Conflict in Sag Harbor
One aspect of Sag Harbor that I thought was really interesting was the depiction of conflict in boys. We see this mainly it two ways, one is through the constant lighthearted ‘roasting’ that happens between friends, and the other is through the instilling of violence through his father’s teachings.
When we discussed these depictions in class, we talked about how the culture at the time somewhat instilled violene or conflict into kids. Physical fights, parents beating their kids, and general conflict throughout kids’ lives were very common. To a certain degree, Sag Harbor shows how Benji’s parenting tactics (hitting Benji to teach fighting back), instigate a deeper cycle of violence in Benji’s life. This gives Benji the confidence to fight back to his bullies physically, and generally teaches him to be more strong in the face of conflict. Furthermore, the constant conflict between their friend group of roasting each other and trying to come up with harmful insults seems somewhat self-inflicted as well. In some ways, it also seems different from the cultural metas of today.
I felt while reading Sag Harbor that its depictions of these conflicts between friends was very accurate. I think this type of competition or conflict will always be a part of growing up because of how natural it is. I felt that Sag Harbor’s description of this aspect of coming of age was very fitting and relatable. I think although some aspects of the conflicts in Sag Harbor do seem inflicted through societal pressure and parenting, I feel as though some conflict still is natural in the process of growing up. I believe this because of the still very similar experiences between the time period of this novel and now.
I thought it was interesting how you connected the themes of conflicts to the present day. I agree that the presence of conflict is a natural process of growing up. It also is present in other coming of age novels we read about younger teens specifically. In Black Swan Green similar conflicts are described. Often the conflicts are caused by the need to stand up for oneself. Both in Sag Harbor and Black Swan Green characters are told to fight back or cause conflict to gain respect from those around them, and to not allow others to disrespect them.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting how the conflicts you describe almost always escalate out of constant need for friends to "one-up" one another to be seen as the coolest in the group, or at least show that they are not the least cool. This is shown with their competition of "verbal dexterity," where part of the fun is seeing who can come up with the best roast or comeback to a roast. This is also seen in the chapter with escalating violence with the BB guns, where each friend doesn't want to get "left behind" as the group's entertainment progresses to more and more dangerous guns.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I love how you connected the lighthearted roasting between boys in Benji's life to the more recent relationships we see within groups of boys today. No matter the time period, the interactions seem to have an undertone of wanting to always be up to date with the newest roasts and jokes.
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