The Caper that Didn't Go Wrong

     The summer of 1985 is full of significant milestones in Benji’s coming of age arc, including having an unusual amount of freedom around the house without parental oversight, getting his first paying job, increasing disillusionment with his father, and his first kiss. The milestone I found particularly interesting was the “caper that didn’t go wrong for once” in the chapter “Breathing Tips of Great American Beatboxers” when Benji and NP are the only ones in their friend group who successful sneak into the 18+ nightclub for the U.T.F.O. concert. 

Up to this point in the novel, most of Benji’s attempts to act older, cooler, more manly, and already “come of age” don’t go the way he hopes. In one of the first scenes in the novel, he tries to get everyone to call him Ben instead of Benji, because Benji is too kiddish and part of the “Benji ‘n’ Reggie” construction. His attempt is immediately brushed off by the group and NP, who says “Okay Benji, whatever, homie” (41). Benji also generally fails to impress the friend group by being behind on the latest handshakes, music, sneakerhead culture, and insults. The turning point for Benji is when NP’s inside man doesn’t show and Bobby ends up driving the two girls home, yet he is able to make it into the concert. This is his first major “win,” in his battle to appear more come of age, and a turning point considering that in the next chapter he continues the streak and is able to get Melanie to call him Ben and have his first kiss. 

One detail I liked was Benji’s adult disguise. It is ironic that trying really hard to look older, taller, more professional, more formal, etc., often is the thing that ends up making it obvious that the teenagers are trying to fake their age. The entire dynamic within his friend group is that they are always trying to outperform each other on coolness; they idolize the one with the car, and they all try to pretend they have their “coolness” figured out by pointing out other people (often Marcus) who don’t. But, what succeeds for Benji is his disguise where he tries to look like he DIDN’T try. He grabs his father’s Ralph Lauren polo and khaki shorts his mom got for him, and generally abandons the usual fashion norms that make him cool and he tries to look like a misfit. “I felt like a giraffe, with my three extra inches of height, but I fit right in with the freakish menagerie around me” (257). He conveniently gets in without question. 

In the nightclub itself, Benji experiences a profound lack of self-consciousness and weirdly feels like he fits in, or at least no one cares if he does or not. The group around him is equally weird and non-conforming, but the crucial part is that they don’t care about it. Nobody is wearing high-end high fashion and no one is looking around judging other people, and this scene allows Benji to finally just relax and dance. I really like how this chapter suggests that the adults who have already come of age are actually less eager to constantly prove themselves, and are secure enough about their identity that they don’t have to care. The kids that are Benji’s age are in a constant battle to mold their identity from other sources of inspiration, and have to prove maturity to everyone around them.