Upon his entrance into the novel, Biff exhibits exaggerated sexual desire, much like negative stereotypes constructed about black men in the early twentieth century. His inner monologue is distracted by "the beauty, the enchanting body" of Charlotte as she accompanies a magic act, so much that he literally needs to be snapped out of it by Schlitz (44). Later on, the description of him kissing Charlotte in their apartment resembles an account of sexual attack.
"The Major springs from his lying position and suddenly grips Charlotte's long arms at the same time pinning her against the sofa's back and kissing her violently(...)Patting her hair and smoothing her dress, she is released from the Major's vice-like hold." (108)
Next, Musclewhite absolutely displays conniving, violent, and evil behaviors that were stereotyped upon African-American males in his time period. From his emotional manipulation of Thor Wintergreen to his consecutive murders of Berbelang and Charlotte, this is perhaps the stereotype he embodies most fully, and his actions continue the theme of racial-role-reversal.
Although Musclewhite might not entirely be this exact mirror of black stereotype, certain qualities that define his character make the role-reversed irony effective and convincing. Perhaps the other negative behaviors unfairly associated with black males are present in other white characters, such as the bumbling Hinckle Von Vampton and Safecracker Gould. Nonetheless, if this placement of stereotypes is intended by Reed, it exposes racist interpretations more clearly through a flipped white canvas.
I think this is a really good analysis of Reed's portrayal of Biff Musclewhite. In general, Reed's description of white characters seems to be quite negatively biased. However, I think he does this to elicit a response from a reader that can only be met with the realization that many African Americans are portrayed in similarly negative, if not more ridiculous, ways in works of other Western writers. I really like how Reed exposes Atonist conventions throughout his novel. The depiction of whites is just one way he does this, but we have seen it all along through the novel's unusual formatting, institutional names like the Art Detention Center, etc.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting the way you point out that the white characters are representing black stereotypes, I hadn't thought of it that way before -- There are certainly a lot of negative white stereotypes that Reed could have taken advantage of. Honestly I just thought of him as a stereotypical old rich perverted white guy, like many of the creeps in politics today, sexist and manipulative. I definitely think your interpretation is valid, though. I'd be interested to examine how Reed contrasts portraying white and black female characters, like Charlotte vs. Earline, but I didn't notice anything strikingly different about the two. Does anyone else have observations about the contrasts between these two characters?
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting reading of Musclewhite. There are many aspects of Reed's representation of white characters that I wish we'd gotten to in class. I see him as more or less "daring" white readers to get offended at these one-dimensional caricatures--as if reminding us of the long history of white writers depicting black characters in stereotypical or depthless ways (think, for just one appalling example, of the drummer in _The Sun Also Rises_). The passage about Abdul's "figurines" of white colonials as portrayed (satirically, Reed makes clear) by African sculptors seems relevant here, as a reflection of Reed's own treatment of nonblack characters in his novel, for satirical ends.
ReplyDeleteI know everyone's been saying this, but I agree that it's interesting. Especially considering how in class we discussed how the characters in this novel aren't fully fleshed out. It makes sense that the characters would be one-dimensional if Reed was going for something like this where each is representative of something in the broader scheme of the novel/society. It would be intriguing to look into other characters as Elissa suggested.
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