Gun Violence and Sag Harbor

Gun Violence and Sag Harbor

(Children playing war games in Libya)

By Mateo Hernandez

    Throughout Colson Whitehead’s Sag Harbor, there has been an underlying theme of toxic masculinity. This theme is present throughout the chapter, The Gangsters, where essentially Benji and his friends play with BB guns and end up harming each other. Society promotes the use of toy firearms, and alongside issues rooted deep into our country, this dangerous concoction develops into something much worse, which may be a cause of increasing gun violence across America. 

To begin with, I think that we should look at some ‘Fast Facts’ from the CDC about gun violence. The article's key point is: “Firearm injuries and deaths continue to be a significant public health problem in the United States. While firearm violence and injury affects people in all communities, some groups have higher rates of firearm injury than others.” The article was written on July 5th, 2024, and claims that (based on data from 2022), around 132 people die each day from firearm-related injuries. Around half of these deaths are suicides. Black, Hispanic, and Native American teens and young adults are among the most affected. Obviously, gun violence is one of America's biggest problems, but what does Sag Harbor have to do with this? What deeper meanings and themes can be pulled from the narrative? 

Gun violence doesn’t just happen. It’s not like people get guns and instantly start causing chaos; there’s always more to it. A weapon is simply a tool, and whether people realize it or not, they are being influenced, especially during childhood, when they are still being shaped. One of the hardest sections for me to read was when Benji’s Dad confronted him about the conflict he had at school. Benji sort of panics and knows that his Dad is going to do something abusive towards him. His mother wasn’t able to do anything as she was also verbally abused by Benji’s father. Benji’s father said, “‘Your mother said some boy called you a n****r last week’” (Whitehead 134). Essentially, Benji’s classmate Tony Reece hadn’t explicitly called him a racial slur, but he had done a really gross act. “Tony Reece reached over to my face, dragged a finger down my cheek, and said, ‘Look–it doesn’t come off’” (Whitehead 135). Benji’s father goes on to say that he was basically calling him a n****r and that the ‘right’ response would be ot punch him in the face. So he then strikes him and claims that Tony wouldn’t be able to hit him harder than that. He then goes back to school and punches Tony in the face. This event doesn’t completely change Benji; in fact, there’s evidence suggesting that he’s completely against using BB guns and violence. His biggest concern is actually protecting his brother when his friends are trying to schedule a time for the BB war. He also tries to schedule it when Reggie is working at Burger King, but when that fails, he tries to convince him to wear eye protection, which is quickly dismissed. Ironically, Benji isn’t able to protect himself and ends up with a BB in his eye socket, which is still with him today. While this event isn’t necessarily one that defined Benji, it can give insight into why people might resort to violence. With African American people, there is deep generational hurt from things like slavery, but today the racism that is ingrained into society. It might lead to some people thinking that the best course of action is to retaliate. 

Diving specifically into the war game, Benji has many things to say. After the BB was shot into Benji’s eye socket, Benji says that the BB guns didn’t come out again that summer. He said, “For some of us, those were our first guns, a rehearsal. I’d like to say, all these years later, now that one of us is dead, another paralyzed from the waist down from actual bullets–drug-related, as the papers put it–that game wasn’t so innocent after all. But it’s not true. We always fought for real” (Whitehead 158). This section really speaks for itself, but that line that we always fought for real leaves me with such an eerie feeling. It gives people an opportunity for people to try out new personas that make them tough, and this leads to more violence. 

In the end, there is only so much that we can do about this problem across America. These problems are ingrained in society, and as the statistics show, Americans are dying. Raising awareness is key, but promoting other solutions to continue to combat racism and inequality has to be pursued. 


Works Cited:

CDC, Fast Facts: Firearm Injury and Death, https://www.cdc.gov/firearm-violence/data-research/facts-stats/index.html. 

Whitehead, Colson. Sag Harbor. Vintage Books, 2009. 

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