A Life Worth Living?
While reading White Boy Shuffle I found myself constantly laughing. The book was so funny purposely filled with interesting characters I felt more connected to out of all the books we had read. We discussed the purpose of Beaty's humor throughout the book, despite the continual path the book followed growing more serious and depressing with every chapter. The finale struck me as I had been able to laugh my way through Gunnar's story, and yet he was depressed on a suicide mission. The importance of Beaty's ending for me was in the reasoning for Gunnar and Nicks's depression. A topic I rarely see in literature taught to high schoolers is the effects of racism when racism is more hidden. People can make the argument that Gunnar wasn't oppressed and that he and Nick were actually the opposite, given opportunities any kid would love to have. Furthermore, the "support" from their fans in their sports and Gunnar's poetry couldn't possibly be racist beca...