Benji the Outsider
From the very beginning of the novel, we’re forced to recognize Benji’s identity as a driving force in his story. If I had four adjectives to describe Benji, I would say ex-twin, black, wealthy, and nerdy. All of these qualities make him an outsider to one group or another.
For
all his life, Benji has had someone on his team. He can’t completely be an outcast
with Reggie by his side. They were, as he puts it, “a matching set” (6). By the
time the events of the novel start, however, they “ceased to be twins”. Benji
no longer has an ally or companion. He has to work to form new relationships.
Navigate the waters of coolness and popularity without his brother to fall back
on if he needs support. We expect to see Benji not fitting in at school, but
Sag Harbor was made for him. Surely he fits in there… right?
“We fit in there” (7). This quote is coming at a time
where Benji’s identity is still strongly intertwined with Reggie’s. A
question I’m constantly thinking about while reading is ‘does Benji actually
fit in?’. The thing that draws the Sag Harbor group together is their
blackness. Benji describes them as “the definition of paradox: black boys with
beach houses”. Despite this inherent connection with the other members of his
group, Benji still struggles to fit in as easily as the others. The very first
day they’re out, he brings his bike as he had in summers past, failing to
recognize some new unspoken rule of the summer that bikes are no longer cool.
Reggie on the other hand makes this connection fairly easily. Because of the
bike, Benji is forced to abandon his friends when they take a shortcut. Shortly
after his friends push him aside he tries to look “to Reggie for backup”. I
think back to the original quote “we fit in there”. Without Reggie to help him,
that doesn’t quite ring true the way it used to. His first day out and his
first day without a twin in Sag Harbor very quickly become the first of many
times we see him as an outsider in this group.
Without Reggie by his side, the social expectations of Sag Harbor have become much harder to navigate. He's forged himself a new identity without Reggie, but in the process lost the one person who made fitting in a little easier.
I agree with your comments about his identity and how not fitting in is a driving force. I think that the core of coming of age is represented by his struggle to find himself behind the circumstances he is born to and how those labels guide his life. I enjoyed reading your blog post!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with what you've said, and you really have to empathize with him because he's kind of all alone in the world. While he has a family and a caring brother, there's a distance between him and everyone in his life. He can't talk to his parents or brother about his feelings and so he really does have to navigate all the social situations by himself.
ReplyDeleteYeah I guess when he was a "twin", he didn't really need to have his own identity even though he confessed he sort of hated it. It's like walking into a party with a ton of people you don't really know and finding comfort in a friend group you recognize, only you don't really want to be in that friend group, but you find solace in "blending in with them" so you don't have to face the crowd alone. When Benji is stripped of Reggie and his identity as a "twin", he's forced to tackle the world as his own person, which is daunting but allows him to grow.
ReplyDeleteYeah it seems like Ben is never really at ease in any space and constantly feels like he is struggling to keep up with everyone else despite the way he feels like their shared identities and history should make them all fit together. I also really like what you say about Reggie acting almost as a buffer for Ben when they were "twins" and then stopping as they get older, exposing Ben to this outsider-ness.
ReplyDeleteI think you're spot on. No matter what setting he's in, there always seems to be one or more things that make him stand out, that make him different than everyone else. I liked what you said about him being an ex-twin. I think their separate identities and the way they grew apart was a valuable learning experience, especially for Benji.
ReplyDeleteI think you said it perfectly. To be honest, I hadn't thought about if Benji truly fits in without Reggie. I discussed this in my blogpost as well, but I didn't really look at it from your angle. I think Benji and Reggie became so dependent on each other for company that they both have a hard time separating themselves from each other. The only time in the book where I can point to Benji really feeling like he fits in without Reggie by his side is at the U.T.F.O concert. Here, he definitely feels like he belongs so I think there is at least some merit to the statement that even without Reggie, Benji can feel like he fits in.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a compelling analysis! I totally agree and found it interesting how you explore Benji “fitting in” in terms of Reggie. While at the start of the novel, Benji almost seem that he wants to shed the identity of himself in terms of his “ex-twin,” the “Benji 'n' Reggie” identity, he at the same time doesn’t exactly feel complete or like he fits in without Reggie, and he seems jealous when Reggie starts to hang out with Bobby. Because of this, I found the scenes where Reggie and Benji are together, such as in “The Gangsters,” especially sweet and nice, as well as at the very end of the novel when it’s just the two of them together (before Benji lays in bed). It shows how at the beginning, they were “brothers going off in different directions” (6), but are able to come together at the end, each fitting into their place and feeling comfortable together. This was really interesting to read. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI find it true that Benji really does kind of stand out aside from being with Reggie, as both of them have a close friendship but Benji on his own seems like he is still finding himself which does explain the fact of not fitting in with typical cliches or labels.
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