As a novel, Sag Harboor is for the most part fairly innocent, at least in the grand scheme of all books. Benji lives a life that's fairly sheltered--something that plays a role in his search for character--but as a result the material that it covers doesn't deal with anything particularly dark. Indeed part of the struggle that Benji and his friends face in their process of coming of age is that they don't experience the "street" side of life as African Americans. That being said, there is a section of the novel that takes a surprisingly dark turn towards its end. In the chapter, The Gangsters, we see an example of social commentary by Whitehead on a fairly touchy matter, which is gun violence in black youth. In this novel that specifically deals with Benji being a member of the middle class, I think it's especially important to note a section where he gives very personally relevant thoughts on gun-violence, which is usually associated with lower class families.
To start the chapter off we hear about the introduction of guns into Benji's group of friends, and at first I thought he meant the real deal. It took me a few pages to really figure out what he was talking about, because at first he only says, "The first gun was Randy's" (121). He doesn't make any kind of clarification as to what type of a gun this until a couple pages after he first mentions their appearance. The first point at which we find out that it's actually a BB Rifle is as Benji comes across Randy and NP, who have just shot a robin. As he says, "Randy grinned and held up the BB rifle to show it off. It looked real, but that was the point. If it looked real, you could pretend it was real, and if you had a real fun you could pretend to be someone else" (123). Already we're introduced to the idea of guns with a pretty ominous scene. Still, I think Whitehead's use of BB guns as opposed to real guns has a point, but I think that's also tied to his constant switching between use of the term "gun" and "BB gun".
By introducing BB guns, as opposed to real guns, Whitehead create a certain amount of innocence with respect to their use. Supposedly the whole idea of a BB gun is that it shoots something, and looks like a real gun, but it's not supposed to be able to actually do any real harm. By doing so he's able to introduce the group to the idea of guns and the image that's associated with them, but without actually introducing them to the danger that a real gun brings with it. This even allows the boys to justify shooting at one another at the end of the chapter. They don't feel as though there's any real danger in their actions, and that's the point.
This is where Benji's blend of the two different terms comes in to play. Older Benji--the one is supposedly narrating this story--has already lived through whatever gun violence may have come next, and now looking back on the event sees no distinction between the idea of a real gun and a BB gun. To him their both guns and both dangerous, and what this does is that it sets up a comparison between how seriously the younger boys take the matter of gun violence, and how seriously older Benji takes it. For him the BB guns were just an illusional of safety that allowed the boys to become infatuated with the image of power that the possession of a gun brings with it. For Benji the BB that gets stuck in his head is a reminder of the dangerous illusion of power and safety that guns bring with them, and what that can do to people.
I really like this post. I agree that "The Gangsters" is surprisingly dark compared to the rest of the book. I think this adds to its power. The introduction of BB guns and the gradual arming of the group of boys helps to build up to Benji actually getting hurt, at which point the reader likely realizes that there is a problem. Even this incident, though, is nothing compared to his hint at the violence to come.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't noticed the fact that Whitehead avoids saying "BB gun" at first. I guess I just assumed that they weren't real guns. That's an interesting observation.