After reading about Dean's fate in Run Mourner, Run, I was struck by how similar it was to Ralph Ellison's short story, King of the Bingo Game. In case you don't remember, Ellison's story is about a poor black man who plays bingo to win money for his wife and coming child. He calls bingo and stops the wheel on his number, but instead of being awarded the prize money, he is beaten by a police officer (Video).
Both Dean and the protagonist in King of the Bingo Game are poor, but stumble on a chance to turn their life around. Percy "promises" Dean a promotion to foreman if he sleeps with Raymond, a prominent black man in his town. Dean goes through with his part of the deal, but Percy doesn't. After waiting half a year, Dean goes to Percy to ask why he hasn't been promoted yet, but instead of a promotion, Dean gets a beating by Percy' sons and loses his job.
This odd similarity between the story of a poor white man and a poor black man made me wonder if racism is as rampant on this level as it is with wealthier people. Would it have made a difference if Dean was black? Probably not. What if Ellison's protagonist was white? He might have received the money, but people would be awfully salty and might end up taking aggressive actions towards him. A sort of similar dynamic can be seen in Their Eyes Were Watching God and The White Boy Shuffle, where (although not explicitly stated in the text), poor people of multiple races are coexisting peacefully.
When you mentioned "poor people of multiple races" living together without any issues, it made me think about how there is really a fine line there. The two books you mentioned definitely give evidence as to the bonding effect that a lack of wealth can have on people, but that is usually only if it isn't exploited by a wealthier, and therefore more powerful, person. When Percy exploits Dean, his goal is to hurt a wealthy black man. However, the wealth of Ray doesn't play much of a role in Dean's decision making, so maybe Dean would just as willingly help exploit a black man without much money. Then Dean and another poor person would be at each other's throats, just because a wealthier man told them to.
ReplyDeleteI think we talked a little bit in class about alliances, but this actually reminds me a lot of Mr. Sutton's wheel of respectability. Regardless of whether you buy into the general concept of respectability, it's an interesting way to look at this dynamic. Simply being black puts Raymond into the category of rough (at least according to Percy) and Dean's white but poor and gay, which is also often considered non-respectable. Meanwhile, Ellison's character is both poor and black, placing him firmly in the rough category. Perhaps in addition to the issue of race, something to consider is the role of constructed superiority in general.
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