Sag Harbor and the harsh reality of a summer job
In Sag Harbor, Colson Whitehead does a great job narrating the idea of growing up, and reaching the stage of adolescence where you start to gain more responsibilities, such as being able to pay for your own things. To get this money, one must work, and Whitehead's experiences growing up that are detailed in the novel are quite similar to many teenager's experiences in the workplace. Over this past summer, I got my first summer job, and was eager to work to get my own money, as Benji does the same in the novel.
Now, looking back I don't know what I was expecting. I know I wasn't expecting sunshine and rainbows, but whatever I was expecting, I should have expected both better and worse of some certain aspects. Food service jobs? Good. People who come to buy things from food service jobs? Less good. People are who truly make the work experience bad or good, and I dealt with my fair share of bad over the summer, just as Benji does in the novel. Dirty clothes, coming home sweaty and sticky from being around sugary sweets and ice cream all day is the true reality of a lot of summer jobs, and I think Whitehead does an excellent job of describing it to the reader in case they had never worked one before.
Thank you all for a good semester!
-Knox
Hey Knox, your post did a really good job of highlighting the experiences and expectations of a summer job. I definitely agree that when I got my first job, I mostly just thought about the money aspect and all the new spending power and independence I would have. I agree though, that it's not all sunshine and rainbows and that there's a lot of work that goes into those precious dollars. Nice post :)
ReplyDeleteGood post, Knox! I agree that people are really what make jobs good or bad, and basically everything. I could be doing the worst possible job, but as long as I have people that I like doing it with me. Maybe that's an exaggeration. Either way money makes you put up with a lot!
ReplyDeleteNice post! Applying your commentary to a broader picture of Benji's life, the revelation of the negative experiences of earning his own money could serve as an early indication that becoming the mature, independent person that Benji aspires to be may not always be "sunshine and rainbows" like you mentioned in this quote.
ReplyDeleteThis summer I'm gonna get my first job, looking forward to it. Reading about Benji's job felt like foreshadowing in some ways. Hoping the people involved make it a good experience like you mentioned.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree! Whitehead does a great job of showing the true coming-of-age summer experience. I am curious though, considering Benji's parent's financial situation, if having a summer job would have actually been realistic for kids with wealthier parents. Despite this, I do think the description of summer jobs is really well done.
ReplyDeleteColson is definitely excellent at articulating what it means to work a summer job. But on top of that I think Colson does a great job of depicting what it's like to not have a summer job and what it means to truly just sit around and do nothing all day. We see Benji spend the days sitting in bed till noon and waking up just to go sit around some more, largely because of the fact that his parents are on the wealthier side which removes the need for him to work. Either way, I definitely think that this book is an excelllent example of both possible paths you could take for summer and, overall, the book does a great job at capturing the summer experience.
ReplyDeleteI also had a strong connection to the descriptions of Benji's experience working in the Jonni Waffle. My first job was working at Jarlings and many of the descriptions were scarily similar to my own experience. I thought that his descriptions of working with people who weren't just working for the summer were particularly accurate. I knew from the beginning that I wouldn't be working their for long and therefore had much less value in the job. However, it was bizarre to work with people that had been there for years and weren't planning on just leaving at the end of the summer.
ReplyDeleteGood point about how since you have your own money you also now have responsibilities to buy things for yourself. This really shows how Benji took the job as more of a necessity than something to do for spending money.
ReplyDeleteI think in America, we see a summer job as a rite of passage. It's halfway between the freedom of summers when you're young, and the responsibility of working year-round as an adult. I think Benji also discovers that the people who come to order from you can be not so great. At least you never destroyed a freezer full of ice cream for no discernible reason!
ReplyDeleteWhitehead does a fantastic job of capturing the feeling of the summer job, both within Benji's re-telling of his experience, but also subliminally, as it shows a level of maturity has been reached. Like you said, a job entails responsibility, which comes with growing up.
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