The BB in Ben's eye

     In Sag Harbor, the narrator Ben spends a lot of time reflecting on how childhood experiences and memories leave permanent scars on his body and mind. No example is more clear than this than the BB lodged in his eye. Guns are another important theme in Sag Harbor, symbolizing Benji and friend's development of identity and masculinity. They have grown up from roughhousing and wrestling to amateur shooting competitions, both at targets and each other. On one fateful day. Benji and his friends decide to break up into teams and play war. Earlier, Benji had suggested they wear protective goggles, to which they all agreed to. But when the time finally comes, the other guys change their mind and Benji, not trying to look weak, also forgoes wearing his goggles. This unfortunately comes to haunt Benji as he is shot in the eye by his friend Randy. The BB gets lodged above his socket permanently, and his attempts to cut it out are unsuccessful. Benji and Reggie go home and Benji is forced to live with the consequences of a BB permanently lodged in his eye.

    On first read, I and many other members of my classmates felt very squeamish, especially at the part where he tries to dig it out. This got to the point where I had to skim over the details regarding these events as to not feel nauseous.  So why did Whitehead include such a graphic event? First, on a character level, Benji's priorities and personality is highlighted in his actions during these events. Specifically, his desires to look cool. This is first shown in his desire to wear goggles to protect his eyes. Benji takes a risk by proposing an idea of safety to their very-macho game. He is rewarded and they all agree but when the time comes for them to actually wear them and the others refuse, Benji is unwilling to be the only one concerned about safety. This also relates to their culture of insulting and "roasting" each other. Benji would make himself a target of the others' mockery if he was the only one afraid of being shot in the eye. Benji's values are also shown in the moment, specifically when the game is called off and everyone checks on Benji. Rather than showing worry for his safety, Benji is more concerned that Randy has pumped his BB gun more than two times. This is important because of a rule to level the playing field where Randy couldn't pump his BB gun more than two times to limit the strength of it. Rather than potentially appearing as seriously injured, Benji chooses instead to appear as a victim of Randy's cheating. This way he doesn't appear weak in front of his friends. Social status is an important theme throughout Sag Harbor, and this scene shows Benji's priorities and thought process in maintaining his social status in a serious situation.

    Another reason for the significance of this scene is on a thematic level. Future Ben, acting as the narrator, comments that some members of Benji's group would go on to use real guns, and even end up dead or in jail. Despite growing up in relative levels of middle class suburban life, Benji's group is unable to avoid the dangers of guns, and are even exposed to them at a young age. That influence of guns literally becomes a physical scar of Benji. Ben even comments that people are shocked to hear about this scar, both because its a shocking story but also on a sub textual level someone growing up in a safe, generally peaceful environment can still be a victim of gun violence. Even his parents don't ever learn about what happened to Benji. However, Whitehead does show some positive things coming out of this event. Because of this incident, Benji is able to share a nice moment with his brother Reggie, who had been slowly drifting away from him towards his friend Bobby due to several reasons. Bobby and Reggie even team up for this war game breaking the long tradition of Benji and Reggie teaming. Reggie is the first one to come to Benji's aid and help him get back to their house, and Benji comments on how it was nice when they walked home together. This connects to a general theme of how family members support each other during traumatic events, and is a nice contrast from their more individual-focused behaviors when dealing with their abusive father.

    Despite being a very queasy scene to read, Whitehead makes the most of this moment to explore Benji's beliefs and character as well as themes of gun violence and masculinity. The BB is Benji's eye serves as an important moment to show Benji how serious guns can be, as well as show the audience how a group of guys deal with harming a friend of theirs.