Kids' Playground in Sag Harbor

    When Benji and Reggie are back to Sag Harbor for their summer break, they enter a place where they can both be free but not in the best way. Benji ends up with a BB stuck in his eye, Reggie is working long hours at Burger King, and they are officially “the Kids with the Empty House” (Whitehead 50). An important aspect to note is that their parents left them alone for the entire week, with no food and not enough money to survive on their own. Throughout this summer, with 15 year old Benji and 14 year old Reggie, they went through a series of events that helped them grow within themselves and discover their own identity.

    After hanging out with the group of boys at the sand dunes, Benji has this moment of reflection as he says “keeping my eyes open, gathering data, more and more facts, because if I had enough information I might know how to be” (Whitehead 84). He is referring back to blending in with the other guys to look cool and mature. At this stage in his summer, he’s not himself yet but he clearly acknowledges the fact that he will find courage in the future. I feel like this wouldn’t have happened if his parents were constantly in his ear about all the places that he was going with his friends. Due to the fact that he and Reggie are so free, he is able to experience a lot of the raw parts of the world and figure it out by himself rather than relying on an adult to teach him.

    The BB gun incident also revealed a lot about how his parents’ lack of responsibility unintentionally taught him how to be independent. Both brothers have been told to not play with any sort of guns ever since they were kids and Benji claimed that “[his] parents were going to murder [them]” (Whitehead 188). Instead of coming clean with their secret, they were forced to figure it out on their own. Even till today, Benji still has the BB stuck under his skin and the future Benji from chapter 4 is talking about it in a nostalgic way.

    These two brothers have definitely gone through a lot in the summer of 1985 but at the end, there is clear evidence of how they have grown because of everything that happened. Benji was able to blend in with the older kids and get into the concert by himself, while NP had to resort to someone else. That would have never happened before that summer because Benji was even saying the same slang and lingo as the others because he was scared to stand out. The absence of their parents unintentionally forced them to grow up and take care of themselves. There can be a debate on whether or not this is necessarily the best way to parent, but Benji has definitely shown that he can handle things when they go wrong.

Comments

  1. Robert TuMay 19, 2026 at 7:45 AM

    Hello Helen,
    Nice job noticing how Benji and Reggie have grown because of everything that happened. Their situation kind of reminded me of a time I lived alone although I did not have to get a job for food. I like how you mention how Benji is able to get into the concert by himself unlike NP. I think we also discussed in class how that was like crossing a threshold in his coming-of-age journey.

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  2. PennyMay 19, 2026 at 8:56 PM

    Hey Helen, amazing job! I loved how you developed this idea of them being abandoned and becoming more independent, and growing up a little bit on their own. I do think Benji matured over the summer in at least some ways, becoming more independent out of necessity and at least having the ability to handle things. I guess this might be a big part of Benji's more subtle coming of age journey. Nice job!!

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  3. RuijingMay 20, 2026 at 2:51 PM

    Hi Helen, I agree with you on how the absence of the parents accidentally sparked independence in the brothers. They had to find their own jobs to keep up with the bills, get groceries and cook for themselves, and also learn to compromise to work together (I'm referring to the time they worked together to clean up the pot with maggots). This summer was really a coming-of-age for them. Great blog!

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  4. MitchellMay 21, 2026 at 10:09 AM

    I like the way this novel works hard not to overstate the transformative effects of coming of age. As you note, these brothers have indeed "been through a lot" over the course of the summer, but it remains ambiguous how meaningful those experiences are, and how much they affect the coming-of-age of the characters. As Benji reflects to himself at the end, "some stuff happened." Maybe his skepticism toward a "plan" in that last chapter represents some of the ambiguous growth he has experienced: at the start of this summer, he is intent on a plan coming together wherein he will be called "Ben" by the end of the summer. This doesn't quite pan out, and now we see how he keeps "revising down" his "plan" to kiss a certain number of girls this semester. He's maybe become a little more realistic about the nature of such transformations? Now it all hinges on combat boots--not a bad plan for self-reinvention, as long as that student handbook hasn't been revised over the summer . . .

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