Benji and Reggie, just like Ruth
and Lucille, give us examples of two siblings who, once joined at the hip,
eventually fork off and follow their own paths. Benji marches more to the beat
of his own drum while Reggie finds his place in society and likes to fit in.
Personally I feel that this trope is own that many siblings can identify with, especially
when they’re close in age. I have found myself in a similar situation with my
own sister, where she has begun to religiously follow trends and mainstream
culture in a pursuit of popularity, while I’ve taken a more soul-searching
route and I strive to shamelessly be myself.
Even more so than my sister and I, my
best friend and I embody the Benji and Reggie split. My best friend is also the
only other Danville kid at Uni (until this year at least), so over the years we
have shared many deeply personal, sleep-deprived conversations on the bus at
6am, and it’s hard not to grow extremely close when you spend 2-3 hours with
someone every day. We’re more than best friends but not quite sibling-level,
and we’ve been thick as thieves for 3 years. When we first started Uni we both
fit into the typical Uni mindset of academia-focused lives built around
homework and college. The two of us were practically one and the same. But over
the past year I have begun to embrace the culture that comes with being a
lower-class kid from Danville (which is very
different from the experiences of the people I know here at Uni, no matter how
odd that may sound), and she’s remained relatively the same.
I can liken this dynamic to Benji
and Reggie, where Reggie begins to embrace his black culture, similar to how I’m
embracing the culture I grew up in. Just like how Reggie’s cultural black side
especially blossoms in Sag Harbor among kids in the same situation, I’m far more
a product of my Danville upbringing when I’m around my Danville friends. In
addition, Reggie’s involvement in black culture can be seen as a fraud because
so much of black culture revolves around being on the street and as an
upper-class kid with a summer beach house, Reggie isn’t exactly the definition of
“street”. Similarly, in attending Uni and as a result of my mother pushing me
to dream big, I have had many opportunities opened to me that are closed to my
Danville friends. In this sense, I am also somewhat of a fraud since I have the
upper hand over many of my friends. Although I can understand Reggie and Benji
through my Danville analogy—I just don’t feel like I belong completely in
either Uni or Danville, just like Reggie and Benji don’t entirely belong with
street black people or white upper-class people. It’s a really tough and lonely
position to be in, so you’re forced to either stay stuck in limbo like Benji or
fully become the identity that is closest to you, like I’ve embraced Danville
and Reggie has embraced his black culture.
Like Benji has become more involved
in black culture as a result of Reggie, my friend has become less “Uni” as a
result of me. She and I have taken my change as an opportunity for her to help
guide me through the change while I teach her about what it means to be a
lower-income Danville citizen. It’s fascinating to think that a book that at
first glance is the complete opposite of my experience actually validates and
embodies the struggles I have been facing over the last year. To bring this
post to a close, I’ll just say that I’ve really enjoyed Sag Harbor and I’ve loved uncovering the relation I have to Benji
and Reggie as the book progresses.
