Mookie
The main character
that we follow in Do The Right Thing is Mookie, a pizza delivery boy living in
Harlem in the middle of a heat wave. His character acts as a communicator
throughout the story between the community and the local pizzeria. Throughout
the novel Mookie attempts to balance his obligation to his job with his
desire to interact with the community. This balancing act symbolizes his
attempt to create a balance between his personal and social responsibilities.
Mookie is a character that lies in a gray space between modernism and postmodernism,
because he cannot define for himself which is more important: bettering himself
or bettering the community. Mookie’s personal responsibility is represented by his need to
support himself and his child, which is why he must work at Sal’s. Throughout
the story Mookie constantly returns to work after ever venture out to deliver
pizza. Ever time that Mookie returns to work he is reinstating his modernism
belief that his personal responsibility is greater then his obligations to the
community.
Mookie’s social responsibility is to his community, he feels as though he must remain a part of the community in order for them to thrive. Mookie’s desire to fulfill his social responsibility is first seen when he tried to help Buggin’ Out. Mookie tells Buggin’ Out that he can come back to the shop in about a week, and attempts to calm him down. This shows how Mookie is fulfilling both his role in the community and as a mediator between the shop and the street. The second instance of Mookie’s sense of social responsibility coming to the foreground is when he throws the trashcan through the window of Sal’s pizza. Although this could be interpreted as Mookie protecting Sal, it can also be seen as him protecting the community by giving them a place to put their rage that would not hurt anyone. When this event occurs it becomes clear that he is taking a stand for his social responsibility above his personal responsibility.
At the conclusion of this story it is evident that Mookie represents someone who has a postmodern belief of responsibility. He sacrifices his own identity, in the form of his job, in exchange for helping to better his community. Mookie’s sense of social responsibility overcomes his need to be personally responsible. Mookie's loss of identity and shift from modernism to postmodern can also be connected to Baudrillard's idea on simulacrum where he has been living in one reality, the modern reality. Baudrillard says, "Today's abstraction is no longer that of the map, the double, the mirror, or the concept. Simulation is no longer that of a territory, a referential being or a substance. It is the generation by models of a real without origin or reality: a hyper real". Meaning there is no defined reality, there is not right or wrong there is just the reality that we interpret. Mookie's inability to decide on which reality he wants to live in is in turn a very postmodern problem even though it involves a debate between which is correct the modern or the postmodern concept or responsibility.
Mookie’s social responsibility is to his community, he feels as though he must remain a part of the community in order for them to thrive. Mookie’s desire to fulfill his social responsibility is first seen when he tried to help Buggin’ Out. Mookie tells Buggin’ Out that he can come back to the shop in about a week, and attempts to calm him down. This shows how Mookie is fulfilling both his role in the community and as a mediator between the shop and the street. The second instance of Mookie’s sense of social responsibility coming to the foreground is when he throws the trashcan through the window of Sal’s pizza. Although this could be interpreted as Mookie protecting Sal, it can also be seen as him protecting the community by giving them a place to put their rage that would not hurt anyone. When this event occurs it becomes clear that he is taking a stand for his social responsibility above his personal responsibility.
At the conclusion of this story it is evident that Mookie represents someone who has a postmodern belief of responsibility. He sacrifices his own identity, in the form of his job, in exchange for helping to better his community. Mookie’s sense of social responsibility overcomes his need to be personally responsible. Mookie's loss of identity and shift from modernism to postmodern can also be connected to Baudrillard's idea on simulacrum where he has been living in one reality, the modern reality. Baudrillard says, "Today's abstraction is no longer that of the map, the double, the mirror, or the concept. Simulation is no longer that of a territory, a referential being or a substance. It is the generation by models of a real without origin or reality: a hyper real". Meaning there is no defined reality, there is not right or wrong there is just the reality that we interpret. Mookie's inability to decide on which reality he wants to live in is in turn a very postmodern problem even though it involves a debate between which is correct the modern or the postmodern concept or responsibility.
