The Power of Nostalgia in Sag Harbor
In Sag Harbor, Colson Whitehead creatively uses the depths of nostalgia throughout the novel to explore the bittersweet memories of adolescence and the passage of time. Benji often looks back on his teenage summers in Sag Harbor during the 1980s, creating vivid memories of frozen moments like slurping down icees, biking through town, and hanging out with my friends. Whitehead’s use of detailed, sensory descriptions really brings the readers into memories and feel the emotions that Benji is feeling. “We were all there. It was where we mingled with who we had been and who we would be. Sharing space with our echoes out in the sun. The shy kid we used to be and were growing away from, the confident or hard-luck men we would become in our impending seasons, the elderly survivors we’d grow into if we were lucky, with gray stubble and green sun visors” (Whitehead 305). This is a point where Benji is on the brink of ...