Sag Harbor as Breakfast Club Characters

I believe the song “Don’t You Forget About Me,” from Simple Minds playing in the iconic final scene of The Breakfast Club was also playing in the back of Colson Whitehead’s mind as he wrote Sag Harbor. The novel was a compilation of old memories and nostalgia that Benji retold in efforts to remember himself and his childhood. Not only do Sag Harbor and The Breakfast Club share this remembrance sentiment, but also the breakdown of characters and the roles society assigned them. For those who have never seen the 1985 film, the plot surrounds five high-schoolers who spend their Saturday in detention with the assignment to write an essay about who they think they are. The five each have their own “label” that defines them until they bond over vulnerabilities and discover themselves; these labels are: a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal.

These labels immediately entered my mind as Benji introduces his friends early in the novel; Bobby as the nerd (from prep school), Clive as the athlete (being athletic + cool), Marcus as the basket case (just because), Randy the princess (due to the car), and Benji and Reggie sharing the “criminal” role with their empty house that summer. While these roles of course aren’t perfect fits for these Sag Harbor characters, that’s kind of the point: that these superficial characteristics which define them may not actually be representative of their full self. Starting with Clive, Benji admiringly describes both Clive’s athletic ability and inherent coolness which exceeds the rest of the group so much that he “pitied Clive because he had to hang out with [them]” (Whitehead 66). Bobby gets similar defining treatment being described right off the bat as a prep school military kid, already setting tone for who he is presented as. Marcus finds his definition early on as Benji describes how he “was a key player in that he reassured us that there was someone more unfortunate than ourselves” (Whitehead 53). From simply mocking him to forcing him to bike when all the car seats were full, Marcus was essentially the social fall guy of the group, defined not by what he likely wants to be known for, but rather what everyone else longs to not be known for. Finally, Randy is another prime example of being defined by a given label as his entire existence in his friend group shifts after he gains possession of a car. Benji blatantly says “he had a car, he was old enough to buy us beer, and for this we accepted him into our tribe” (Whitehead 62). 

So, of course, these characters don’t perfectly conform to the roles from The Breakfast Club, but the idea of societal stipulative limitations rings true in both. Benji himself wants to go by Ben, but the idea simply doesn’t work out because the others refuse to stray away from the name he’d been assigned. In a way, since Benji is narrating this novel from a distance I wonder if he is analyzing his past self understandably or regrettably? Does he wish he could’ve broken free from these restrictive norms of what each of them was allowed to be, or does he understand the limitations to his freedom? It’s frankly hard to know, so I’ll leave you with a question: what would they need to break free? Perhaps a Saturday detention?