Ms. Brenda W Kaufman

Even though Pyscho Loco had been planning it, I was still surprised by Gunnar’s marriage. One of the things that especially confused me was why Gunner’s mom was excited about it and totally on board. I realized that I don’t really understand her relationship with Gunnar that well, so I decided to review what we know so far in this post.

In the first few pages of the novel we learn a lot about Gunner’s mother. She’s raised her kids alone after “a vicious custody battle that left the porcelain shrapnel of supper-dish grenades embedded in my father’s neck” (5-6). She works at a clinic that tests people for STIs for free. She’s mother is “a Brooklyn orphan who had never seen her parent or her birth certificate” (6). She holds the world record for the loudest swallow and she set it on the David Letterman show.

She’s the one who tells Gunner all about his father’s family history, but she doesn’t tell him about the women in his father’s family even though she knows about them. I can understand why Gunner’s mother wants Gunner to know about his family history despite hating Gunner’s father. As Gunnar points out by noting that most of his classmates only know a few generations of their ancestors, one legacy of slavery is that many black Americans don’t know who their ancestors were so Gunnar’s history is special. But I don’t understand why Gunner’s mother doesn’t tell Gunnar about the women’s stories. Maybe she wants to keep them to herself as her own source of pride? What do you guys think?

Gunner’s mother also supports Gunner’s interest in poetry. There’s a sweet scene where Gunnar tells her he wants to be a poet:

            “Where do poems come from?”

            “Why? You a poet too?”

            “Soon as I write a poem I will be.”

            “It’s corny but I think poems are echos of the voices in your head and from your past. Your sisters, your father, your ancestors talking to you and through you. […] Gunnar, what kind of poet do you plan to be?

            “I don’t know, the cool tantric type. Shaolin monk style. Lao Tsu but with rhythm.”

            “You’ll do the Kaufman legacy proud, I’m sure.” (79)

I know poetry has a really different status in this book but coming from a world where a lot of parents wouldn’t be overjoyed if their kid told them they wanted to be a poet, it’s great that Gunner can talk to his mom about his goal and they can chat about the nature of poems. I think when his mom tells Gunnar that he’ll “do the Kaufman legacy proud,” she means that he’ll succeed but since Gunner would probably see continuing in the same vein as the rest of the Kaufman legacy as a failure, I’m not sure how to read that line.

One of the biggest things we know about Gunner’s mother is that she moves her family to Hillside immediately after realizing that her children don’t think they’re like other black people. She obviously cares a lot that her children can understand what it means to be black. But it seems like she might be naïve about what Hillside is like since she forces her kids to go to the park where they get beaten up. After Gunnar’s father catches him stealing the safe, his mom also forces him to “hang out with those nice boys” from El Campsino Real High on the weekends, presumably because she doesn’t want him to hang out with his friends in Hillside.

Gunner and his mother do seem to have some other significant conflicts. When Gunner writes to his mother from camp he tells her “Maybe things will be better when I leave the house. I know I haven’t been the ideal son” (142). There’s also a scene where, honoring Pumpkin with the Gun Totin’ Hooligans after his death, Gunnar wants to talk to his mother but feels like he can’t:

I wanted to explain to her that living out here was like being in a never-ending log rolling contest. You never asked why the log was rolling or who was rolling the log. You just spread your arms and kept your feet moving, doing your best not to fall off. Spent all your time trying to anticipate how fast and in what direction the log would spin next. I wanted to take a seat next to my mother and use this lumberjack metaphor to express how tired I was. I wanted to chew my runny eggs and talk with my mouth full. Tell her how much I missed the calm and equipoise of my old like but how I had grown accustomed to running in place, knowing nothing mattered as long as I kept moving. I wanted to say these things to her, but my breath smelled like wet dog shit with a hint of sulpher. (97)

I think Gunner doesn’t want to upset his mom by telling her about his life or he thinks his mom won’t understand him. I’m not sure.

Gunners mom plays an important but normally peripheral role in most of Gunner’s major life events. Overall, she, like most parents, has conflicts with her kids but mostly just tries to raise her children to be the best people they can be and tries to find a balance between traditional ideas of more material success and her deeply-held values.

I still don’t understand how Gunner’s marriage fits into this though. Gunner’s mom must think Yoshiko will make Gunner happy but marriage at 18 to someone you don’t share any languages with has disadvantages that I would have assumed would discourage a parent’s support. Also, Pyscho Loco planned the marriage and Gunners mom didn’t seem enthused about him after the safe incident. What do you guys think?