Facade in Sag Harbor
One of the first big examples I will address is Benji's father's relationship to the rest of his family and the neighborhood. I think it was very telling that his father was "known up and down the beach as a master griller, the wind itself in service to his legend, bearing the exquisite smell of caramelizing meat through the developments" (178), but at the end of the chapter Benji describes the meat tasting like sand. Also important is the fact that after tasting the meat, Benji tells his Dad that it tastes great, putting up a facade to please him. It has been obvious that pleasing their father is important to the family, as they have a lot of unpleasant interactions with him when he's not happy. Here the facade with their father works extremely well to show just how unpredictable their relationships are.
I also connected this thread of facade to the culture of fighting in Benji's young neighborhood. When describing his summer fight with Ralph, his final "summer smackdown," he describes how he tosses a small insult towards Ralph while passing on his bike, and when Ralph responds by throwing a pebble towards his spokes, Benji thinks "No biggie but then I saw Marcus coming down the street, slapping a basketball, so there was a witness. I jumped off the bike and—pausing to knock the kickstand down—said, 'What the fuck are you doing?'" (156). The highlight here is that Benji thinks to himself "no biggie," but when someone else comes by he feels the need to fight and pretend he feels something he isn't in order to look tougher. In the first example, he puts up a facade of satisfaction despite being unsatisfied in order to avoid conflict with his Dad and uphold his Dad's pride, but here he feigns dissatisfaction and starts a conflict in order to bolster his own pride and make himself look tougher. This dynamic works throughout the whole neighborhood. Nobody fights unless there is a crowd, and the winner goes away known as tougher than the other. Looking tougher and cool is important to all of these kids, which is shown by the facade people like Benji are willing to put up in fights like his.
"Facade" is kind of a label we created and are categorizing these sentiments with, but I nevertheless think it's interesting to observe how Colson Whitehead uses the difference between what his characters think internally and what they show externally to flesh out their personalities and explain the culture of Sag Harbor.
I appreciate that meme. I agree that façade is prevalent throughout this book so far. Though I think you left out the most important façade in this book he has mentioned: W.E.B. Dubois' essay on double-consciousness and its effects through Benji. Benji acts completely different at school than out at Sag Harbor. I think this is really important to understand that Benji may have a façade in Sag Harbor but despite that he is still at his most comfortable/natural state in Sag Harbor.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up really great points and I totally agree! I think that this common theme of facade can also be related to Benji's coming-of-age process as a whole too. As a teenager, he's all caught up in these fake interactions he performs for other people and in the second-to-last chapter, Melanie remarks on how much Benji has changed from when he was a carefree little kid that was always happy. As the story closes though, we can start to see him kinda revert back to being himself without worrying about putting up a facade for other people.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I agree with what you've said. I actually think that the burden of carrying a facade is actually something developed through growing up, and thus a hallmark of COA. When we were children, we did not have to worry about the consequences of our words and feelings, and said whatever we wanted to. However, now as we grow up, we sometimes have to put on a mask to avoid the consequences of what we might think.
ReplyDeleteI think you make good points. Benji definitely has a facade to please other people or boost his own image, but this is true of most teenagers. It is very natural to do what you know will make you look better or avoid a negative response. Benji still seems comfortable though and I think that can be connected to life where you can still be comfortable without "being yourself" as "being yourself" isn't always that simple of a thing to do.
ReplyDeleteYou make some really thoughtful points. I think we could link this "facade" to a premature coming of age too. Like the only reason why the kids play with the BB guns is because they think it's cool and "older". They feel pressured by each other to engage in these sort of "older and rebellious" games. Also, they all want to go to the club concert because it goes against what they're "supposed" to be doing. This rebel "facade" is just there to make the kids feel older and cooler than they are. Could we call this false/premature coming of age?
ReplyDeleteThese points are really interesting! I think facades are pretty common during the coming-of-age phase as people are trying to fit in and figure out their place in the world and would naturally want to act in a way that makes them seem like they know what they're doing. I also noticed a similar use of facades among the characters in Black Swan Green, which reinforces the idea that facades are commonly used among kids figuring out how to carve their paths.
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