Closing Thoughts on the Closing Pages
On the second-to-last page of Sag Harbor, Benjy makes a comment about how much more his 15-and-three-quarters-year old self knows than his 15-and-a-half-year old self. He's acknowledging that over the summer, he's experienced tremendous growth. He compares it to how a 15-year-old would see their 8-year old self as just a child, or how the one year gap between 14 and 15 can mean so much.
This part reminded me of the conversations that we had earlier in the year (and have continued to have) about what a "coming of age" experience means to each of us, and what elements of it can be accurately communicated in a novel. One of the main points that I remember is that coming of age is a gradual process, but it is condensed quite a bit when writing a story about it. But I think that summer is different in that way--for most of the year, students are kept in school, where little self-discovery is made. Summers allow us freedom, time to be ourselves, time to engage with friends.
Another thing that I was reminded of when finishing Sag Harbor was how far in the past we can look, and still say that it was ourselves back then. Essentially, how long has an entity somewhat equivalent to the current "you" been around for? For me, I think that every decision I've made since the second quarter of my sophomore year has been an action that "I" took. I've subconciously made that the cutoff because that's when I decided that quiz bowl would be my "thing". I suppose that's a milestone in my own coming of age story.
I've quite enjoyed this class, although I regret not doing all of the readings for Sag Harbor and The Bell Jar (both of which were end-of-quarter books, which is probably why). Nonetheless, I really enjoyed the books that I did end up (mostly) reading. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, while detested by many of my classmates, was probably my favorite book from this semester. There's something about the third-person narration and length of time in which the story takes place that makes me feel as though I watched the full development of Stephen Dedalus, from baby tuckoo to the forger of the undying conscience of his race. But I guess that reading these books has given me perspective on where I am right now, which is pretty neat.
This part reminded me of the conversations that we had earlier in the year (and have continued to have) about what a "coming of age" experience means to each of us, and what elements of it can be accurately communicated in a novel. One of the main points that I remember is that coming of age is a gradual process, but it is condensed quite a bit when writing a story about it. But I think that summer is different in that way--for most of the year, students are kept in school, where little self-discovery is made. Summers allow us freedom, time to be ourselves, time to engage with friends.
Another thing that I was reminded of when finishing Sag Harbor was how far in the past we can look, and still say that it was ourselves back then. Essentially, how long has an entity somewhat equivalent to the current "you" been around for? For me, I think that every decision I've made since the second quarter of my sophomore year has been an action that "I" took. I've subconciously made that the cutoff because that's when I decided that quiz bowl would be my "thing". I suppose that's a milestone in my own coming of age story.
I've quite enjoyed this class, although I regret not doing all of the readings for Sag Harbor and The Bell Jar (both of which were end-of-quarter books, which is probably why). Nonetheless, I really enjoyed the books that I did end up (mostly) reading. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, while detested by many of my classmates, was probably my favorite book from this semester. There's something about the third-person narration and length of time in which the story takes place that makes me feel as though I watched the full development of Stephen Dedalus, from baby tuckoo to the forger of the undying conscience of his race. But I guess that reading these books has given me perspective on where I am right now, which is pretty neat.
Good post. Not super related, but it kind of reminds me of that thought experiment that asks: If you have a ship, and as it ages you start replacing each part until there's no piece of the original left, is it still the same ship? When we think about the people we were even at the beginning of subbie year, obviously we've changed in a physical sense. But we also share very little in common with who we were. Are those people still us?
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned that summer is for self-discovery and freedom, which sort of surprised me. It's something mentioned a lot in Sag Harbour too - the idea of summer as being the ultimate time for coming-of-age. But for me, I've always felt like I learn far more about myself during the school year than during the summer. Summer is often a step back from reality, giving me a chance to have a break, but I learn and grow during the school year when I'm surrounded by friends and discovering what I love in school and facing challenges rather than during the summer. That may be why I found this book harder to relate to some of the other ones - I've never felt like summer is a life-changing time.
ReplyDeleteIt's cool to hear you enjoyed portrait. I found it boring to read at times but fascinating to discuss. I think a lot of literature is about appreciation. I'm not sure i would have picked up portrait and read it on my own but given mitchell's insight i could appreciate some of the chapters as i read them
ReplyDeleteYour observation of summer as a time of self-reflection, self-discovery, and self-growth is very strong. I guess I've known that but I've never really thought about it. The way I see it, summer is a time to work on yourself, to become closer to who you want to be, given your experiences in the past school year.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I feel like I spend more time being introspective during the school year. I feel like because I have to interact with so many people so regularly, I have my views and ideas challenged more often, and so I spend more time assessing their validity. Over the summer I'm mostly just doing nothing in my house all day. I think this might reflect a generational difference between us (or at least me) and people in the 80s. Back then, since kids were out more in the summer, they had more interactions with people, and thus more development.
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