I have to say reading this book has been quite a roller coster. Paul Beatty’s satire is amazing- I find that the messages that underline his stories are so much more powerful because of how he delivers them.
One prime example that sticks out to me is in the beginning of the book is when the woman says “some of my best friends are monkeys.” The comparison of black people to animals allows one to step back and assess how ridiculously racist and ignorant the real statement of “some of my best friends are black” sounds. The way he dug out his point was flawless. He has clearly establishes and gets the point across that many black people have tried to argue but that has generally fallen on death ears. Not only does the statement take on a fetishist tone, it also reveals the blatant justification people feel like they have because someone they know is black and are somehow in touched with what it means to be black in America.
This is just one of the many points in the books where the implicit message has so seamlessly be stitched out from the story.
Beatty’s use of animal-people comparison comes up elsewhere in the text as well- one quote which came to mind was the “people eat the shit you shovel them,” comparing people to pigs in the mindless consumption of information. The theme of animals is further displayed in the Farm setting, which I wonder if it’s an allusion to Orwell’s “Animal Farm.” It would be interesting to see if more animal comparisons come about for the rest of the novel as they are an excellent satirical mechanism.