I thought I would do a general thoughts/observation on Sag Harbor post to bid the blogosphere farewell for the semester.
The novel has been giving my this weird childhood-I-never-experienced feeling; like Benji's adventures are all familiar even though I've personally had almost no experiences like them. I think it's because summertime beach-town is a pretty common setting in pop culture and stories about kids messing with BB guns and alcohol and working summer jobs are probably pretty familiar to most of us. But I think that Sag Harbor puts a few spins on this archetype. There're Benji's family issues and complicated racial conundrums and the generational differences in Sag Harbor, and commentary on hip hop culture and it's evolution (the list goes on I'm sure). Whitehead has worked a lot of themes into his summertime beach-town story and made it a pretty interesting read. I've been enjoying it. New train of thought:
We were introduced to Benji's sister (rather late) for the first time in the last chapter. She reminded me of Julia in some ways; very cool and sure of herself (at least from her younger brother's perspective). She also seems very opinionated. I think it would take a lot of conviction to leave Sag and her parents and adopt a new sub-culture like she did. I don't know how important Elanor will be to Benji's development (judging by how much she's appeared so far, I'm guessing not a whole lot) but she seems to have the potential to be an important role model (like Julia ends up being for Jason).
I still haven't read the last chapter so I suppose a question to ask would be "Will Benji reach his goal and be transformed by the end of the next two weeks?" Of course I don't think that Benji will be completely transformed (he's still being called Benji, after all), but he has certainly made some progress. Narrator Ben had that moment of connection with Benji at the concert, he's had what seems to be his first kiss, gotten his braces off, acquired the BB that will stick with (in) him for the rest of his life. He hasn't had any great revelations, and he hasn't progressed as notably as Jason had by the end of Black Swan Green, but he's had quite the summer and I'm sure he's somewhat different for it.
I agree that Benji hasn't had the biggest of changes throughout this summer. Especially compared to some of the other coming-of-age protagonists we've read this semester, Benji's summer looks trivial. Like Jason however, I believe Benji's wants at the beginning at the novel will be changed just as much by the end, and as such, the lack of a huge change by the end of the summer won't be as major of an issue.
ReplyDelete"The novel has been giving my this weird childhood-I-never-experienced feeling; like Benji's adventures are all familiar even though I've personally had almost no experiences like them." This comment voices an idea about nostalgia that we talked about in class discussions--when Benji reminisces about summer or transformation, he's not just describing his own experiences. Ben seems to be nostalgic for a whole period of adolescence, not just his own coming of age. Also, although we haven't all experienced "racial conundrums," I feel that the struggle to create a new identity and find a place in the flow of time is something that every reader has probably gone through.
ReplyDeleteI guess what I'm trying to say is that I, too, felt that same feeling you describe. I think Sag Harbor does a great job of making those connections with the reader, even though we will never experience the same kinds of identity trials that Benji does.
I agree, this novel has seemed very relatable in the sense that I feel like I was there with Benji as these things were happening. It was kinda a weird feeling tbh. I also agree that this summer was important for Benji in the coming of age process. Yeah, he might not have fully come of age yet but I think it was a good start for him and I think that many of the things that happened to him during this summer are somewhat important milestones.
ReplyDeleteJulia is a natural character to compare Elanor to, and I agree that she is quite similar in several aspects. I certainly think that Benji could learn a lot from elanor, provided that she really is a lot like Julia. I also think that this coming of age was the least significant out of all the books we read (sure Benji matured, but not as much as any of our other main characters from other books.
ReplyDeleteThe summer he's had seems to have been really eventful. Since it is a yearly vacation with all the same people, you may not have expected him to experience so many new things. I agree that the development in Benji doesn't seem as noticeable as other books we've read as his flaws are not highlighted.
ReplyDeleteElena, in my view, is a crucial influence on Benji, not despite her absence but because of it. We see him here on the cusp of the period where he, too, will leave Sag and maybe never come back. We know that she's influenced his tastes in music, and is a big part of his exploration of "white" post-punk and new wave music in addition to hip-hop. His whole "reinvention" plan seems inspired by her, and she gives him the crucial "get out and find your tribe" message. She's absent from the family, and doesn't even let them know when she's back in town for the night, and here Benji sees a model of what his own independence might look like.
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