Benji's Coming of Age

This book is different in several ways from any of the other books we have read in this class. Most of the other books took place over a longer period of time, over which the main character goes through a big change. Benji’s story, on the other hand, takes place over a relatively short period of time—a single summer. A coming of age story usually means that there will be some sort of a test, or a challenge that the main character has to get through in order to become a “new” person. But, this book doesn’t really have anything like that. It’s more like a collection of stories from a memorable, but still normal, summer, which aren’t necessarily trying to make point. Benji doesn’t go through a huge, life-altering change like Esther or Holden did. He does grow in some ways, but they’re so small that he doesn’t notice them yet. Instead of witnessing one huge event, the reader sees how Benji’s attitudes and thoughts change subtly through the course of the summer.
Also, in several of the other books, we see how the younger version of the character turns into the person who is writing the book. For example, in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, we saw how Stephen turned into a writer/ poet. But, Sag Harbor is not about how young Benji became Ben, the writer of the novel. We don’t see Benji’s development in terms of becoming a writer. He doesn’t tell us why or when he started writing or explain his journey of becoming a writer. We don’t see how he turns into the kind of person who can provide a historical context for black teens with beach houses either. All these things come after the time in the book, but, he is able to trace some of his developments back to this summer.

Comments

  1. Ethan English BlogMay 14, 2017 at 9:43 PM

    The point at which Benji realizes how far he has matured and changed, I think, is when he witnesses Little Clive.

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  2. SophiaMay 16, 2017 at 8:49 PM

    I agree with what you're saying in your second paragraph about how we don't get to see Benji become Ben- we just know that it happens eventually. This aspect of Sag Harbor reminded me a little bit of Housekeeping. We see the events that put Ruth on the path to becoming the narrator who is able to articulate all the things the younger Ruth experiences in the novel, but do not actually see the transition.

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  3. MichelleMay 17, 2017 at 8:05 AM

    I agree! Benji's coming-of-age is definitely more subtle, and it reminds me of Holden and his subtle coming-of-age as well. Coming-of-age moments don't always have to be one big, sudden event, like you said, because small changes still mean growth.

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  4. UnknownMay 17, 2017 at 8:07 AM

    I liked the format of this book the best. It felt the most real and applicable to my life. I feel like I'm not going to have a "revolutionary" coming of age moment. Instead, I feel like Benji: I'm going to have all of the plans for summer, and they may or may not happen like I want them to. However, through each experience, I'm going to grow, mature, and learn more about myself, in turn, coming of age gradually in my own time.

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  5. HadleyMay 17, 2017 at 3:56 PM

    I really like how this book took place over one summer, because we got to see how coming of age can happen in such a short time. It also gave a lot more details and I felt more connected to the characters because it was a short time period.

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  6. Elizabeth SingerMay 17, 2017 at 8:08 PM

    I love how you mention the part about coming of age as a writer. That is an interesting pattern I hadn't thought much about, but you're right. We do see his analytical/scientific approach to observing his peers and how to strategize fitting in. It makes sense that these strategies would also make for good a writer. He's already a skilled anthropological researcher at 15.

    About the coming of age trope in general, you're so right. Nothing really happens, but everything happens. These tiny insignificant moments are clearly crucial to Benji. Just as the other writers have clearly had the random moments they chose to write about in the back of their mind for years, these moments are super important to Ben/Whitehead. The difference is that an outside observer would never be able to tell, where as in the other novels anyone would know that bullying/ parents divorce/ running away/ being hailed a hero at your school/ having a mental breakdown etc would be a big deal to a kid.

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