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Coming of Age Landmarks

As the school year comes to a close, so does Sag Harbor. As one of my favorite books we’ve read this past semester, Sag Harbor I think exhibited some big coming of age landmarks that some other books didn’t.
Starting the book, Benji is excited for the summer and all the things he’s going to do. At the end of the book, Benji takes a few moments to reflect on the past summer. In those moments, I think, really reflect Benji’s age. While he reflects, he talks about getting his braces off, kissing a girl, and getting his first job. Those might be superficial to some people, but I think that around high school age, those moments define your life. Benji now has the status of not being completely innocent which could definitely help him get more girls during high school. I feel like in the long run it won’t matter but for now getting girls can elevate his status a lot.


I think a true coming of age moment is Benji getting his braces off. Since braces are physical and can be seen by anyone, getting one’s braces off has a dramatic effect on not only appearance, but socially too. Unlike all the other books we read in this semester, getting Benji’s braces off was the most coming of age moment we’ve seen. For example in Housekeeping, there wasn’t anything as substantial as getting one’s braces off. The coming of age in Housekeeping was all mental.

Another big coming of age moment was at the end of Sag Harbor when Benji realizes his goals for the upcoming school year. It’s almost like Benji realizes that he can’t come of age at an exact moment, but rather needs to come of age throughout his high school career and in college.

Comments

  1. UnknownMay 15, 2017 at 5:59 PM

    I think you have identified a good physical change in Benji, his braces, but I also think you explain well that there are a lot of other changes in Benji. I think this book asks us to think about these turning points in out lives, and to think about how much we have really changed since the beginning of the year, or since the beginning of summer. I think there is a lot more change going on than we always realize, and I think every one of these moments is a moment of coming of age in Benji's life.

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  2. AnonymousMay 15, 2017 at 10:18 PM

    It's interesting that you brought up the idea of physical vs. mental coming of age "moments." For the majority of the books we've read this semester the narrative spends a ridiculous amount of time inside character's heads so most of the development is focused on that aspect of things, while a small change in someone's physical appearance such as losing their braces can have a huge impact on their overall image.

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    Replies
    1. AlyssaMay 18, 2017 at 9:28 PM

      I agree that our coming of age narratives this semester have mostly been based on internal thoughts (part of what makes Moonlight so interesting as a film portraying inner thoughts). The physical changes with Benji, both his braces, and I think his haircut, show an outward development kind of like how Chiron becomes Black.

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  3. UnknownMay 17, 2017 at 8:11 AM

    I agree that Sag Harbor was the outlier in our coming of age novels this semester. Benji's coming of age was more subtle, and wasn't super obvious or all emotional/mental. He did go through physical changes, and I think the braces is a really good thing to point out.

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  4. HadleyMay 17, 2017 at 4:22 PM

    One thing that I think made Benji's coming of age more subtle was the time frame of the book. Unlike other books we read, this book happened in one summer so there was less time for Benji to make a drastic change or revelation.

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