Trust, Solidarity, and Betrayal Theme Analysis

“Gorilla, My Love,” which follows a young and independent-minded girl named Hazel, is a story about a child’s sense of betrayal at the duplicity of adults. As Hazel grows up, her parents and extended family members encourage her to speak her mind and be true to her word. Trust and honesty are thus so integral to Hazel’s upbringing that she becomes furious when she encounters betrayals from other adults and disconsolate when she perceives betrayal within her own family: namely, when her uncle announces that he intends to get married and go by his given name, Jefferson Winston Vale, rather than “Hunca Bubba,” the nickname she gave him when she was a child. Hazel’s anguish following Hunca Bubba’s announcement shows betrayal is most painful when it occurs in a close relationship and destroys previously held bonds of trust and solidarity.

Hazel makes it clear early in the story that solidarity is important to her sense of self and her relationships with her family. Her little brother, Baby Jason, is so devoted to her, “he’d follow me into the fiery furnace if I said come on.” The devotion is reciprocated, and Hazel is determined to support her siblings in every scenario, even to “jump on they back and fight awhile,” if bullies steal her older brother Big Brood’s toy at the park. When the film at the theater depicts Jesus’s suffering, Hazel notes, “My daddy wouldn’t stand for nobody treatin any of us that way. My mama specially.” Here, Hazel’s respect and reverence for her parents’ determination to stand up for their children even overshadows her respect and reverence for Jesus. She recalls her Mama using her powerful personality and “pull with the Board” to confront teachers who mistreated Hazel and “start playin the dozens behind colored folks”—that is, use racist insults. Hazel was raised with a deep sense of trust in her loved ones and takes pride in being reliable herself.

Hazel becomes angry when she realizes that she can’t always trust other people, adults in particular, to stay true to their word. When she realizes that the movie theater is playing King of Kings, a film about Jesus’s life, ministry, and death, rather than the advertised Gorilla, My Love, she feels “ready to kill, not cause I got anything gainst Jesus. Just that when you fixed to watch a gorilla picture you don’t wanna get messed around with Sunday School stuff.” After the movie, Hazel goes to the manager “who is a crook in the first place” to demand their money back, but he treats her like a child and refuses to bend to her request. Her awareness of the power dynamics between powerful adults and vulnerable children aggravates her sense of betrayal, so much so that she feels justified in setting fire to the concessions stand when the manager refuses to offer a refund. She later avoids getting a beating from her Daddy when she explains that she was just being true to how she was raised, and “if you say Gorilla, My Love, you suppose to mean it.”

When Hazel senses betrayal in her own family, the sense of solidarity she treasures shatters. She becomes extremely upset when she learns her uncle, Hunca Bubba, is getting married and changing his name back to Jefferson Winston Vale, which he used before Hazel was born. Her family members do not understand her indignation about this news, because “It wasn’t like Hunca Bubba had gone back on his word or anything. Just that he was thinkin bout gettin married and was usin his real name now.” However, Hazel reminds Hunca Bubba that, when she was much younger, he had promised to marry her when she grew up. Her uncle meant it as a joke, but Hazel doesn’t understand this—all she sees is a family member who broke his promise and, to add insult to injury, changed his name from a title he used for her benefit since she couldn’t pronounce his real one. Even worse, her other family members, including Granddaddy, take his side, depriving her of the sense of solidarity they have always provided. When her uncle protests and doesn’t apologize, she accuses him of being “a lyin dawg” and cries passionately. Her only consolation is that Baby Jason joins her crying out of loyalty, signifying that she can still trust him.

Hazel feels empowered to challenge adult betrayal when she trusts her family to back her up, like in the case of her racist teachers. However, when Hunca Bubba decides to marry another woman and discards the name Hazel gave him, she feels as though the people she trusted the most have collaborated in the greatest betrayal of all. With this, the story suggests that although solidarity with one’s loved ones can be a source of incredible empowerment, the loss of these bonds is a greater source of heartbreak than mistreatment from a stranger.