Point of View

The point of view in the novel The White Boy Shuffle comes from the perspective of first person narrator Gunnar Kaufman. Since the novel is supposed to be a memoir the narrative voice is consistent, as one would expect from a text written from a perspective looking back in time. However, the older Gunnar looking back into the past does manage to give voice to the younger Gunnars and how they see the world around themselves at their particular point in time.

The pre-adolescent Gunnar living near the beach in Santa Monica does not see the world in the same way as later versions of Gunnar. The young Gunnar is aware of his family history and certainly he is aware that he is African-American, but for this Gunnar the term has a different meaning than for the Gunnars yet to evolve; at this stage in his...