My Sag Harbor Story
To end the year, I wanted to approach this novel a little differently. Because Sag Harbor is so rooted in mundane details and ordinary moments, parts of it kept reminding me of experiences from my own life. I wanted to talk about some parallels I've found in this book. Quick recap: a French kid says something about Benji, and Benji tells his mom about it. About a week later his dad confronts him and says the kid basically called him a slur, then asks why he didn't hit him. Benji's dad (James) proceeds to hit Benji 3 times while asking him if the French kid can hit him harder. My brother is French, just like the boy who may or may not have been calling Benji a racial slur. And my father is a hegemonic Black man whose mindset consists of the following: "If I can't make you smarter, I'll make you stronger" "I'll give you a reason to cry" "It hurts me more than it hurts you." Some insight on my brother: - 2 years older than me - Arab/...
