Prologue and Chapter One Summary

In The White Boy Shuffle, narrator Gunnar Kaufman tells his life story. He starts with his family history and then tells how he moved from being a black kid in a white neighborhood to being a basketball star in a black neighborhood to being a world-renowned poet.

In the Prologue, the narrator identifies himself as one who has been conscripted as the voice of all African-Americans. He does not conceal his feelings toward such a title. He makes it clear that it is a title and a role he does not want. The narrator says that the following book comprises his memoir.

In Chapter One, the first person narrator introduces himself as Gunnar Kaufman. He says he comes from a long line of subservient blacks. His parents are divorced, and he and his two sisters live with...