When I read the ending to Angry Black White Boy, I was shocked. I really didn’t expect for Macon to die at the end, let alone be murdered in Alabama. Although that entire last book didn’t make me happy reading it, I felt like at the end things were starting to shape up at least a little bit. Leo and Macon are getting saved from the crazy racist Alabama men that look like they are going to beat and kill Macon and Leo. I sort of felt betrayed by Nique and Donner when I found out that the Alabama guys are just actors hired by them to be a part in their sick joke to get Macon to do what they wanted. It seems too intense of a joke for me. Especially hurting Leo. Nique seemed rightly outraged by it saying things like, “This how you treat the brothers, Con? What type of acting you call that?” (333). However, Donner cares more about his business than the situation at hand which makes Donner seem like a mad scientist villain in my mind. The entire test they put Macon through just seems unnecessary but it was an interesting turn of the already unconventional hero narrative.
Although Donner and Nique were sort of the antiheros/villians in this scenario for orchestrating such a terrible nightmarish test for Macon, they also felt like the heros for making the torture of Leo and Macon stop. After Nique and Donner swooped in from the helicopter, though, Mansbach doesn’t give them the stereotypical “hero saving everyone and making everything peaceful” ending. Instead he makes the fate of Macon out of our perceived hero’s control. But, I’m not too surprised about that since Macon’s heroic journey is weird from the beginning. For the longest time Macon is convinced he is on a heroic journey while everyone else (including us readers) are very skeptical. Things like robbing white people with a gun when they’re talking bad about black people is up for debate about being heroic or not. It seems like Mansbach is making us question our definition of a hero throughout this book. Are they a hero if they’re doing illegal things? (Macon robbing people). Are they a hero if they have ulterior motives? (Macon doing everything to get the guilt of Cap Anson off of his shoulders). Are they a hero if they’re going through a time in their life when they don’t feel up to the challenge? (Macon deserting everyone to go to Alabama). Do you guys even think Macon is a hero at any point in this book?
The ending was really weird, but the interesting thing is that Macon ended up dying for the cause. He ran away from the riots because Nique and Andre were asking if he would die for the cause and gave him a gun. In the end, even after running away, he died. I don't think that what he did was heroic, though, because he was being really racist and pleading to not die before the white supremacist guy shot him.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Raya, but it is interesting becasue when he is being beaten and about to be killed, he both denies the cause -- by beating the innocent black man, and pleading for his life becasue he was white -- and realizes that he is denying the cause. Macon shakes his head when the man says he is going to die for the cause, becasue he realizes that he is no longer a part of the cause, and his death will have no meaning.
ReplyDeleteI don't really see Macon as a hero in any point during the book. He claims to be all for the cause, but is mostly doing everything with his own motives as you explained. He also ends up hurting the people he is supposedly helping much more often than not, and when the going gets tough, he's able to just run away. I really take issue with calling Macon a hero.
ReplyDeleteI think Nathan brings up a really good point. I don't see Macon as a hero at all because he is always able to escape back into his white privilege, while the black people he is claiming to support are not able to. I can't see him as a hero and to me, he is much more a coward.
ReplyDeleteIt really seems like Macon is more of a Red Donner character towards the end of the novel, as he favors the good of Leo over his own safety. This is all thrown into confusion, however, with the last scene of the novel, as Mansbach aligns Macon with his racist white ancestor, rather than anyone else. We have to consider whether we see Macon as a hero at this point at the end of the novel, and whether or not he deserves any credit for his actions.
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