you Medium two-leg to stay back. “Back!” It’s not listening, it’s still coming closer. Last warning or I’m coming for you. “Back!” I have no choice so I lean back and then spring up at Medium two-leg. As I rise up in the air, Medium two-leg doesn’t slow down, its non-ground legs are approaching me really fast, so I clamp down hard, harder than I have ever done. There that’s why you stay back. Fight me, you won’t! “Back!” Big two-leg is coming over really fast. Maybe it doesn’t know I already took care of Medium two-leg. Ok, now it’s definitely close enough to tell, but it’s still coming, and making loud noises. It is not happy, it is making loud worried noises. Before Big two-leg gets to Medium two-leg another two-leg comes up and picks it up in the nick of time. This one is also in a hurry, and it is in the bad mood. Mad two-leg picks of Medium two-leg and turns away from Big two-leg. It is trying to shelter Medium two-leg, but Medium two-leg is not in danger, and Mad two-leg is not trying to protect it. Mad two-leg is not looking at the hurt I did on Medium two-leg but Big two-leg is. Mad two-leg wants to leave, but Big two-leg makes noises so Mad two-leg has to turn back, it is making loud noises at Big two-leg so that Big two-leg will be quiet. Mad two-leg is making loud noises but it is scared and nervous. Big two-leg notices too, it is worried but not scared so it starts the loud noises game. They are going back and forth and Big two-leg starts to win when it pulls out the special rocket from the fur on the front of its ground leg. This really scares Mad two-leg, I can tell because it starts to run back in the direction it came from, which means that big two-leg is really winning for sure now, but that’s not enough so Big two-leg makes noises so loud that Medium two-leg is dropped, which means that Medium two-leg will have even more hurt than I already did to it, maybe I did too much hurt, there is so much red… Big two-leg keeps making noises to special rock even after Mad two-leg is gone. Big two-leg puts special rock away, but then there is even more loud noise and this time it is from everywhere and everything hears it, I can tell because all the two-legs look up and Small two-leg is sad. All of them are sad and worried. Medium two-leg is not moving fast anymore, and it’s scared and worried and nervous, but it’s still weird. Maybe I can find out why it is weird, I wonder where did the Mad two-leg go to, did it go back where it came from, but if it left why is Medium two-leg still here, they came at the same time which usually means they leave together…Big two-leg is making soft noises to Medium two-leg and it is not responding at first but then it responds which means that it is more normal. Big two-leg makes a noise, and they both look at me, and I can tell that Medium two-leg doesn’t like me, I can tell because it is scared and looks at my mouth which made the hurt. Small two-leg touches my head and I let it because it is sad. The loud noise everywhere gets louder and a big circle-leg monster comes, and the noise gets louder and louder, and this circle-leg is the fastest thing I have ever seen, and the brightest flashing thing I have ever seen, but suddenly it is slowed all the way, and two two-legs are spit out on each side of the monster, and they have all blue fur. Big two-leg talks to them, and they talk to Medium two-leg, and they take him really fast, everything is trying to go really fast today, maybe they are playing a game and everyone is trying to be the fastest and rush the most…There! Another tiny creature with wings flutters onto a flower next to me, I pounce on it, and I got it, Big two-leg is not there to pull the rope back on me, but he is coming over now, the circle-leg is gone, and Medium two-leg is gone, maybe I can find something in this green pelt over here…

AJEET (by Ezra)

I don’t know how such a small dog can produce such a large poop. Like this thing is larger than my poops, and Raja is barely bigger than a toaster. I hate picking them up, they are so unnaturally moist and they always fall apart as soon as I try to scoop it up into the bag. Maybe I should just leave them laying around in the grass, it’s not like anyone would notice, no one ever walks around here anyway. I bend down to pick it up and stick my head up to avoid the smell as much as possible. As I pick up the disgusting mess, I look around for Naisha and notice there is a pale little girl running towards her. Raja yanks on the leash, and in my moment of distraction she wrestles free and bolts towards the strange girl. “Raja!” I yell right as she jumps up and bites down on her hand. I wrap up the bag of poop, and run over to control him. “Raja, down” I yell again. I grab her by the collar and pull him away from the girl. The girl’s father comes to grab her and she throws a fit. It is probably just because Raja bit her. “I’m so sorry, is your little girl OK?” I don’t really want to deal with this, but I don’t wanna seem like an asshole. He says she’s fine, but I want to at least apologize. “Raja’s usually really gentle, but she came at him out of nowhere.” I glance down at her hand and watch as the blood rolls off her finger and slides down her leg where it joins with the flow of blood from her knee. Did Raja claw her knee? No, it must have been a nasty fall. I ask the man if she fell somewhere. He begins trotting away and tells me to mind my own business. As he is moving away the little girl waves a note in the air. The man snatches it out of her hand and picks up the pace. Something is up, she must have been kidnapped – it would explain the running and the scraped knee. I pull out my phone and begin to call 911. I run after the man, which only makes him run away faster. He seems to be running towards the old pickup, I try my hardest to read the plate but I can only catch the first few characters. “I’ve got your plates, mister! K nine three…” He drops the kid, and makes a break for it. I couldn’t catch him, so I talk to the officer on the other side of the line. I inform him that there is a man on the run for kidnapping. “Does the man still have the child?” the officer asks. I tell him the child is safe with me and I give the address of the park.

I start jogging towards the child, who seems to be crawling towards the sidewalk. Raja beat me to her, but this time she didn’t bite him. I pull Raja away, and take a good look at the kid. She has really long hair, but something isn’t right. She is as pale as a ghost and looks quite ill. I tell her it’s all going to be OK and ask her name. She looks away, and mutters something. I bend in closer and ask again. She says “Jack”, but that’s not a girl’s name so I assume I didn’t hear her right. “Jackie?” I ask hoping for some clarification. She says it again and it’s clear her name really is “Jack”. Is she really a boy? I wonder. His hair is just about as long as he is, and he doesn’t look much like a boy. I take in another good look, and try to understand what the hell is going on. I tell him my name is Ajeet and I apologize for Raja’s behavior. I reach in my bag for a band aid to patch up his knee and finer. It takes me a few minutes before I finally find one at the bottom of all Naisha’s toy. I try to keep talking to the kid, but he seems really distracted and barely responds to my questions. The first time he responded he said something like “Ma threw up on my shirt”, but I don’t know what he meant. I resort to just sitting with Naisha on my lap and waiting for the police. I resume the call with the officer and tell him as many details as I can remember. I tell him the Man was about 5 10’ middle aged, had a scruffy greyish beard and was wearing black pants and a dark shirt. I start describing the child to the officer, and notice that he is shivering. I shift over and offer him my jacket. He looks at me funny but doesn’t make eye contact. I hold it out to him, but he doesn’t take it. I ask him if he knows where his shoes went. He gives me the same puzzled look and then resumes his unsettling stare. Most people focus on one or two things when they stare, but he seems to be looking at everything all at once, like he is somehow seeing everything for the first time.

After a few minutes, a police car rolls up and two officers get out. They walk over and I get up to go talk to them. “I’m really concerned about this child.” “Why so?” the female officer asks me. “Because he doesn’t seem to know what is going on, he doesn’t make eye contact, responds very minimally and just seems to be completely confused.” I feel like I am complaining too much, but I don’t know what else to say. The female officer says that all the things I described are common in people under shock. “I understand that, but I still think there is something else that is wrong.”  I motion them towards Jack, and tell them what few things he told me. “He said his name was Jack, but he doesn’t look like much of a boy to me.” The officers turned to look at the boy and nodded in agreement. “I tried to weasel some information out of him, but he kept mumbling and I couldn’t understand what he was saying.” “Let me give him a shot.” The female officer said. She slowly started walking towards to Jack, like a cat trying not to startle its prey. “The man seemed normal for the most part” I said, but the female officer seemed to be ignoring me, so I turned to the other officer to tell him more details.

Officer Oh (by Mehul)

Brrrrrriiiiiinnnggg. Here we go again, I think to myself, sitting at my desk behind the huge mass of meaningless documents and cases sprawled out in front of me. Hopefully this isn’t another one of those unresponsive grandma cases that quickly turns into “Oh wait she just wasn’t in the mood to talk me. Everything is fine. Sorry to waste your time.” It’s ridiculous how many of those have been popping up lately—hilarious the first time, but utter hell to have to act on a whopping 17 times a week or whatever absurd number we are averaging right now. To be honest it almost seems like all grandmas have some irrational personal vendetta against police officers, determined to waste as much of their time as possible with these calls. This really isn’t what I imagined it would be like to be a cop—a lot more sitting around waiting than actually getting to help, and half the calls are false alarms anyway. Well, maybe this one will be different. I yet out a large yawn, probably dragging it out a little too long despite the fact that it’s well-warranted, and pick up the phone.

“Hello? Yes, police, please. Yea I was here walking with my daughter and my dog when I ran into this little girl running towards me. My dog got a little scared and bit the girl, er, actually I’m not sure whether the kid is a boy or a girl, but I was concerned so I stuck around to make sure the girl was ok when this man came up behind her and started taking her away. When I asked the man whether his daughter was okay, he just gave me a really cryptic and creepy vibe. The girl seemed too scared to say anything and the whole situation just felt off, please send—

The voice cut off and I hear the sound of a truck start up in the background, along with the characteristic skrrttt you hear in movies that indicates the driver immediately slammed on the gas pedal upon entering the car. The man was speaking very frantically, but I can still feel out a twinge of confusion in his voice. Before I could piece any more thoughts together, the voice starts up again, this time louder, more concerned, and not directed towards me.

“H-hey, what’re you doing? Why are you running away? I’ve got your plates mister! Excuse me officer, the man just got in his truck and looks like he’s trying to get away. Please get over here ASAP. His plates start with K nine three. He dropped the girl while he was escaping, so I’ll stay here with her until you get here.”

The man’s voice trailed off and he hung up the phone. My eyes widen is disbelief as I mull over what he had said to me for the briefest second—this was no unresponsive grandma bullshit; this was real. I yell over at Jeff to get his stuff because we have a real case on our hands, and we sprint into the car. Or rather, I sprint to the car, Jeff is in his usual lackadaisical daze that he somehow is perpetually trapped in whenever he is on duty, so he just strolls over. Dick move, considering how urgent the voice was. I get in the driver’s seat, switch on the flashing lights, and slam on the gas pedal. After a few minutes of concentrated driving, forced to listen to Jeff whistling to his heart’s content and filling himself with donuts to his stomach’s content, I see a man, two children, and a dog. That’s them. This is the most excited, nervous, and disgusted I’ve ever been with a case all at the same time. I’m actually looking forward to helping for the first time, not simply to fulfill my job requirements. The man walks up to me and gives a recount of the story, telling me that the kid’s name is Jack. Alright, so all I have to do is talk to this kid and figure out what the problem is. Shouldn’t be too hard, right? I walk up to him and try to recall every little trick I learned about how to communicate with kids while babysitting in my teenage years. I start simple, asking how old he is. He holds up his hand and stretches out all five of his fingers. Great, I established a connection. Now to figure out what the hell is going on. Jeff is standing beside me but just disregarding the whole situation. He could still be sitting in the cop car eating more donuts for all I care; he’s probably doing more harm than good anyway by scaring the kid. He mentions is “Ma” and I see it as an opportunity to learn more, so I ask where his mother is. His response isn’t particularly helpful, and he simply says “Room” even after I prompt him the second time. I begin to become a little annoyed but then remember that this is a 5-year-old that I’m talking to who may or may not have been kidnapped. I try again and this time the response is different, but still not helpful. He says that the room is “Not on any map.” I let out a slight sigh in frustration. I talk to him a bit more but it doesn’t feel like I’m getting anywhere. Suddenly, an eerie thought creeps into my head. For just how long has this kid been kidnapped that he's acting like this towards me. Jeff comes out of nowhere before I can pursue my thought and starts talking into his phone. Then he turns and faces me.

“Should I get on to Child Protection? Hate to break it to you but you’re really not getting anywhere with this kid,” he says in a very matter-of-fact way.

Asshole, I think in my head. This kid could possibly be a victim of kidnapping and he just wants to give up on him after talking for a mere five minutes. I tell him I need a few more minutes and immediately turn back to Jack. He is a kid after all, maybe I should put a different spin on this. How could I get him to enjoy and tell what happened without being so frightened. A story! Get him to tell it like a story! Kids love stories, and I’m sure Jack would have an easier time if he were in a storytelling mindset. I propose it to him and he eats it up. We start talking more and bit by bit I piece together his backstory. Finally, we’re getting somewhere. He mentions a skylight and I immediately jump in the car, eager to find Jack’s mom. This is what I strive for in my daily actions; it’s moments like these when I can legitimately help in someone’s life that are the reason I chose this job. I only feel more determined to find Jack’s mom after thinking more about him and my decision to become a cop, and I can feel my heart start to beat faster as we approach the house. I burst inside the house and see a woman, pale-skinned and feeble, surrounded by other police officers and staring at me, bewildered by my abrupt entrance. My heart leaps up with joy and I know, I just know it’s her. Too overwhelmed to even speak, I simply motion for the woman to follow me. She walks slowly and uneasily, squinting at the bright sunlight through the door. We walk outside and Jack looks at me, then pans over to look beside me. Jack’s eyes widen, filled with the same wonder, amazement, and disbelief that I had felt upon seeing the women just seconds earlier, but magnified. A small smile creeps over my face. I did it. I adjust the badge on my chest and straighten my collar as a single tear glides down the side of my cheek.

Ma (by Alexandre Geubelle)

The door shuts behind Nick and I sit motionlessly on the bed. Thirty seconds pass in absolute silence and then “beep”. I jump frantically up from the bed. He’s coming back! He found Jack! No, it is just the lock on the door. It must needs new batteries. I feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins, but I have to stay quiet until I’m sure he… no... they are gone. What have I done. I just left my son with a monster. What will he do if he finds Jack?! Is he ok? A single tear begins to fill my left eye. It has already been 5 minutes since Jack left, and anything could have happened by now.

My instincts kick in, survival is the only thing that matters. If Jack makes it away, Nick will be back for me. I have to fight him, get back to Jack. I move towards the stove and start to boil water. “Jack. It’s time to play scream...” My voice echoes faintly back to me. I’m alone…

“HELP! IN HERE! SOMEBO...” The screams turn into choked cries. I can’t control myself, the tears engulf my entire being.

It’s gotten so dark in the room. I feel so dull, lifeless without Jack. It’s like I’m back to before. Before Jack. There is nothing in here but trashy plastic plates and memories. I remember the first night, when I woke up trapped, alone. He was only a voice for the first few days, a face I could barely remember from when he kidnapped me. From behind the door, he asked me questions. “How are you feeling?” “Do you want to talk?” It was some kind of sick relationship to him, and I just screamed.

I blink and for a second I’m back in the present. Something must have happened by now. If only I knew where Jack is! On the far wall, the clock strikes the hour. It’s been twenty minutes. “Stop taunting me!” Before I can stop myself, I grab the clock and hurl it across my 11 foot prison, smashing it to pieces. “Ow! Shit.” My hand. I look down at my throbbing hand in disgust, another permanent mark he has left me.

There is a faint rumbling in the distance. I put my ear to the wall. A car? A truck? He’s coming back! I won’t let him take me somewhere else. Without Jack I am nothing. “This one is for you Jack” My heart is pounding in my throat as I pick up the pot of boiling water. The car turns off and I’m poised to strike. My hands are shaking, tears dripping into the pot. A car door slams, just a faint noise in the distance, but I flinch. The hot metal touches my skin and I drop it. “No. No. No. No” The water is everywhere and I jump away. What have I done! He will be coming any second!. I’m panicking, but I can only think back to one thing, Jack.

He is the only thing that has kept me going. Jack is an escape from the horrors I live with, and I spent so much time protecting him from Nick. Did I do the right thing? I can only imagine what it’s like for my baby all alone out there. The way he talks about outside is so precious. He could never understand that there was more that just this shitty room and I could never bring myself to correct him. His smile as he talked about everything he knew, it made life bearable. I often wish I could just disappear into Jack’s world, but I have to be strong. For him.

What sounds like the same car door closes again and the engine revs up. Who is that? Is he leaving. I let out a long sigh of relief, but the fear is still there, the sadness and the pain. I’m alone, and the world is all against me. Taking me from my family, my life. I’m in tears again, this time I can no longer stand. Dizzy, I slip into a chair head in hands and eyes closed. Through the darkness of my hands, I see my mom. She is sitting on her porch, looking up and down the street for me. “Honey where are you?” I imagine her looking everywhere for me, but my vision is hazy. I can’t picture what the trees look like, or the freshly cut grass. All I can see are plain walls surrounding me on all sides, and I scream.

I’m up from the seat and pounding as hard as I can against the door. I feel no pain, only hatred. “Bring back my son!” I’m screaming when I feel a knock respond to the banging of my fists. “Hello. This is the Police”

I’m stunned and crying, and I can’t get any sounds to leave my mouth.

“Open Up!”

“Hey. Help me. I’ve been kidnapped. Let me out”

I’m sobbing and I can’t stand still.

“Mam, I need you to stand away from the door. Can you hear me!”

Slowly I back up. “Alright, I mo--”

A shower of sparks lights up the room, and I bring my arms to cover my face.

The door is thrown open and real sunlight blinds me.

“Are you ok? Come with us. You will be alright”

“Who...Where...WHERE’S JACK!”

I’m frantic my eyes closed as I’m lead out of the room.

“We have your son. He is with us.”

I open my eyes, and instantly colors flood my vision. The unkempt backyard has yellow dandelions everywhere. My nose is filled with a thousand different smells, but I ignore everything and looks straight at the line of cop cars on the street.

Jack! My hero. You are ok.

The Never Ending Hero's Journey

            The novel Room by Emma Donoghue details the captivating story of Jack and Ma’s escape from capture and adaption to the real world. Both Jack and Ma arguably have multiple hero narratives. Their first heroic feats come from their individual efforts that lead to their escape from Room, and their heroism is also evident in the way they adjust to the alarmingly contrasting outside world.

            Jack and Ma’s first heroic journey is quite obvious. Their call to adventure is the escape from their imprisonment. Without having any previous experience raising kids, Ma raises Jack so that he is ready to undertake the escape. She tells him fairy tales of imprisonment and daring escapes. She replaces the character’s names with Jack so that he identifies with the characters and feels that he can be the rescuer in the stories. Jack leaves Room and navigates the outside world. He has to evade Old Nick and find help in an environment he is entirely unfamiliar.

            In terms of plot, Room could have easily ended here. The escape from Room is a satisfying ending to a novel. Instead, Emma Donoghue chooses to continue the novel with the story of how Jack and Ma integrate into society. It is almost as if she writes a sequel contained within the same novel.

            After their escape, Jack feels as if he has used up all his brave, or his courage. It is evident that this is not the case. Jack has to embark on a new journey to explore the world around him. Each day is a struggle to wrap his mind around the concept that the world is bigger than just Room. Ma has to deal with the fact that the world is not the same as it was when she was kidnapped. She has to adjust to animosity from the media and overcome her depression.

             This series of heroic escapades got me thinking about how this similar concept could apply to the other characters we have read about so far. They do not merely embark on one journey, their lives are made up of a sequence of heroic adventures. This is more obvious in some characters than others. In The Odyssey, Odyssues’ return home is his second heroic journey we know of, his first being his fight in the Trojan War. At the end of As I Lay Dying, the entire Bundren family has to return home and adjust to Anse’s new wife. Cash comes to mind as the most daunting journey; he has to live without the use of one of his legs. This is especially challenging considering carpentry is what he loves to do. I like to imagine that in A Lesson Before Dying, Grant returns to his school with a new approach. His experience with Jefferson changes his mentality so that he battles against the oppression of the segregated schools. If we are to take Jefferson as a Christ figure, his journey could live on through Paul. In the Bible, Paul the Apostle spreads the gospel after Christ’s death, similarly to Paul spreading Jefferson’s story. Paul the Apostle is a bridge between the Jews and the Gentiles, and Paul could be a bridge between the Black and White communities.

            It is reassuring to think that although the novel ends, our heroes continue. Even if we do not ever read about it, there are new journeys awaiting them. 

Ma's Perspective

            The novel Room features a unique perspective of narration. The main character and narrator is Jack, a five year old who has grown up his entire life in an eleven by eleven foot room. Emma Donoghue’s choice to have Jack as the narrator brings many features to the book. The brokenness of Jack’s thoughts and his incorrect grammar clearly demonstrate the fact that he is five years old. This promotes a closer connection between Jack and the reader whereas a narration from Ma’s perspective could have painted Jack as a side character. His thoughts not only point to his age but also show that he has been isolated from the world. He describes everything from an objective viewpoint. Because of this, the reader sees both how he thinks and plot elements in an interesting way.

            The most important aspect of reading Room from Jack’s perspective is understanding how much of an effect growing up in isolation has had on his mentality. At the beginning of the novel, he does not know of any existence outside of “Room”. Because of the lies Ma had to tell him, he has trouble distinguishing from fiction and reality. The obscureness of his mindset would be impossible to capture from any perspective except his own. Even though Ma knows practically everything about Jack, she is not able to see things from his point of view. Knowing the way Jack approaches the world makes all his feats stunningly impressive.

            Although I do agree with the decision to narrate the novel from Jack’s irreplaceable perspective, I think that it is interesting to consider the novel from Ma’s perspective. The section titled “Dying” features Jack’s daring escape from Old Nick as he runs out into a world he has never encountered and a loneliness apart from Ma that instills an alarming distress in him. However, the escape is just as much a heroic expedition for Ma as for Jack. Ma is the orchestrator of the escape and has partially been planning the escape for the seven years she has been trapped in “Room”. The escape captures Ma’s bravery because, unlike Jack, she knows the grave consequences of failure.

Ma’s perspective is a much bleaker and gloomy presentation of their predicament, without the delusional optimism and never-ending excitement of a five year old child. The differences between Ma and Jack’s mentalities are apparent throughout the entire book and demonstrated with clarity when they are planning their Plan B escape. Jack is practicing pretending to be dead, but he keeps breaking out into giggles. To Jack, pretending to be dead is not easily distinguished from playing dead in their game “Corpse”. It is hard for him to separate games from real life. The scene from Ma’s perspective would undoubtedly include her musings over the consequences of their actions. She knows how unstable of a condition Old Nick is in and how easily the escape plan could fail. To Ma, Plan B is their last chance at escape and a matter of life and death.

Ma’s narration would also more extensively cover the realities of living in “Room”. Primarily in the earlier parts of the novel, Jack’s portrayals of their activities are skewed by his limited understanding of how they fit into the broader context of the world. From Jack’s perspective, every weekday they play a game called “Scream” where they shout at the top of their lungs towards the skylight. When reading this scene from Jack’s perspective, it is not quite clear what is going on at first. It eventually becomes clear that this is an attempt at attracting attention for escape. If this section were narrated by Ma, the reasoning behind this “game” would at once be clear. Ma’s narration would capture her sheer desperation.

The possibility that fascinates me the most about Ma’s narration is her portrayal of Old Nick. From Jack’s perspective, Old Nick is mysterious. At first, Jack is not even sure if Old Nick is human. Old Nick sways between the polar opposites of a god and a villain to Jack. Ma’s portrayal of Old Nick would provide readers with a much more detailed description of Old Nick. Our introduction to Old Nick would be as a kidnapper, rather than a mythical present bearer. Ma knows a lot about Old Nick’s life through their seven years of conversations that is not provided to the reader.

Pledge of Allegiance

In Chapter 7 of A Lesson Before Dying, Grant’s school is visited by the superintendent of the school system Dr. Joseph. Dr. Joseph is a white man who checks over the school to make sure that it is up to standard. He fails to check the school thoroughly, and it is clear that he is only there to fulfill his obligation. Grant notes the double standard in the monitoring of the black and white schools, “Dr. Joseph visited the colored school once a year, the white schools probably twice—once each semester” (53).

Dr. Joseph tests the students on their learning, and even though they demonstrate an unsatisfactory level of education, Dr. Joseph turns a blind eye. He does nothing to fix the poor quality of the school or education materials. Instead, he seems more concerned with their physical labor outside of school. He inspects their teeth in a way that reminds Grant of the way a slave master would inspect a slave’s mouth and advices the students to keep up their exercise. When Grant mentions the poor state of their textbooks, Dr. Joseph drops his façade of artificial politeness and briskly cuts Grant off.

This section of the book is important to the novel for many reasons. It shows the discrepancies between the black and white schools. The black students grow up with an inadequate education. In this way, it shows the situation that the two main characters, Grant and Jefferson, would have experienced. Dr. Joseph’s actions also provide another example of the white people seeing the black people as animals. His inspections of the students are demeaning.

The part of the chapter that stood out to me was one student’s recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. Dr. Joseph singles out Louis Washington Jr., who Grant describes as “without doubt the worst child in the school” (55), to pledge allegiance to the flag in front of everyone else. To the amusement of the other students, Louis fails to recite the pledge accurately. He declares, “Plege legen toda flag. Ninety state. ‘Merica. Er—er—yeah, which it stand. Visibly. Amen” (56). Much of the pledge is incorrectly stated or absent altogether. These missing parts serve as a commentary on the hypocrisy of the pledge because the ideas of the Pledge of Allegiance are contradicted in the way African-Americans are treated.

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”

            United/one nation/indivisible. The segregation and discrimination set up clear divisions between the black and white communities. The novel shows the fragmentation that comes as a result of the white abuse of power.

            Republic. A republic is a governmental system with equal power for all the citizens. The novel demonstrates that the black people in the community are treated as less than human and not given the same voice as the white people.

            Liberty and justice for all. Jefferson is the most obvious case of the absence of liberty and justice. His unfair trial dictated by an all-white jury and a death sentence take away both his liberty and justice. However, this also applies to everyone in the black community. Later in the novel, Grant remarks that he feels that everyone is on a death sentence. The system created by the white people unfairly limits the opportunities for the black community.

Narrative Viewpoint in As I Lay Dying as a Novel and as a Film

The novel, As I Lay Dying, details the Bundren family’s journey. They travel from their country farm to the town of Jackson in order to bury the mother of the family, Addie Bundren, after her passing. Perhaps more important than their collective journey is the journey of each of the individuals. Many of the characters have ulterior motivations for traveling to Jefferson. Anse, the father, wants a new set of teeth and finds a new wife in the town at the end of the novel. Cash, the eldest son, saved up enough money to purchase a record player. Dewey Dell, the daughter, has become pregnant without marriage and wants an abortion, but she is not able to tell anyone else in her family. Vardaman, the youngest child, has his eyes set on a train set that he first saw for the previous Christmas. The three eldest sons, Cash, Darl, and Jewel, each have their own personal connection to Addie which reveals itself as they care for her coffin. Within the overall plot, each character has their own important storyline.

The narration throughout the book is very important because it shows each characters viewpoint on the family’s journey and their own journey. As the narration perspective changes with each chapter, the reader gets a look into the mind of each character. This allows the novel to show nuances of a character that could be lost amongst the many other characters and the chaos of the plot. The philosophies and opinions of each character are revealed through this. The reader learns about Anse’s philosophy of humans as vertical and therefore meant to be stagnant as opposed to the horizontal roads and traveling animals. This makes Anse’s determination to fulfill his wife’s last wish and travel through uncharted territory impressive in contrast to his other aspects which paint him as a primarily pathetic and faulty character. The switch in narration also brings focus to the emotional struggle and personal turmoil of each character. Cash is troubled when he thinks over Darl’s decision to burn the Gillespie’s barn containing Addie’s coffin. His morals are put to the test as he attempts to reason whether Darl was justified. He mentally debates against himself using both Darl and Gillespie’s perspective, but he ultimately has trouble reaching a conclusion.

A potential struggle for a film adaptation would be to do justice to both the plot and the personal aspect of the novel. The film has the responsibility to make the audience understand the progression of the plot and show what the narrating character is thinking. I was pleasantly surprised by the film’s selected solution to this problem, through its use of split screens and voiceovers.

Throughout the film, the screen alternates between a typical full screen and a vertically split double screen. The split screen serves various purposes, one of which is addressing the thoughts of the characters. The first scene where I noticed this particular use of the convention was when Anse is sitting on the front porch of the house while his sons are in front of the house. One side of the split screen depicts Anse from a far out view—how the other characters are seeing him. This view supports the characterization of Anse that dominated our class discussions. He looked pathetic and insignificant with his hunched over posture. The other side of the screen is a close up of Anse’s face. This side of the screen shows a more sympathetic side to Anse because his expressions convey his emotions. He looks worried and defeated by his wife’s sickness. Once the family is on their journey, a split screen scene highlights Dewey Dell’s journey. When the family is confronted by the river, they are unsure how they are going to accomplish such a daunting task. One side of the split screen shows carries the plot forward. The family gets out of the wagon to decide whether they will cross the river or find an alternative. The other side of the split screen is a close up of Dewey Dell as she stands up from the wagon. Her expression conveys the pure determination and necessity to cross the river and get all the way to Jackson for her abortion. The crossing of the river is ultimately disastrous. A log dislodges the coffin and all three of the eldest brothers are knocked loose into the river. This scene also utilizes the split screen. One side of the screen focuses on the plot. The brothers are all flailing in the river, struggling to regain control of the wagon and their animals. The other side of the split screen shows Anse’s face as he waits on the other side of the river. His expression conveys his helplessness. He deeply believed that they would get across the river successfully because they are fulfilling his wife’s last wish. As the brothers are thrown around by the current, his hopes come crashing down.

The voiceovers served a similar purpose as the split screen. The film would show a character speaking directly into the camera and then switch to the scene they were describing or the point in the plot that demonstrated their point. Their speech would explain points that could not be explained in a purely visual portrayal of their thoughts and emotions. These voiceovers would be closer to the actual novel, which was apparent in the fact that many times the voiceovers were direct quotes from the book. When Addie dies, Cash moves her body into the coffin while using a numbered list to explain how he made the coffin. Cash struggles to eloquently articulate all his steps, but the amount of care and work he put into the creation is still clear. This audio is powerful when it accompanies the screen which depicts Cash carefully transferring Addie’s body into the coffin.

The use of split screen and voiceover had many purposes in the motion picture—each deserving its own blog post. The use in relation to narrative perspective in particular stood out because it is the most noticeably unique trait of As I Lay Dying as a novel. The different narrators of each chapter are integral to the telling of the story, and the film impressively managed to capture this.

Some More Comparisons between The Odyssey and O Brother, Where Art Thou?

After watching O Brother, Where Art Thou? in class, we discussed the ways in which the movie related to The Odyssey. Although there were many parts of the poem that were altered in the modern cinematic adaptation, there are elements that clearly correlate to elements from the epic poem. In this blog post, I will be expanding on some of the comparisons that we already discussed in class, and writing about some comparisons that were not brought up in class.

                At the beginning of the movie, Ulysses Everett McGill, the protagonist who represents Odysseys from The Odyssey, escapes the chain gang along with Pete Hogwallop and Delmar O’Donnel. The three escaped convicts have many obscure adventures together, but the first is when they get a ride from a blind man driving a handcar on the railway. In class, we compared this man to both a bard and a prophet. His blindness and appearance in the beginning of the movie to partially set the tone for Ulysses’ journey are similar to that of a bard invoking a muse and, in doing so, giving a brief overview of the hero’s journey at the beginning of an epic poem. Specifically, the man says, “you must travel a long and perilous road, a road fraught with peril” and which is similar to Homer’s description of Odysseus in the invocation of the muse where he says “many pains he suffered, heartsick on the open sea” and “driven time and again off course”. The man is also reminiscent of a prophet in the sense that he gives a cryptic omen of what is to come in the three men’s journey and seems to know things about the future that he could not have possibly known without some form of divine influence.

                To take the comparison to the prophet a step further, I think there are elements that connect the man with the handcar specifically to the figure of Tiresias rather than solely to prophets in general. The most obvious is the man’s reference to “a cow on the roof of a cotton house”. In The Odyssey, Tiresias offers Odysseus a warning to not eat the cattle of Helios. The man in O Brother, Where Art Thou? also says “you will find a fortune, though it will not be the one you seek” which relates to Tiresias in a broader sense. Tiresias’ prophecies were always fulfilled, but in an obscure way. When Tiresias warned Odysseus about the cattle of Helios, Odysseus initially thought that it was a simple stipulation. Ultimately due to a storm that lasted 30 days, Odysseus entire crew ended up breaking the agreement to stay away from the cattle. In another story, Tiresias warns Oedipus that he will kill his father and become intimate with his own mother. Oedipus is taken aback and does not believe that this could possibly come about. He even travels as far away from home to ensure it does not happen. Nevertheless, by the end of his story, all that had been prophesied about Oedipus came true.  Although the prophecies in these stories do not concern “a fortune”, they carry the same idea that their end result will come about in an unexpected way.

                We also explored Homer Stokes as a representation of Poseidon. While I do think that this comparison is valid, I personally found Antinous to be a more compelling correlation for Homer Stokes. In O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Homer Stokes is running for mayor. He gives many speeches and riles up crowds. This reminds me of Antinous role as leader of the suitors. The more striking correlation is in the downfalls of both the characters. In The Odyssey, Antinous is overindulging in Odysseus’ food. When Antinous is lifting a cup of wine to his lips, Odysseus shoots Antinous in the throat and Antinous dies. In O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Stokes’ defeat is less gory but there are elements that symbolize the events in The Odyssey. When Homer Stokes interrupts Ulysses’ singing, the stealing of his audience and his performance represents Antinous’ theft of Odysseus’ food and wealth. The movie depicts a close up of a hand unplugging Stokes’ microphone and cutting him off abruptly. The picture of Stokes’ voice abruptly taken away reminds me of Antinous’ meeting his end suddenly when he is shot through the throat with the arrow.

                The last comparison I will delve into involves the scene where Ulysses reveals to Pete and Delmar that there was never any treasure. Upon hearing this, Pete is enraged. He reveals that he only had two weeks left on his sentence, but now if he is caught, he will have to serve fifty more years. Delmar also voices the same frustration as Pete. They complain that they were so close to being free, but due to Ulysses, they have much more suffering ahead of them. This reminded me of Odysseus and his crew’s escape from Polyphemus. Odysseus manages to trick Polyphemus by going by the name of “Nobody” so that Polyphemus does not know his real name. Odysseus and his crew manage to escape and continue on their journey back to Ithaca. By this time, they had almost returned home after the war. Instead of leaving peacefully, Odysseus’ pride gets the better of him and he yells back at Polyphemus, “’Cyclops—if any man on the face of the earth should ask you who blinded you so—say Odysseus, raider of cities, he gouged out your eye, Laertes son who makes his home in Ithaca!’”. Odysseus does this against the objections of his crew, who beg him to leave quietly to avoid a painful demise. Instead, Odysseus condemns himself and his crew to a dangerous journey of ten years back home. The movie and poem share the aspect of being so close to freedom, but due to the protagonist, his crew and he are met with the prospect of a future full of struggle. Both share the aspect of the crew or the escape accomplices expressing their frustration with the protagonist’s decision.

                These are a few connections that came to my mind while watching O Brother, Where Art Thou?. I thought that the directors did a wonderful job bringing an ancient story to the present while keeping some similarities between the two. I may be digging into things that are not actually there and there are definitely a multitude of comparisons I did not cover, but these are some of the correlations that I found most interesting.