Diction plays just as important a role as description when looking at the themes presented in Sag Harbor. Throughout this book, Benji describes the geographic details of Sag Harbor and how that pertains to the cultural perspectives that form the unique people who vacation in Sag Harbor. One such person that Benji describes is NP. NP’s name stands for “Nigger, please”. Although it may seem that this is a common term thrown out among Benji’s friends who live in that area, Benji states what makes NP’s name controversial when he states,
“... the adults gave us trouble when they heard us using the word nigger. For understandable reasons. Like most authority figures, they had a hypocritical streak, as they used the word all the time, in its familiar comrade sense, but also to distinguish themselves from those of our race who possessed a certain temperament and circumstance.” (page 39) …show more content…
Although the adults did not like others using the word “nigger”, they used the word. However, they used it among themselves in a “comrade sense” to separate themselves from the “others”, in this case, those who fit the characteristics of a “street nigger”. Benji defines this as “The kind of person that made the announcer on the evening news say, ‘We have an artist’s rendering of the suspect.’...” (page 39) This particular example of diction in the book displays the theme of those who live in Sag Harbor as different and separated from “other” groups of