Scoby's Gift

“I’m no fucking Tiki doll, no fucking icon. (…) It’s not fair. I wasn’t born to make them happy.” During Scoby’s meltdown, he recounts all the times he has been revered as a god, by his fans. However, Nick doesn’t want the pressure and he does not appreciate being a sort of mascot, barely acknowledged as human. The burden of perfection isn’t necessarily what causes him to crack, rather he fears the consequences of his “gift”. As Gunnar puts it, “The worst thing he can do is perform well. Because then there is no turning back.” Especially for African Americans, if they are exceptional in some way, they are used as part of a show or entertainment. Similarly, Gunnar’s role at his old school was the funny, cool, black guy, and although he may not have been the butt of the joke, like his father, he was still there to entertain.

The White Boy Shuffle reminded me of the film Do the Right Thing, which we have been discussing in Race, Class, Gender. Especially relating to Scoby’s talent, it made me think back to Pino and Mookie’s conversation regarding famous black people. Pino is American Italian and runs a pizzeria with his father, in an all-black neighborhood. He has come to hate African Americans and holds some extremely racist ideologies that Mookie, the pizza delivery boy, is trying to rid him of. He asks Pino who is favorite artist and baseball player is. Pino chooses a black artist and athlete. He says that there’s a difference between them and other African Americans, and when Mookie asks why that is, he responded, “It just is!” In a similar way, Scoby is afraid of becoming one of those icons because he wouldn’t be able to “go back home and blithely disappear into the local populace.”

Champaign-Urbana has had a tragic history of segregation, and a similar situation, to Pino’s, has occurred here. The area actually kept racially restrictive covenants far past the ruling of the Supreme Court that declared them illegal. The North side of Champaign was, and still is, a predominantly black community, as African Americans were not allowed to buy land in other parts of town. A barbershop in town refused to serve black community members, although they had a poster hanging in the window of the star athlete of the University Football Team, who was Black. Just like in Pino’s case the barber somehow believed that because of the football player’s talent, that this somehow set him apart from other African Americans, who he believed he didn’t have to provide service to.

Gunnar contemplates Scoby’s dilemma and the reader is allowed to understand his perspective as he thinks, “American society reels you back to the fold. ‘Tote that barge, shoot that basketball, lift that bale, ain’t you ever heard of Dred Scott?’” The novel is incredibly interesting to read, as it uses humor throughout to tell Gunnar’s story, however it is also very dark at times and the reader realizes that the context of the story is no laughing matter. In Gunnar’s mind, once you enter the world of an icon there is no turning back because your fans will not let you. Especially white enthusiasts will always want them to show off their skills or continue playing for them, again as a form of entertainment. His reference to the Dred Scott case indicates that he views this as a new form of slavery. The analogy works very well in this context because Dred Scott was attempting to free himself from slavery, after living in Illinois and Wisconsin Territory for 4 years, where slavery was illegal. The case arrived at the supreme court where the all-white judges ruled against him 7-2. As Scoby said “It’s not fair”, and he would like to avoid being “enslaved” by fans before it is too late because he knows there is no turning back.