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Norli Servin

Dr. Demson

ENGL 4399

30 November 2022

Trauma and Identity: The Lack of Agency of the Marginalized

The graphic novel Stuck Rubber Baby and the film Sorry to Bother You offer viewers a

diverse perspective on the ways men navigate through their trauma. The leading character in

Stuck Rubber Baby focuses on the exploration of his identity as a gay man while simultaneously

dealing with trauma of the people and the prejudice around him. While the protagonist in Sorry

to Bother You concentrates on his identity as a Black man in a predominantly White-dominated

industry, reinstating subliminal trauma of assimilation. Both mediums exhibit how one’s trauma

forms their identity, but when their identity is overpowered by the concept of the hierarchical,

then those traumas are embedded into their identities via a non-consensual submission. As a

result, causing the marginalized to feel the constant need to prove themselves to others to

overcome societal standards and misconceptions of them. After analyzing both works and

applying theory from Cutter and Gates, it is evident that the identity of the marginalized is

intertwined with the trauma that comes along with criticism of society.

The illustrated novel Stuck Rubber Baby created by Howard Cruse. The book was

published in 1995 by Paradox Press. The book follows the character Toland Polk as he narrates

his life growing up in the South during the 1950s. Throughout the book Polk shows his

involvement with the Civil Rights Movement and the people he meets along the way. Toland’s

lack of direction prompts him to make a lot of questionable decisions that allow him to explore

his thoughts on race and homosexuality. He later has a baby with Ginger, a woman who he has
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an on and off again romantic relationship with, which they later put up for adoption. Toland’s

constant exploration of himself and of the people around him cause him to come to terms with

his sexuality. In addition, Toland’s retrospective perspective allows him to recognize how it got

him to where his life ends by the end of the story.

The film Sorry to Bother You was written and directed by Boots Riley and stars Lakeith

Stanfield as Cassius Green (protagonist), Tessa Thompson as Detroit (Cassius’ girlfriend),

Steven Yeun as Squeeze, Omari Hardwick as Mr. _____, and Armie Hammer as Steve Lift

(WorryFree CEO). The 2018 Sci-Fi/Comedy/Drama movie follows Cassius “Cash” Green, a

young black man, struggling to pay his rent in his uncle’s garage. Due to his financial instability,

Cassius decides to get a job as a telemarketer for RegalView. As he starts his new employment

with the company he realizes that he is struggling keeping customers, until his co-worker

suggests that he uses his “white voice” to enhance customer engagement in return increasing his

sales. As Cash exceeds in profit, his co-workers form a union to advocate for an increase in

wages for RegalView’s employees. After the protest, Cash is called into his manager’s office

where he is offered a promotion to work as a Power Caller. However, Cassius does not realize

until he accepts the position that he is working as a telemarketer for a corporation named

WorryFree that sells slave labor and military weapons. Even though WorryFree’s actions went

against Cassius’ morals, he accepted the offer as it paid him very well. He is later invited to a

party hosted by WorryFree’s CEO, Steve Lift, where Cash is offered a white powdered substance

that closely resembles cocaine. Cash then stumbles upon a creature that is half-horse half-human

in shackles. After this sequence of events, Steve reveals to Cash that the company is finding

ways to create stronger employees to increase manufacturing to complement consumerism. One

of these methods is to have workers snort a specialized powder that would transform them into a
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hybrid animal breed named “Equisapiens.” As a result, Cash uses his online success to spotlight

the issue, but the public views the occurrence as groundbreaking. However, Cash decided to join

the union once again where the Equisapiens decided to help him. The movie ends with Cash

turning into an Equisapien and joining the others to break into Steve Lift’s home.

The beginning of Stuck Rubber Baby the narrator/protagonist makes it clear that he is gay

man. However, he clarifies that he did not always identify as gay since he always felt the need to

oppress those emotions. Toland state, as demonstrated

in Figure 1, “Anyways, my intention for quite some

time was to turn myself around and not be

gay…which I kidded myself into viewing as an

option. (Cruse)” The protagonist was under the

impression that being gay was a factor that was

feasible to change. He even took the time to find ways to make himself “not gay” such as

attempting to make a move on his best friend’s girlfriend and even going as far as dating a

woman named Ginger. It is evident that he attempted to change his sexuality to what was the

norm to please the people around him and the goals they had

set for him. However, what shapes Toland’s retrospection and

his growth is the people who surround him. The graphic

novel takes the time to depict other characters and their

trajectories within the story to further analyze the concept of

invisibility in comparison to societal standards. Figure 2

shows the character named Les, who is the son of Reverend

Pepper, the head preacher at the local Black church. Les is a

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young Black man who is often at the town’s “rhombus” also known as the local underground gay

club. After there is a bomb explosion where several children and members of the congregations

are injured or killed, Reverened Pepper shows up to break the news to the community and his

son. As a result of the horrifying events, everyone runs to the hospital and the scene where the

tragedy occurred. Even though Les is out to his parents and friends, he must maintain a facade to

the public as he is the son of the popular powerful leader of the Black congregation. Which is

why Toland states, “I was impressed at how a partyboy from the rhombus could turn into a

perfect preacher’s kid at the flick of a switch. (Cruse)” Toland’s amusement is a reflection of his

own inability to be able to adapt in that manner quickly. Primarily because Toland is still in the

process of finding the part of him that is not subjected to keeping a one-dimensional identity.

However, his identity differs from Les, as Toland keeps identity in check due to his lack of

direction. Les maintains a structured one-dimensional identity since his individuality is stripped

away from society for being Black. This best demonstrates the use of double voice as, “...one

speech act determines the internal structure of another, the second effecting the “voice” of the

first by absence, by difference. (Gates 198)” It is apparent that the messaging goes beyond the

storyline, but it showed how Black identities were concealed to maintain a certain image to

oppose the prejudice. This is also best supported later in the novel when Toland shares his regret

in making certain situations about him when he honestly is not able to fully comprehend the life

of a Black individual. However, that does not keep him from finding moments of growth through

the trauma of others.

Another instance where validation through desired confute comes to play is when Sammy

decides to confront his estranged father after he disowned him for being gay. Even though the

other characters, Toland and Mavis, were unaware of how he planned to talk to his father, it was
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definite that this event was critical to Sammy’s development. In Figure 3 the panel shows

Sammy being very straight-forward with his paralyzed

father by stating, “I’m famous for bein’ the worst thing

you could ever have imagined. (Cruse)” Sammy follows

that statement by announcing with a smile on his face that

he is for segregation and he is gay. He takes the

opportunity of his father’s lack of mobility to face him and show his

true identity. In Figure 4 and 5, Sammy expands his thoughts as he

tells his father of all the things he tried to accomplish to please him. He

states in Figure 4, “there I’d be tryin’ to please you with my

music…an’ you’d spend the day grumblin’ about how I ‘sat funny’ on

my piano stool. (Cruse)” While on Figure 5 he expresses, “I’ve been in

the navy. I think you know that. I had to lie to get in, of course…about

my tendencies…I was ready to lie if that’s what it took to prove to you

that I was ‘man’ enough to serve my country. (Cruse)” His growing

resentment for his father led to his eruptive address to him when he

saw him again. Even though Sammy’s father was physically present

for his explicit words, it is unknown if he was actually able to hear

what Sammy was saying. However, by applying the Gate’s theory of

signifying, “modes of figuration itself. (Gates 687)” It is clear that the

action in itself speaks louder than the words that Sammy is

expressing. According to Cutter, a mode of hierarchical empathy is

“viewer and enslaved discordant, unmatched. (Cutter 237)” He counterposes

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his trauma from his father’s prejudice by instilling hierarchical empathy towards him. Sammy

establishes this form of empathy by going into the one-sided conversation knowing very well

that his father very likely disagrees with his life.

As mentioned prior, Sorry to Bother You differs from Stuck Rubber Baby as it identifies a

different aspect of the concept of disproving society in the means of solidifying identity through

its usage of a modern scene. The character of Cassius is displayed as a nonchalant guy who

simply wants to make money to pay off his debt. His true character is reflected at the beginning

of the movie when he struggles to keep customer engagement and make sales. After he chooses

to code-switch to a “white voice” to make calls and becomes successful from it, Cassius begins

to notice the power this voice holds on the trajectory of his career. However, the scene that

critically demonstrates this is right after he is promoted starting at 37:06 of the movie. In this

scene Diana DeBauchery, RegalView’s new team leader, is seen being very flirty with Cassius.

She also expresses, “I would be remiss if I didn’t bring up your pink shirt. I think it’s

extraordinary and sexy. You know, 35% of men who wear pink are more likely to start a

franchise. (Riley)” Diana sexualizing Cassius because of his new job position adds a new layer to

his identity which strays him away from the person he was at the beginning of the movie. Later

in the movie when Cash is asked by Mr. _____ to only speak in “white voice” at all times, it

signifies to the viewers that a position of power in relation to business formality is correlated to

being White. Since Mr. _____ and Cash are two of the few Black people working there, it shows

that they must assimilate their speech to that of a White person. In a sense, signifying that society

sees White people as superior which is why other people of color must adapt to be more like

them. By the end of the film Cassius goes through a traumatic series of events and revelations

that leads him to his breaking point. He decides to join the game show “I got the shit kicked out
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of me!” in order to defeat the identity he was forming around his “white voice” and persona.

Cassius gets publicly humiliated and severely hit by three White men, once again double-voicing

the prejudice Black people experience for the sake of entertainment for the White gaze.

Nonetheless, his trauma becomes a part of his newfound identity when he decides to expose

RegalView after his beating. Even though his action fired back on him, Cassius ends up proving

Steve Lift wrong when the equisapiens begin to fight back.

Both works develop intricate ways to demonstrate multiple aspects of how marginalized

groups face an intersection of trauma and identity. Particularly, how society’s prejudices have

caused people of color and non-heterosexual people to encounter trauma before they are able to

fully come to terms with who they are. As a result, causing the people within these communities

to introspectively “correct” themselves to please others before they are able to accept their

individuality.
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Work Cited

Cruse, Howard, and Alison Bechdel. Stuck Rubber Baby. First Second Is an Imprint of Roaring

Brook Press, 2020.

Cutter, Martha. The Illustrated Slave: Empathy, Graphic Narrative, and the Visual Culture of the

Transatlantic Abolition Movement, 1800-1852. University of Georgia Press, 2017. ​

Haney-Lopez, Ian. "The Social Construction of Race." Critical Race Theory: The Cutting Edge,

pp. 192-199.​

Gates, Henry Louis. “The ‘Blackness of Blackness’: A Critique of the Sign and the Signifying

Monkey.” Critical Inquiry, vol. 9, no. 4, 1983, pp. 685–723. JSTOR,

http://www.jstor.org/stable/1343378. Accessed 16 Oct. 2022.

“Sorry to Bother You.” IMDb, IMDb.com, 13 July 2018, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5688932/.