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Family in Sag Harbor: The Complexities of Generational Communities

  Family in Sag Harbor: The Complexities of Generational Communities In Whitehead’s Sag Harbor , family is a touchy subject. In Benji’s own life, his relationship with his father is ambiguous at best and frayed at worst, yet this sentiment isn’t restricted to his family alone. More importantly, family defines Sag Harbor. The community is literally built by the past generations who made the houses and formed bonds with other families. However, it is the very fact that family is the center of the community that makes familial relationships so volatile and consequential. An early instance of this volatility is seen when Benji describes families that don’t “come out” over the summer anymore. He says a common reason is the “Other Family” affliction in which families whose parents’ (but mostly fathers) have other families break apart and no longer make the journey back to Sag Harbor. “And who was to say which was the Real Family and which was the Other Family? Was the Sag Harbor fami...
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Jason’s Reflections in the Hall of Mirrors

  Jason’s Reflections in the Hall of Mirrors From the start of Black Swan Green, we see much of Jason’s mental anguish arises from a singular issue: his inability to express himself fully and truly. In the beginning of the book, he is obsessed with popularity and “fitting in.” He conforms to the social norms of his rough-minded peers: using an intricate naming system based on social hierarchy, saying slang despite not knowing its meaning, and above all else, hiding his stutter. “Maggot” and “Unborn Twin” are his constant companions, who relentlessly mock him and coerce him into maintaining a social mask. It is not until the Goose Fair that Jason mentally (and according to him, physically ) confronts his alternate personas. Before his journey into the Hall of Mirrors, Jason discovers Ross Wilcox’s wallet (Mitchell 242). While he does not yet consider returning it outright, as he wanders into the Hall of Mirrors, the decision looms in his thoughts, presumably causing the followin...
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Unpacking Alison’s Obsession with Bruce’s Death

  Unpacking Alison’s Obsession with Bruce’s Death From the beginning of the novel, Alison makes it clear to the reader that her father’s death was no accident (Bechdel 27). She specifies that he killed himself, citing the various novels he was reading from authors such as Camus or Proust, claiming them as hints of his decision. Most importantly, however, she theorizes on the cause of his “suicide.” At first, she believed she was the cause of his death, through her coming-out to her parents a few weeks prior (Bechdel 87). Next, she attributes it to the divorce that her mother had asked her father for also not long before the accident. It is not the theories themselves that are revealing of the “truth”, but the fact that Alison is theorizing at all. Her mother and brothers believe Bruce’s death was truly an accident, yet after all these years, Alison refuses to agree with them. Perhaps it is a matter of sustained grief: a common way of dealing with unforeseen circumstances is try...
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Unraveling Esther’s Disdain for Physics

  Unraveling Esther's Disdain for Physics     Throughout Esther’s tumultuous journey in The Bell Jar, and through the lens of her worsening mental condition, there are many things she finds unappealing. New York and its “fake, country-wet, freshness”, the gifts she receives from the Ladies’ Day magazine, and Buddy Willard’s unabashed hypocrisy are few of the culprits (Plath, 1). However, nothing seemingly comes close to her brief yet emotionally charged story of her Physics class.     She introduces the story with a remark telling of the rest of her experience: “The day I went into physics class it was death,” (Plath, 34). She then continues, describing by distorting reality into a grotesque version of itself. “I may have made a straight A in physics,” she says, “but I was panic-struck. Physics made me sick the whole time I learned it. What I couldn’t stand was this shrinking everything into letters and numbers. Instead of leaf shapes and enlarged diagrams of th...
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Holden’s Idea of Happiness: Birds, Boats, and Beings Preserved in Glass Boxes

     Holden Caufield in The Catcher in the Rye is unapologetically and undoubtedly disillusioned by the “adult” world around him. The source of his disdain is seemingly people and their persistent phoniness: Ackley’s patheticness, Stradlater’s pretentiousness, or Mr. Spencer’s self-proclaimed wisdom –to name a few. Except for a special minority, Holden ruthlessly lays out the faults of those around him to the reader (who he believes to be of the special sort). While it can be easy to think Holden a cynical, hateful person who only sees the bad in the world after his constant critiques of those around him, one's impression of him must change as they witness his visit to a particular place: the Natural History Museum. As soon as Holden enters, his tone to the reader abruptly shifts. He doesn’t call the museum lousy or phony , or any other descriptors the reader has been accustomed to him using. Instead, he likens being in the museum to a refuge from rain, as if it were “...
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