Book discussion of Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead
The Urban Life Experience Book Discussion Series continued
on Saturday July 23rd in person at the Wilson Branch Library. Ten of
us met and discussed Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead. I opened the
discussion by asking a question from Readinggroupguides.com:
Carney is described as being
“only slightly bent when it came to being crooked, in practice and ambition”
(page 31) --- suggesting a more nuanced understanding of seemingly criminal
activity. How does his placement on the crooked spectrum change throughout the
course of the novel? How does his crookedness compare to others he does
business with?
I watched the video of Colson Whitehead being interviewed at
the MLK Jr. Library in Washington DC. In
our downtown library we have microfilm readers, people can read old newspapers
on these machines. Colson Whitehead
actually said that when he was doing the research for the history, he too, went
to old newspapers. While he was looking up news stories, he would see the
furniture ads. That’s how he got to know the names of furniture. In the book, there were some jobs that Carney
needed people to perform, and they didn’t want money, they wanted a dinette set
or a recliner.
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| Painting of Colson Whitehead |
Also, Colson Whitehead pointed out in the video that Carney is making good money in the furniture business and his wife has a good job and he has no real need to do the fencing.
Shelara: “He said that in the book.”
This made me think
that Carney’s continued dabbling in illegal activities is almost like an homage
to his dad. “I reject some parts of my father, but I’ll keep this little piece
because he was my father.” When you start seeing how everybody is crooked
you’re really just regular.
Meghan: “There’s an honesty in his relationship with Pepper,
There’s a truth to it. He’s the closest thing he has to family, beside Freddy,
who’s a mess.”
Freddy is a liability.
Bonnie: “Well, two things came to my mind: compartmentalism
and hypocrisy. When they talk about petty criminals and then you talk about
banks. His in-laws looked down on him. Meanwhile the father in law is a crook,
getting everybody to not pay taxes. The hypocrisy of the Dumas club. They
favored the light people. If an African American is lighter in skin tone,
doesn’t that mean there was white blood mixed in with them? They’re supposed to
be anti-racist but if you have enough white blood in you then you can come in.”
Robin: “Why are African Americans expected to be antiracist,
they’re a product of this world too. They are responding to the world of white
people who accepted the lighter skin people. I don’t think the Black people are
supposed to be better, they’re a product of this society.”
Barb: “I think that Ray’s dad is a shadowy figure in Ray’s
life and who keeps emerging as part of Ray’s inner life. The nostalgia for the
dad he didn’t have and yet his connection to the dad he did have. It’s like
when he meets Ruby early on the book. She knows him from High School and he’s
sort of holding his breath. When she says, ‘Oh yeah, your dad worked at the
garage.’ Carney is waiting for her to
say ‘and he got into a lot of trouble,’ because that’s what most people say
about his dad.”
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| The Hotel Theresa circa 1960 |
Shelara: “That statement ‘Carney was just a little bent when it comes to being crooked,’ that’s from him. That’s what Carney thinks about himself. What we think about ourselves is not what is actually the case, it’s a little more intricate than that. I think he’s crooked, but that doesn’t necessarily make him a bad guy. I think he comes from a crooked history at least on his dad’s side. What struck me about the book is the use of the streets and the city to describe a person. Carney in the 1st couple of chapters describes himself like the city, having straight streets, and then places where there’s turns and there’s also an allusion to that in that end. Then there’s Pepper, him being like a jungle, he’s clear about who he is. A jungle is wild. By the end of the book Carney allows both sides to immerge. When Carney is sitting at the table with his family. He sees both sides of himself. It’s really a love letter to the city and to Harlem specifically. A city has many sides: the very affluent and the very poor.”
Wilfred Duke is the most crooked of all, the banker, high up
in the Dumas club. Lauren’s desire to get free of Cheap Brucie (and of Wilfred
Duke) truly outweighs Carney’s desire to bring Wilfed Duke down. Carney, for
all his bragging about being crooked, really doesn’t have the stomach for all
this.
Barb: “This whole thing about being crooked vs. being a
striver. Much that is legal isn’t really just. So, there’s sort of this what’s
legal and what’s just. There were a few people who were straight and narrow:
His wife Elizabeth is straight.”
Bonnie: “I think the most honest one was Pepper.”
Shelara: “I don’t think that good or bad is appropriate in
terms of characterization of people. Pepper was my favorite character. Pepper
was very clear about who he was. He’s a murderer.”
Bonnie: “He’s an honest murderer.”
Shelara: “Are we still thinking in 2022 that we live in a
country that was founded on morality and goodness and justice for all? Are we
still like 10-year-old kids in History class? This country was founded on
crooks. Most of the fortunes founded in this country were established by crooked
means.”
Maria: “Duke, supposed to be upstanding, ending up taking
off with everyone’s money. He put Carney’s in- laws into reduced circumstances.
As time went on, it just became easier for Carney to move along the slippery
slope. At the same time, he kept moving up the social scale.”
The book has so many levels: there’s a level of fathers and
sons: Big Mike and Carney, Pedro and Freddy, Linus and his father.
The streets.
Business of the furniture.
The names of the manufacturers
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| Heywood- Wakefield Catalog circa 1958 |
Bonnie: “Somebody came and scared away Mr. Gibbs from that big manufacturer Carney was trying to do business with.”
Shelara: “I’m like you, I see the emphasis on father and sons
but also there’s an emphasis on just
male relationships: Pepper and Big Mike, Chink Montague and Bumpy Johnson. The
movie The Godfather of Harlem is about Bumpy Johnson.
Robin: “How many people paid off the cops, I don’t know if
it’s still going on. Carney rode along with the cops on their collection runs on
two different occasions. He saw where all the pay-offs took place.”
Meghan: “The Intuitionist has a female main character.
It’s Sci-fi. Underground Railroad has a female main character. I found
this book really challenging. My mind starts wandering when he starts talking
about furniture. I do enjoy it for the history his descriptions are incredible.”
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| 2016 National Book Award for Fiction and 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction |
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| Colson Whitehead's First Novel 1999 |
I re-read the question when Laura walked in. “How does his placement on the crooked spectrum change throughout the course of the novel and how does his crookedness compare to others he does business with.”
Shelara: “I think he became more accepting of his
crookedness. I think that’s what changes. I don’t judge Carney for being
crooked, we’re living in a crooked system. There’s the crookedness of the
criminal underground. There’s the crookedness of the middle class of the Dumas
Club. Then there’s the book’s real source of crooked: the crookedness of the
rich and powerful: The Van Wycks. They’re the ones with the puppet strings. No
one got rich by doing moral and upstanding things.”
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| The Nickel Boys won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction |
Sun: “I had The Nickel Boys on my shelf for a year and I just got around to reading it. What I’m seeing as the overall theme in Whitehead’s work is the American violence and corruption. It always goes right back to greed and white supremacy.”
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