Superficiality in Sag Harbor
Sag Harbor explores superficiality of relationships and the importance of depth. “We were a Cosby family, good on paper,” (Whitehead, 192). This quote opens a horrific chapter about observing and avoiding the abuse that occurs in Benji’s household by his father, onto everyone. This chapter explores that theme of “good on paper” with the haircuts too. Benji’s father always gave them haircuts, and they always looked perfect all padded down (Whitehead, 195). Still, they ended up wild messes, because he insisted on the old fashioned method (scissors), pushed down only for a moment as it’s sculpted for perfection. This in itself is a superficial thing– the haircut– but even more so are the superficial interactions that led to no one pointing out the messy hair until Clive. Overshadowing his father’s supposed love for barbequing (and his performance to the neighbors of a good barbequer) are the plates. Those cheap plates that Benji’s mother was supposed to replace with real plates (Wh...