Huey Freeman
Huey Freeman is the main character of The Boondocks comic strip as well as the main character and narrator of the animated TV series of the same name. Huey is a ten-year-old African American boy. He is named for Huey P. Newton, who co-founded the Black Panther Party in 1966, and is voiced by Regina King.
Huey, who grew up with his brother Riley on the south side of Chicago, was moved along with his brother to the peaceful, predominately white suburb of Woodcrest by their Granddad.
Personality
Huey is a precociously intelligent 10 -year-old who recognizes and detests the absurdities of the society in which he lives. A self-described revolutionary, his cynicism touches on subjects such as politics, religion, the media, businesses and corporations, and African-American culture.
Huey tends to be cantankerous in both manner and speech, and he has demonstrated a depth of understanding that would seem to belie his young age. Oratorically gifted, he has shown the ability to seize and hold the attention of entire crowds of people when he wants to do so. He uses this gift during individual interactions, as well, during which he can gain a desired effect depending on his intention.
Huey has a large collection of books and other reading material. He reads the paper, watches the news, and otherwise makes a point to keep up with current events. On at least one occasion, he demonstrated an aptitude for writing fiction in the form of a script (he wrote a play entitled "The Adventures of Black Jesus" in The Boondocks episode "A Huey Freeman Christmas"). He has also written poignant letters and emails to public figures imploring them to do this or that. He has started petitions, made and handed out flyers, and created and edited his own newspaper ("The Free Huey World Report"). He uses such mediums to express his own opinions, though their impact is generally limited given their nature and his minimal resources.
Besides these scholarly interests, he also has a strong faculty for martial arts, and has demonstrated a near master-level competence with weapon and open-handed techniques. Though they have proven to be effective against his brother, Riley, and other untrained individuals, he has gotten himself in over his head on at least a few occasions against much older, more skilled martial artists like Oprah's personal security guard, Bushido Brown ("Let's Nab Oprah"), his granddad's one-time love interest, Luna ("Attack of the Killer Kung-Fu Wolf Bitch"), Colonel Stinkmeaner while he was possessing Tom ("Stinkmeaner Strikes Back"), and even Uncle Ruckus on one occasion ("...Or Die Trying").
Huey has stated that he is not religious, but his actual spiritual beliefs are unknown. His granddad is Christian, but he has on no occasion endorsed this or any other organized religion. He has, at times, insisted that Jesus was black, suggesting he has knowledge and opinions regarding specific details of Christianity despite having no confirmed belief in it. Perhaps the deepest insight into Huey's spiritual beliefs were revealed in the episode entitled "The Passion of Ruckus," during which he prays to an unknown higher power after his plan to break an unjustly imprisoned death-row inmate out of jail didn't work. After his prayers are apparently answered in a mysterious and spectacular way, as the lightning storm blacked out the power in Woodcrest momentarily allowing the inmate's life to be spared temporarily before the governor called to grant clemency, Huey says, "Maybe there are forces in the universe we don't understand, but I still believe we make our own miracles."
Differences between comic and cartoon counterparts
In the comic strip, Huey is portrayed as the main character of the comic strip and is portrayed as being extremely political and constantly fighting for causes dear to his left-wing political beliefs, with the help of his more laid back best friend Michael Caesar. This is in dramatic contrast to the cartoon Boondocks series, where although Huey exists as a main character, his role has been marginalized heavily by Riley and Granddad, with episodes focusing on their plots.
As such, Huey generally left with little to do in the series save provide the narration for the episode and be used as a much-abused and often mistreated straight-man towards Granddad and Riley's shenanigans, who constantly tries and fails to provide a voice of reason towards his brother and grandfather's crazy schemes in each episode. Furthermore, his relationship with Michael Caesar has been outright omitted from the cartoon, due to McGruder deciding to use Caesar's cast slot to introduce a new character, Uncle Ruckus.
Politically, Huey is portrayed as a much more impotent figure who in one episode, was slapped by his Granddad for simply dreaming about telling people his political beliefs.
Relationships
Huey and Riley tend to have a regular brotherly relationship in the comic strip despite their contradictory personalities. This is perhaps the result of the two have little long-term interaction due to the fact that Huey opts to spend his free time with his other friends, Jazmine and Caesar over his brother, who he has almost nothing in common with. In the cartoon series, the two are constantly paired together (due to the omission of Caesar) with their relationship being very strained due to their polar opposite personalities. Despite this, Huey constantly tries, in vain, to help his brother become a better person though his efforts are almost always undermined by Granddad, who will almost always take Riley's side over Huey's. Though the cartoon often shows Huey on the receiving end of his brother's antics, the episode 'The Story of Gangstalicious Part 2" shows Huey finally getting revenge by exploiting his brother's fear of being a homosexual in order to torment his brother and possibly, receive his own private bedroom and bathroom.
Robert Freeman, Granddad, is Huey's paternal grandfather. Granddad often disagrees with many of Huey's political ideas. While in the comic strip, Huey and his grandfather have a much more affable relationship, in the cartoon they are almost constantly at odds, in part due to his constant favoritism shown to Riley, who supports his grandfather's various crazy schemes.
Though Jazmine Dubois and Huey spend a great deal of time together, Huey often treats Jazmine poorly due to his disdain for her trusting personality and apolitical views. In the cartoon, the two are slightly closer, with Huey confiding to her about his desire to meet up with his former best-friend Cairo, during a planned trip to Chicago ("Wingmen") and Huey allowing her to help him in his plan to free an unjustly imprisoned inmate out of prison, essentially trusting her as an accomplice ("The Passion of the Ruckus"). Despite his cold demeanor, he does show concern for her on a few notable occasions (for instance, in the season one episode "The Block is Hot," where he gives her a scarf to keep warm).
Tom, Jazmine's father, represents everything Huey doesn't believe in. Tom, being a straight-laced liberal democrat assistant district attorney, is part of the structure that Huey views as inhibitive and self-destructive. Despite his disagreements with Tom, the two are shown generally to be on good terms with Tom often acknowledging Huey's intellect and maturity, to the extent that Tom will often turn to Huey for advice on subjects ranging from help with his marriage, politics, and his career as a prosecutor (with Huey supporting Tom's prosecution of R. Kelly for statutory rape).
Ed Wuncler serves as a villainous foil for Huey, as Ed Wuncler Jr. represents everything Huey is against. In spite of this, Wuncler retains a friendly relationship with the Freeman family, despite Huey seeing through his friendly facade as far as the true person Wuncler is inside.
Huey distrusts Ed and Gin, having seen the two young men perform many criminal and amoral actions and does not hesitate to point out the obvious stupidity behind their careless conduct. He also does not care for the way that they help contribute to Riley's delinquent attitude, leading to him often warning his brother to stay away from them.
Awards
In the 2006 Glyph Comics Awards, Huey Freeman was named Best Male Character.
External links
- Boondocks at the Adult Swim website
- Boondocks at the Ucomics website
The Boondocks by Aaron McGruder | |
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