In the last chapter of Sag Harbor we see Benji start a new plan of self reinvention that echoes his at the beginning of the book. Once again it involves shoes---this time the combat boots. Seeing Benji restart the cycle rather than reach a conclusion to the original plan underscores the transient attitude taken towards identity and "self" from the previous chapter.
When Benji says "people called me Benji but that didn't mean I wasn't Ben" it's obvious that once again the new "Ben" he's describing, the one with a quota of girls to make out with per semester, is not the Ben narrating the book. He's just another temporary self.
But this attitude toward self has weird implications on the book's place in the coming-of-age genre. I was expecting the story of Benji becoming (or starting on the path to becoming) Ben, the mature narrator. Yet even by the story's end Ben seems very far removed from his 15-year-old self. So Ben's not the "destination" in this coming-of-age. What is? Can there even be one? Isn't the very idea of a character reaching maturity, coming into completeness as an adult sort of in complete opposition to the view of each self as separate from the previous self and, furthermore, a mere outward projection not necessarily any closer to a true internal nature?
Now, we do see Benji change in some ways, but they largely seem to be the result of him entering new stage of his life wherein he'll be too old to come out to Sag anymore, and not necessarily even in the direction of narrator Ben. And in the last chapter, the references to the cyclical nature of the people of Sag come at us in full force (he keeps talking about this kid he sees as the new Benji and wondering about his predecessor) so it seems like these changes are inevitable and not lasting. They're just who he'll be as someone too old to come out, before he's someone who comes out again with kids, before he's the old guy who only comes out of the bedroom once a day. Again, the transient self. Does the idea that Benji is just following this predictable track cheapen the coming-of-age we've just seen? Does it make it insignificant?
And yet, Ben as removed as Ben implies he is from Benji, he gives us the physical proof that they are one in the same. The BB in his eye says "no, Benji is progressing toward being Ben". It's proof that our selves do not each live entirely each in their own vacuum.
I liked your post. I think part of the complications with the many selves is that it is such a different point of view about development than most of the other books we have read this semester.
ReplyDeleteI like your comment about how Benji can be a new person (Ben) without everyone calling him that. I think this is really relatable for a lot of teens who are still trying to find out who they want to be.
ReplyDeleteI also going it interesting how we never see Benji become Ben, the writer. Instead, we see him turn into another version of himself, which is just another stage he goes through before figuring out who he really is. This fits in with the idea that we never really stop growing and changing- it's an ongoing process.
ReplyDeleteIt's notable how little we actually know about "Ben" the narrator, apart from his general attitude and sensibility as reflected in the ways he writes about Benji and his scene. We can presume he's a writer (in so far as he's narrating a novel, and he's good with words, although he never specifically refers to writing professionally), and we know he's been to college (where he read DuBois), and that he still has a BB in his eye. The references to Elena and the idea of "finding your tribe" in college and beyond might be significant here--Benji is far from fully formed as a 15-year-old, and this is no Portrait of the Artist. There's no indication at all that Benji is inclined to write, or to do anything creative. Whenever this life-defining change took place, it didn't happen at Sag Harbor in the summer of 1985.
ReplyDeleteIn some ways I thought that might see Benji make a more clear progression towards the narrator we know as Ben. However I think it's in some ways important to the novel that we don't. All we know are these three short months which occurred one year in his "coming-of-age". The concept of not knowing who we are going to turn out to be is perhaps central to the opposition of the narrator Ben vs. the character Benji. But even though we don't not see clear progression does not mean it's not there; as you mentioned, Ben can still feel the BB in his eye.
ReplyDelete