The sense of closure is very strong in Sag Harbor, especially compared to the other novels we've read this semester. In Catcher in the Rye, it was tough to tell if Holden had actually grown as a person by the time the novel ends. For both Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and The Bell Jar, it was understood that both Stephen and Esther were about to open a new chapter in their lives. However, we are left in vague about how the future will fare for each of them.
In Sag Harbor, Ben very lays out a detailed plan for his new school year. He's going to reform his wardrobe, and "make out with three girls a semester". He's also going to be turning sixteen, which will allow him to attend more concerts and parties. As Ben puts it, "It was going to be a great year".
I find it interesting (and kind of cute) that Ben "[is] sure of it". I got the image of a boy standing up straight and taking a deep breath, ready to conquer whatever was thrown his way. A pretty firm image to end upon. No loose strings are left untied in this ending. Ben has gotten a job, kissed a girl, picked out a "little Benji" and it is understood that this chapter of his life, coming out to Sag Harbor, is coming to a close.
But the thing is, the novel doesn't end exactly there. Instead, Whitehead, shifting to present tense, makes the last sentence, "Isn't it funny? The way the mind works?"
It's a very interesting phrase to end on. For me, the fact that it's in present tense makes me think that future Benji is sort of chuckling at old Ben for being so idealistic. I don't really know what this implies. Maybe his school year turned out a lot differently than he initially thought? Or maybe he's commenting on how expectations in general are overrated? Or maybe that's not his intention at all.
Either way, the strong sense of closure I felt during this chapter felt sort of undermined by this last sentence. If I'm following my interpretation, it makes for an uneasy ending. The plan Ben described sounds like it would make for a pretty good year. But maybe the last sentence is indication he had a much crappier year than expected.
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I thought that the last part of this book was really interesting. The way that Benji describes the coming year and his aspirations for it helps me see how much he has grown and is where I can most clearly see his coming of age, but it also shows that he is the same person who started the book, just with some new insights. I think that the last sentence helps give some perspective to the events in the novel; we can see how much Benji has grown, but we can also see that he will continue to grow. It helps show that he is not now perfect and will not have a perfect year, but will do better and continue to learn to be able to reflect in the future.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad someone wrote a blog post on the last sentence. I missed the class discussion for the end of the book and was hoping to be able to see what people were thinking. I loved it also. Whether or not the reader is a rich, black, emo, twin boy with a beach house living in the 80's, everyone can relate to that feeling. It gives me butterflies in my stomach and goosebumps but also makes me want to throw up or cry. Wow. Such a good ending. I love how you articulate it. "the closure is undermined" is a perfect description of the unease it gives.
ReplyDeleteLindsay, I'm glad you brought attention to the last line. Again! Whitehead executes the present-tense interjection with so much intrigue. I think that _Sag Harbor_ is a great example of the kind of distance that the author needs to have with their adolescent self in order to properly write a COA story. And all the more interesting that makes, as we are adolescents on our own COA journeys reading these books. I wonder what we will all think about the kind of reflection we've done in this class, 20 years down the road.
ReplyDeleteI saw it as Ben making fun of the plans Benji was making, not because they wouldn't come to fruition, but because they sound silly. Having a strict quota of girls to make out with per semester and calculating how many weeks that would give him for each girl doesn't make him cool, it actually sounds pretty dorky. Maybe combat boots will, but I'm skeptical. I think its Ben laughing at how much of a dork he was, even at the summer's end.
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