Sag Harbor

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2009

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-2

Chapters 3-4

Chapters 5-6

Chapters 7-8

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Character Analysis

Benji

Benji is the narrator of the novel, and in some ways, a stand-in for the author, Colson Whitehead, who also grew up in Manhattan and spent his summers in Sag Harbor. While Benji doesn’t show evidence of becoming a future writer, he is a sharp observer of the world around him, describing his Manhattan and Sag Harbor homes in powerful and often humorous ways. He also has a strong desire to classify the world into understandable categories as he seeks to figure out his place in the world.

At Sag Harbor, he sees the generations in their annual traditions—the children, the teens, the adults, the grandparents—and he wonders what sort of adult he will become. As a 15-year-old, he straddles the border between child and adult, and he looks at the world around him for suitable, authentic models of how to be in the world. He has a strong desire to transform from his insecure, passive, invisible self into a cooler, more assertive, more popular version like his sister did. He sees himself as a work in progress and is always watching others to learn ways to act in the world:

And me? Keeping my eyes open, gathering data, more and more facts, because if I had enough information I might know how to be. Listening and watching, taking notes for something that might one day be a diagram for an invention, a working self with moving parts (84-85).

While Benji’s transformation into adulthood seems to come in incremental changes, the drama of the story focuses more on the forces that Benji struggles with as he tries to form his identity. Some of Benji’s anxiety as he observes the world around him comes from the fact that he straddles both white and Black worlds. He attends a predominantly white school during the school year and then spends his whole summer at Azurest, a historically Black beach resort. He and his friends must negotiate the “paradox” of being “black boys with beach houses” (72) as they attempt to imitate the version of Black masculinity they hear about in hip hop music while at the same time wearing the appropriate mask in front of their parents, especially parents like Benji’s father, who forbids his sons from showing any ties to the “street.” Only rarely does Benji feel the freedom that comes from removing the mask, such as when he dances at the Bayside club, for the moment not thinking about how others view him, but instead allowing himself to feel connected to strangers despite their differences in age, race, or any other distancing markers.

Benji’s anxieties of not quite fitting in are also exacerbated by tensions at home. His father’s volatility makes everyone in the family uncomfortable and desire to escape. The lack of a safe haven at home makes Benji often feel adrift, which becomes more painfully acute as he searches for an authentic identity. His lack of a role model as well as a lack of suitable role models in pop culture often make him feel a sense of chaos, which he tries to keep under control by living a very rule-bound life. However, the territory of “teenager” has shifted all the rules, and he struggles to find firm ground he can stand on.

Reggie

Reggie is only 10 months younger than Benji, and they have been treated as a single unit for much of their life. Their mother used to dress them in matching outfits. When people would see one of the brothers, they would automatically ask about the other brother, as if one couldn’t exist without the other.

In the summer of 1985, the unit starts to fracture. Reggie doesn’t seem to be too concerned. He seems absorbed in keeping his Filas white and hanging out with Bobby, whom he works with at Burger King. During the BB gunfight, Reggie wants to be on Bobby’s team, not seeming to realize the impact that this has on Benji, who keenly feels the dissolution of the pair’s connection.

When Benji is injured in the BB gunfight, Reggie shows his deep love for his brother when he demands that they should take Benji to the hospital. While the other friends back away from having to take responsibility for the situation, Reggie fiercely defends his brother and Benji is gratified to see this reminder of their strong bond, despite their growing separation into adulthood.

The Father

Unlike Benji, the father did not grow up with great privilege. While he now works as a successful podiatrist, he grew up in the inner city with great adversity. His parents died young, so he had to work hard to support himself in school. He did not have some of the privileges that Benji’s mother had growing up.

While he now enjoys the privilege and wealth that comes from a successful career, he is still formed by his past. His successes are never enough to allow him to feel as if he fits in. His resentment of the “bourgie bitches” (220) at Sag Harbor comes through when he starts to drink. Growing up in a rough environment has made him feel like an outsider in Sag Harbor, and he lashes out, though it’s also clear he has a strong yearning to be an insider of “bourgeois” Sag Harbor as well.

Benji’s father strains to distance himself and his sons from the past. He doesn’t want his sons to be tainted by any ties to the “street culture” that he grew up with. He also wants to protect his sons from the racism that he experienced by making them realize the dangers that exist in the world and preparing them for that world. His method of delivering his lessons is bruising, especially for the sensitive Benji. He makes them fearful of him rather than fearful of the world.

The Mother

Unlike Benji’s father, who feels cut off from his past, rarely talking about his parents, Benji’s mother is strongly connected to her family’s heritage, as her grandparents were founding members of the Azurest community. Every summer, she meets up with the same friends that she had when she was young. Benji notices the effect that Azurest has on his mother—she looks younger and happier every time she can come back and be surrounded by her friends and family.

However, the effect does not last. Even though she is surrounded by a strong, rich Black community, when she heads inside the home and shuts the door, the community is locked out and she is locked in with the verbally abusive father. Her power and youth dissipate against his barrage of withering words. Although she is a successful and powerful lawyer, none of that matters in the domestic sphere where Benji’s father can bully her and the rest of the family. When Benji and Reggie find the piece of paper detailing their father’s abuses, even that paper disappears, although Benji tries to find it later.

Elena

Benji sees his sister once during the summer. She is college-aged and visiting Sag Harbor for one night that summer of 1985. She tells him not to tell their parents she is visiting. She hates the fighting at home, and she tells Benji that is important for him to leave the house as soon as he can, just like she did. For much of her life, she has been the babysitter, boss, and leader of her two brothers. She cares for them, which is why she urges Benji to leave.

Benji has seen his sister transform into a “hip” young adult, “unveiling a cool downtown persona that made the most blasé private-school deb seem like a Kentucky rube” (282). Benji yearns for a similar transformation. He also points out that she became too “white-acting” for Sag Harbor, and so she searches elsewhere to find her “tribe” (283). Again, the desire to find his tribe is powerful for Benji. Although he has a good group of friends with whom he has grown up summer after summer, like Elena, he will soon be too old for Sag Harbor, and he will have to find a new tribe as well.