White Boy Shuffle ends with Gunnar telling his daughter Naomi about the Kaufman family history, just like his mother did for him. Gunnar's mother adopted his father's history as her own, in place of her "misbegotten origins". Perhaps his mother is ashamed of her past family members? If that is the case, then it is odd to think that she would accept her husband's history, which to us readers seems very shameful. I thought that it was because the Kaufman family lived in Santa Monica. In a place full of white people, perhaps Gunnar's mother needed to expose Gunnar to his heritage, explaining why she wanted to move to Hillside. Also, she might have told Gunnar that history so that he doesn't end up like his ancestors--an Uncle Tom. Maybe, Gunnar tells Naomi this history for the same reasons.
In either case, I was very curious to see how Naomi would end up. In some ways, she and Gunnar are very similar. We saw that Gunnar had problems with his absentee father. While it looks like Gunnar will stick around with Yoshiko and Naomi, we've seen how detached he can be. He is much more interested in poetry and not as concerned with smaller things like money or family. Naomi might have to face her own sort of absentee father as she grows up. In terms of mothers, Yoshiko and Gunnar's mother are very similar in their personalities. With regards to identity, Gunnar grew up in "white boy culture" as a black boy and later moved to a more "ghetto" neighborhood. He struggled to fit in, but was eventually accepted by the black people. Similarly, I wonder how Naomi, being biracial, will fit in, and whether she will identify more with being Japanese, black, or simply both. In the world of the novel, I don't believe biraciality was ever covered. It was never addressed in the "multicultural" school of Santa Monica, nor it the schools of Hillside (I might be wrong). Biraciality is something Naomi will probably have to deal with on her own. Who knows? Maybe Naomi, following her father's footsteps will grow up to be the messiah of biracial people. Anyway, I would be very interested to see how Naomi's life plays out.
It's too bad we don't actually hear Gunnar's *version* of the family history as he tells it to his daughter--in the early chapter, he's repeating his mother's version (inflected with his current irony and humor), but I wonder, as he's now fallen so distinctly "far from the tree," if he might be telling it to her more with a sense of, "See what this country has made our family do?" What had been shame might now be something more sympathetic--a view of people trying to survive, and willing to sacrifice dignity in the process.
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