Character Descriptions and Analysis

Sasha Grady
One of the main characters of the book and first appearing as Bennie’s assistant. Sasha Grady experiences her non-ideal childhood, teenage years involving extreme points of view and her adulthood, where she tries to create the most normal environment in response to the previous years, in the novel A Visit From the Goon Squad. Throughout the book, Sasha experiences some issues especially with addiction. She sees a therapist regularly to try to attend to her frequent stealing and drug problems. After running away from her original home setting, with her Uncle, she flees to Naples where she continues life as a hooker for the Pimp Lars. Once she is finished with Naples, she moves back to Manhattan, attends college and meets Drew, whom she marries and has two children with. Sasha is considered one of the main characters because of her ties to certain other significant characters such as Alex, Rob, and Bennie. They all were drawn to her at certain times and are extremely affected by her presence. The Sasha Grady character, as a whole, helps expand on the character spider web of connections that Egan has created.

The General
One of the most random characters, the General is a genocidal dictator that is attempting to avoid being murdered and targeted for his crimes. The CIA is constantly trying to assassinate him so he goes to Dolly to try and improve his media image, in an attempt to prevent further attacks. It is clear he is only concerned with himself by displaying very little emotion and desires to only protect himself and his position. As he desperately tries to have Dolly believe, to make the American people believe, that the genocidal acts are rumors, he serves as a role for Egan to display the importance of social media and how influential it is on the American public. Not only that, but this also help reflects the time because even a genocidal dictator knows the extent of social media coverage he needs to gain American sympathy. Kitty speaks her mind and confronts him about lying and this also helps Egan show more examples of rebellion amongst younger people. Ultimately, the General displays his power to be dangerous by capturing Kitty after she publicly humiliated him.

Jules Jones
After graduating from University of Michigan, he goes and stays with his sister, Stephanie, at NYU to pursue writing, which leads to partying. As he progresses into the seen, he gets a Job at Harper’s and from there shares an apartment with three roommates. Each is significant because they all go off to become grand things such as magazine editors and Pulitzer Prize winners. Jules doesn’t to the same success as them because he becomes involved in a hairy situation. He is charged and found guilty for the attempted rape of Kitty during an interview, and in result, is forced to attend a correctional facility for approximately five years. After serving his time and attempting to treat his issues, such as being bipolar, Jules moves into Bennie and Stephanie’s house. This is where he tries to jump back into journalism by doing pieces on Bosco, an old dying musician. Through Egan’s narrative choice, and unlocking of Jules's brain, we learn how he has hasn’t completely escaped the dark thoughts that caused him to act out in his past.

Jocelyn
Rhea’s best friend since fourth grade, and Scotty’s major crush, Jocelyn is one of the members of the original friend group in San Francisco, California. She is midway through her teenage years, sixteen, and has a beautiful half Chinese face, lots of ear piercings, and black hair that is not uniformly cut. As she finds herself crazed by Lou, an older man, she willingly is drawn into a lifestyle involving mistreatment, sex, and heavy drug use. She progresses into the punk scene with her other friends Rhea and Alice, but is drawn away by Lou and she runs away with him to Los Angeles. Lou brings out a side of Jocelyn that isn’t familiar to her friends, and this way Egan helps display elder’s influence on the easily swooned youth. The book continues and since Lou is near death, Rhea and Jocelyn come together again for his passing. By doing this, Jocelyn reflects how her decisions have caused her to end up living with her mom and pursuing a degree at UCLA. This isn’t necessarily bad, but it reflects how her past decisions caused her to push off important details and now she is completing more uniform activities to attempt at a normal lifestyle. Rhea contrasts this because she is married and lives in Seattle, and this helps serve as an example of where Jocelyn wants to end up. Jocelyn represents many stereo-typical point of views about teens becoming runaways once exposed to punk music and the faster lifestyle.

Charlie

Lou’s 14-year-old daughter, who is somewhat defiant of her father. She is resentful of Mindy and tries everything in her power to distract her father from Mindy. When she grows up, she becomes more coarse and daring, acquiring a cocaine addiction and joining a Mexican cult. She eventually detaches from this version of herself and reverts back to her birth name, Charlene.

Bennie Salazar
Bennie is a music producer, record label executive, and former seventies punk rocker in San Francisco. He lives in New York City, is Latino, has a son named Chris, was once married to a woman named Stephanie, and is Sasha’s employer. Bennie suffers from frequently remembering embarrassing memories and a decreased sex drive. He fears becoming irrelevant as he ages. These fears and ailments are representative of the theme “time is a goon.” Bennie desires to return to his youth (which time has taken from him), regrets how he has lived his life, and fears what time might take from him in the future.

Kitty Jackson
Kitty Jackson is a formerly famous starlet who, after ten years, has become irrelevant and looks a little worse for wear. Her biggest claim to fame is being sexually assaulted by reporter Jules Jones. She also has self-inflicted burns to make it appear that she was at Dolly's infamous party. Dolly enlists her to pretend to be in a relationship with The General in order to make him more appealing to the public. However, during their meeting, Kitty insults The General and is captured by his goons. She is not heard from after that but we are told that she is safe. Kitty’s life experience reflects the theme “time is a goon.” As time passes, Kitty is robbed of her fame and her looks.

Lincoln Blake
Lincoln, or “Linc,” is the son of Sasha and Drew and the older brother of Alison. He is 13 at the time when chapter 12 takes place and is somewhat autistic, being obsessed with rock songs with pauses in them. Lincoln cannot explain why he likes those songs so much, which frustrates his father and causes some tension between them. The pauses are an important symbol in the novel because they represent time passing.

Alex
Alex first appears in the first chapter of the book, going on a date with Sasha. He later appears in the last chapter of the book married, with a baby daughter, and working as a promoter for one of Bennie’s upcoming artists, Scotty Hausmann. Alex is meant to represent transformation, appearing in the first chapter a seemingly irrelevant minor character and later re-emerging with new meaning and relevance because of the relationships he has established with some of the other characters. He also shows the reader the interconnectedness of everyone in the novel.

Rolph

Lou’s 11-year-old son, who seems to be the only person capable of soothing his father. He accepts Mindy because he has not yet learned how to distinguish his father’s desires from his own. During his teenage years, he has a romantic relationship with Jocelyn (they are the exact same age). As he grows older he becomes estranged from his father and kills himself at 28.

Bosco
Bosco is the lead guitarist of Bennie’s most successful band The Conduits, and also becomes a close family friend. At his peak of life he is described as, “scrawny… a hive of redheaded mania who made Iggy Pop look indolent onstage” (pg. 125). Although he was an energetic performer in his youth, the reader only sees Bosco years later as a washed-out and morbidly obese man with a plethora of health issues. Bosco is central to the theme of point A to B, because he constantly yearns to regain his youth to the point that he would rather die trying to obtain that illusion than just fade away. To achieve this goal he decides to embark on a suicide tour where he will perform with just as much energy as in his prime even if it will most likely kill him. Bosco also coins the phrase “time is a goon” (pg…) which relates to the book’s title, saying that time is the ultimate force of destruction that brings an end to youth and good moments in life.

Lou Kline
Seen primarily when he is in his forties and at the top of his career as a music producer, Lou is described as wealthy, handsome and charismatic man. He is introduced as Jocelyn’s sexual partner while she is still in highschool and he is an adult with six children. Throughout his storyline the reader sees that he consistently goes for younger women because he refuses to let go of his youth and as long as he is still appealing to a young girl, he himself will feel young. The reader never discovers Lou’s point A, but the story does show Lou on his deathbed as he slowly fades away from old age. The house that jocelyn once described as having endless parties is now quiet and forgotten, proving that time takes away everything in the end.

Scotty Hausman
Scotty is Bennie’s best friend when they are teenagers and a member of their band The Flaming Dildos. In his youth Scotty is attractive to all the girls even getting with (and eventually marrying) Alice who Bennie really liked, but as an adult he becomes a janitor with an unkempt and startling appearance to those who knew him. Scotty tries to convince himself through his adult life that he can experience things vicariously through other people and receive just as much pleasure as they did in an attempt to justify his lack of success in both personal and business life. It becomes clear that this is untrue when Scotty compares his life to Bennie’s and starts to contemplate how they both started with the same point A but wound up in such different circumstances.Scotty does eventually find musical success, even if he didn’t seek it, many years in the future with the help of Bennie who feels guilty for having been so much more successful and is trying to give Scotty a taste of what he had when he was at his peak.

Ted Hollander
Appears in chapter 11 which is from his perspectiveTed is Sasha's uncle who goes to search for her in Naples during her destructive late-teen years. He is an art history teacher and spends most of his time in italy avoiding searching for Sasha by touring art museums. He doesn’t avoid her out of lack of love but the quite the opposite, because ted does not want to see what has possibly become of the fragile little girl he adored as a child.His chapter is important because it sheds light on Sasha’s point A that she personally avoided discussing in other chapters. From an outside perspective, the reader gets to see how broken she was in this time and how her kleptomaniac tendencies really began.

Dolly/La Doll
Dolly used to be head of the publicity agency where Stephanie works, but is now just a poor single mother. Her fall from grace is due to a disastrous party that she hosted in which burning oil was poured all over her celebrity guests. Dolly is now working for The General to improve his public image. She doesn't approve of the things her client has done in the past but still takes the job because she needs the money. Dolly's transition is representative of the motif of Point A to Point B. She undergoes a major event in her life that transforms her from a famous publicist to a nobody.

Lulu Peale
Dolly’s daughter resulting from Dolly becoming pregnant by a musician. Despite the unfortunate nature of her creation, Lulu is intelligent and popular at the prestigious private school she attends. She is embarrassed by what her mother has become and does her best to hide her from her friends. Lulu grows up to attend Barnard and work as Bennie's assistant. Lulu embodies the theme of personal development and passage of time in the novel. Seeing her first as a young girl and then as a young woman, the reader gets a sense of the effects of time on the characters.

Alice
Alice is a member of the San Francisco punk group back in the 70s. Bennie is in love with her but she has a crush on Scotty. Scotty and Alice eventually get together (and later get married and divorced) but only because Scotty's main crush, Jocelyn, isn't available. Alice comes from a rich, upper-class family and has two younger sister. She feels inhibited by her background because, as long as she leads a privileged life, she can never be a real punk. Alice went to private school until 9th grade and still has all her old uniforms in her closet. These uniforms symbolize her wealth and privilege.

Alison Blake
Alison is the 12-year-old daughter of Sasha and Drew and the younger sister of Lincoln. Chapter 12 is an excerpt from Alison's powerpoint presentation that serves as her diary. Alison gets along well with her father even though her isn't home much but purposefully goes out of her way to annoy her mom. She also gets along well with her brother, Lincoln, supporting his interest in pauses in rock music. Alison gives a unique perspective on Sasha's life after marriage and how she has changed.

Alfred

Alfred is Ted’s moody, unpredictable son who, like his brothers, plays nearly every sport, spreading his time thin. Though he appears only briefly in the novel for a conversation with his father in chapter 11, Alfred’s line “There’s no time... Time is running out” is one of the stronger allusions to the central theme of time in the novel and its transforming and sometimes adversarial nature.

Drew Blake
Drew Blake first appears in chapter 10, as a friend of Rob and the boyfriend of Sasha in their college years. He is described as ambitions, planning on attending law school post graduation. He was present when Rob drowned in the Hudson river, which eventually motivated him to change career paths and become a doctor, saving lives to make up for his failure to save Rob. This fits into the novel’s theme of A to B, showing how one event completely changed the course of Drew’s life. He later appears in chapter 12, written from his daughter Alison’s point of view. By this time he is married to Sasha with two children, Alison and Lincoln. He is described as a “good man” by friends and is mostly depicted as a kind father, although he has a hard time connecting to his youngest son, Lincoln. This is both disheartening and uplifting to readers. Portrayed as possibly the most put together of all of Jennifer Egan’s characters, it is disappointing to see that even he has significant problems. This can also be reassuring, proving that even the most seemingly stable people deal with character flaws.

Rob Freeman
The only chapter Rob narrated is chapter 10, although he was also mentioned in chapter twelve. He was best friends with Sasha throughout college and developed a friendship with Drew as well. He struggled with his interest in both of these characters, admitting that he was in love with Sasha and hinting at his attraction to Drew, although it was never completely clear whether this was jealousy or attraction. He struggled with depression through his college years, climaxing at his attempted suicide. His timeline ended abruptly when he drowned in the Hudson River and Drew failed to save him, adding to the naturalistic sense that this book provides as well and illustrating the lack of control that people have over their own lives.

Rhea
Chapter three depicts Rhea in high school where she was a member of the Flaming Dildos and was friends with Bennie, Scotty, Alice, and Jocelyn, although she shared a much stronger bond with Jocelyn. She struggled with her identity, never feeling like a “true punk” which she blamed on her freckles. Throughout high school she experienced unrequited love for Bennie Salazar but eventually ended up married with three children which is described in chapter five, when she and Jocelyn visit Lou Kline. Rhea perfectly captures the self conscious teenager, hating aspects of her body and personality, and perfectly depicting the identity crisis that many young adults experience. However she grows up to be the most stable of her band mates proving that the way people grow and change is entirely unpredictable.

Stephanie
Stephanie was the wife of Bennie Salazar and the employee of La Doll. She narrates chapter seven, and is mentioned as Bennie’s ex-wife in chapter two. Chapter seven describes her and Bennie’s life in Crandale, a conservative suburb in New York. Despite her and Bennie’s alternative lifestyle a a music promoter and producer, respectively, she finds herself desperately wanting to fit into Crandale’s orthodox lifestyle. While Rhea describes the identity crisis of a punk teenager, Stephanie illustrates these issues manifested in a seemingly content and confident adult.

Joe

The grandchild of an African warrior Charlie meets. He will inherit the warrior’s hunting dagger, go to college at Columbia to study engineering, and become an expert in robotic technology that detects irregular movement. He will marry Lulu and live in a loft in Tribeca. Though he makes only a brief appearance in the novel, the character conveys a strong message in how time yields change and ultimately progress, a technological genius, would be close offspring to a primitive tribal warrior.

Symbols and Motifs

Music:
Music is a symbol which seems to tie the entire novel together, stretching across chapters, characters, and decades. Besides being the primary link between all of Jennifer Egan’s characters, music serves as an alternative method of communication. Through music, Scotty was able to release pent up anger and turn it into something meaningful. It served as the main bond between Scotty and Bennie and reunited them once when they were young adults and again much later. Noting the pauses in music was the only was that Lincoln knew how to express his love to his father, and inviting Lou to a concert was the only way that Jocelyn felt comfortable enough to contact him. Jennifer Egan continuously explores the ways that people connect with each other and themselves, suggesting that music is a primary method.

Modern Culture:
Egan plays with the symbol of modern culture to show how generational gaps cause tension as new technology and societal norms constantly shift. Throughout the book the reader sees how the older generation objects to new trends because they seem inauthentic and different from what they understand. This is the case when Bennie rejects the modern music industry’s use of autotune and lack of real instruments. Alex and his wife in chapter 13 try to go against the modern trend by prohibiting their baby from using the handset until she is older. Modern culture relates back to the theme of A to B since the reason an older generation rejects the evolving culture is because they don’t want to feel outdated and they want everything to stay the same as it was in their youth.

Pauses:
The pauses in music represent the characters feeling as though time has momentarily stopped, although it of course in reality it never does. The symbol appears most in chapter 12 where Sasha’s daughter, Alison, discusses her brothers obsession with the pauses. With the characters constantly feeling like they’re moving forward from A to B and that their lives are slipping by them, pauses present them with an opportunity to relax, and in that state of limbo they find peace. Sasha states that, “The pause makes you think the song will end. And then the song isn’t really over, so you’re relieved”(pg. 281). Although the pauses present a state of existence outside of time, they feel renewed joy for their life because the song ending/stopping forever is a metaphor for them dying. “Every song ends, obviously, and THAT. TIME. THE. END. IS. FOR. REAL” (pg. 281).

Point A to Point B:
Throughout the novel, Egan uses the motif of moving from Point A to Point B to represent change and development in her characters as time progresses, Point A being the beginning point of a character’s life and Point B being a time later, after the character has experienced drastic changes. Often, Point B is much more difficult for the character, as time has taken from them their youth and success, and they yearn to return to Point A.

Egan represents Point A/Point B many times throughout the novel with symbols such as Bennie’s gold flakes (a way for him to possibly return to Point A) or Bosco’s upcoming album, literally titled “A to B.” This motif supports the theme of “time is a goon” and also, somewhat, the theme of music, as there is a side A and a side B to all vinyl records and cassettes.

Personal Identity:
Personal Identity is a crucial theme in A Visit from the Goon Squad. The novel is comprised of characters striving to improve their vision of themselves, which is actually what everyone strives for in life. Throughout the novel, the characters strive to find meaning in their lives. A direct example of this is when Scotty gets his jacket dry cleaned. He only does this when he’s “been somewhere,” because it makes him feel less worthless.

Technology:
Technology is a constant reoccurring symbol in Jennifer Egan’s novel, A Visit From The Goon Squad. Since the chronological order of the book isn’t followed directly in chapter order, symbols such as this one help display, and reflect, the time and change occurring. As the characters continue along their paths in life, technology comes into play by being commonly evident in chapters. Bennie Salazar displays his frustration with technology in the same chapter that he is confused about what time has done to him. Missing the rawness of his original favorite genre of music, he complains about how everything is to digitized and soon after the readers find out he has some form of erectile dysfunction. This helps draw a congruency between technology being progressed as the characters become older and their desire for the past has a stronger passion. When the novel shifts backwards in real time, readers can follow by being fully indulged into the specific period. This is done by constantly displaying use of technology in each chapter congruent to how free and happy the character is. This is to fully indulge the reader in the time setting that Egan desires.

Jennifer Egan reflects her true feelings on technology by implementing different character’s opinions on the gadgets, gear, etc… She obviously feels it’s an important characteristic that highlights not only change in time, but how people age. Certain characters that don’t explore their frustration with technology usually have a smoother route of life in the novel. Other characters, large or small, that experience trouble are usually the more extreme people or have had rougher paths. For example, the General attempts to convey his public image through media and technology. When he is humiliated by Kitty, he sends his men to capture her which proves he infact has not changed at all. Another example is, Bennie has divorced from his wife, feels disconnected from his son, and heavily describes his issue with modern music. Technology has apparently murdered the soul of it, in Bennie’s eyes, especially as he progresses more into his mid-life crisis. Characters such as Rhea don’t experience much trouble with technology because she took a smoother path and her absence of frustration reflects that. She ends up in Seattle, married with children. Egan portrays her point of view on technology changing society and culture, especially in music, through different characters as her medium.

Time:
Time is an important and prevalent motif in A Visit From the Goon Squad, mostly in how it is a powerful force for change and progress. The non sequential timeline reflects the way we as human beings interpret and respond to time and memory, and makes for a more true-to-life experience. There are constant blasts to the future even within chapters, wherein the reader is given insight into the futures and pasts of the characters. This usually serves to cement the idea that time can cause radical change quickly. This theme is strongly tied into technology, which serves to make the jumbled timeline more palatable as it clarifies where the reader is in the novel in regards to time.

Visual Aid

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Pulitzer Prize Essay

Why A Visit from the Goon Squad Deserves the Pulitzer Prize

Since 1917, the Pulitzer Prize has been a very prestigious award for distinguished works in journalism, literature, and musical composition. Although the Pulitzer was originally centered around journalism, many other categories, including fiction, are very sought-after. The Pulitzer Prize has no set criteria, however the award has a history of awarding work that displays American life at the time when the work is published. Also, Pulitzer Prize winners are required to be American citizens. When Joseph Pulitzer created the prize for novels, he said “the American novel published during which shall best present the whole atmosphere of American life and the highest standard of American manners and manhood.” In A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan creates an excellent portrayal of American life in the twenty-first century.

One major aspect of American life that’s explored very thoroughly in this novel is the vast changes people’s lives undergo when they exit young adulthood. Back in the early eighties, the main characters in this story were on essentially the same path. Bennie, Rhea, Scotty, Jocelyn, and Alice were once just kids in the same band but as time passes they grow apart more than one can imagine. At one point, Bennie is a rich record producer with a wife and a kid, while Scotty is very poor and divorced. Later, Bennie’s hit bottom until he finds Scotty and makes him a successful musician. Another example of lives changing drastically over time is the character Lou. When Lou is middle-aged, he has many connections to different people. He has two kids who he goes to Africa with. He gets married again and has two more, and then two more with another marriage. Jocelyn runs away from home to be with him. Despite all of these relationships, Lou still ends up alone. In the chapter "You (Plural)," Lou is on his deathbed and no one is there for him. When Rhea and Jocelyn visit him, he is in the house alone. Jocelyn then realizes the reason for his loneliness is that he’s a horrible person who led her and his son Rolph down a terrible path. He had a long-term influence on Jocelyn, who had a good childhood but then turned to drugs for her entire young life, causing her to still live with her mother in her mid-forties.

Another aspect of modern day American life in is technology. Jennifer Egan shows technology coming into the story in a clever way, by writing parts of the book in different ways that clearly indicate the use of technology. For example, in chapter twelve, which Alison narrates, she uses a Powerpoint presentation to talk about her family. Because Alison is twelve years old, it makes sense that she would use technology to express herself, and this style makes her thoughts very clear and easy to understand. Another example of Egan integrating technology into the novel is the use of “text talk” in the later chapters. Although this would typically be seen as extremely poor writing, Egan’s innovation here is rather brilliant because it show the true way people communicate now, and the reference to technology’s influence is strong as well.

Throughout this novel, Jennifer Egan made huge effort to create a representation of American life, and she was very successful, as the book does just that. Between her brilliant storytelling, weaving together storylines to show the effect of the passage time, and the clever way she integrated technology into the story more and more as time passed, it’s evident why she won the Pulitzer Prize. Her innovation with different styles combined with the well thought-out chronology used made A Visit From the Goon Squad the obvious choice.

     

Language Analysis Essay

Language in A Visit from the Goon Squad

Though Jennifer Egan’s A Visit From the Goon Squad has received praise on many grounds, one of its most compelling features is its undeniable humanness. The Chicago Tribune called it groundbreaking, featuring “characters about whom you come to care deeply as you watch them doing things they shouldn’t, acting gloriously, infuriatingly human.” Readers connect so easily to this book not simply because they care about the characters, but because they embody the characters. Through Jennifer Egan’s refreshingly contemporary writing style, she displays humankind’s complete lack of self awareness in a horrifying, yet eye opening fashion.

Jennifer Egan utilizes a third person omniscient point of view and a casual tone within the chapters to provide insight to the thoughts and feelings of her characters, and easily relate her readers to those characters. Each chapter focuses on one person, having their own personal flaws and trials, connecting them to the other characters through their lack of control over their own lives. Within each chapter Jennifer Egan mimics the way in which people think and speak by seamlessly switching between dialogue and personal thought. By being able to delve into each character’s most personal thoughts and feelings, readers learn that these people are self obsessed in a way that is both appalling and yet undeniably relatable. One of the most heartbreaking cases is displayed in chapter three when Rhea explains the dynamic of her band, but focuses primarily on her freckles, her unrequited love for Bennie, and the fact that she is not a “real punk.” Although having a total self obsession fed by her insecurities, she has a complete lack of self awareness and identity, proven when Lou, a man who she despises, seems to have a better understanding of her than she does. Through situations like these Jennifer Egan suggests that this absence of self understanding is a problem plaguing modern society.

In chapter four Mindy is able to predict the actions of the people on the safari with her, yet lacks the self awareness to stop herself from marrying Lou who inevitably leaves her with no money, struggling to support her family. Charlene knows her father well enough to predict that he will marry Mindy, but cannot stop herself from joining a cult in Mexico and eventually dying from salmonella poisoning. Rhea feels that she understands Bennie so well that she may have a deeper understanding of him than she does of herself. There seems to be a theme of characters having a deep understanding of other characters, yet lacking this understanding of themselves. Jennifer Egan incorporates modernism while illustrating this by providing readers with views into the future, using a wide timeline that the novel occurs in, and by providing anecdotes that give a peek into the future lives of characters. This both demonstrates a lack of personal understanding, and the impossibility of predicting one’s future.

Jennifer Egan employes a modern writing style along with time shifts, a third person omniscient point of view, and smooth transitions between dialogue and thought. This simultaneously connects readers to her characters, while proving that society has an alarming lack of self awareness, leading to life outcomes that are impossible to predict. A Visit From the Goon Squad leaves readers feeling simultaneously horrified and reassured, seeing the frustrating qualities of Jennifer Egan’s characters in themselves, but knowing that this trait is present in everyone.

The Role of Technology Essay

Technology Clock

In Jennifer Egan’s novel, A Visit From The Goon Squad, technology constantly shows growth of characters and reflects the time period in which the chapter is set in. The story is not told in chronological order and can be difficult to follow as the characters progress into the oddly formatted telling of their life. Technology, as a whole, heavily reflects human’s progression of society and in this book, helps make the sporadic chain events connect in an orderly fashion. Eagan specifically reflects her point of view on technology changing music and society through character’s opinions and instances where they long for a connection that has been shattered by technology’s evolution.

One of the most prominent characters, that portrays Egan’s point, is Bennie Salazar. In the novel, Bennie is a successful music producer but is shown struggling to find a connection to most modern music he comes across. He expresses his thoughts on how technology has helped spread the music to all audiences and made it very accessible, but with that comes the erasing of the original sound of most music and other art forms he mentions. He refers to the constant overproduced, “clean” sound as an “aesthetic holocaust”. This is said as he reminisces the olden days by listening to punk bands, which mostly were recorded poorly, but reflect the lack of technology in music. Bennie misses the feeling of knowing that the instruments were truly being played, whereas today, he expresses that technology can fake the instrumentation and is therefore overproduced by the process of digitization. Egan reflects her point of view on how technology has altered music, mostly for worse, through Bennie’s frustration and this helps display how Bennie progresses through a society and connects with other characters. He constantly is on the search for the untouched sound and this helps create his web that ties him to other people in the novel, ironically acting as a social network.

As the novel progresses, the last chapter helps give insight to where technology is headed, how it’s used, and even the audience it's being marketed towards. As Bennie interacts with Alex, conversing about an artist that Bennie has signed, Scotty Hausmann, they are connected through the discussion of untouched music. This helps Egan explore her thoughts of technology and also supports this character spider web, connecting many different folks. Not only that, but in the same chapter, the youthful Lulu is scolded for conversing on a phone, a modern piece of technology. She works for Bennie and Alex so this is why Rebecca, Alex’s wife feels free to scold her. This reflects the gap in generational opinion of technology by having the older person feel angry towards the younger one for “keeping up with the times” by using technology. Egan accurately and subtly predicts how technology companies will market towards the youth by showing Lulu’s effortless use of the modern phone.

Technology helps Egan display time progression and connections from character to character as the jumbled, unchronological, novel progresses. The aesthetic used by Egan to help the reader follow the story is almost creating a timeline through the change of each of the character’s surrounding in every chapter. Technology is one of the most common symbols that helps not only tie the book together, but also reflects a ghastly accurate opinion of the times that Egan expresses.

Critical Lens Essay

Modern History’s Influence on A Visit from the Goon Squad

A Visit from the Goon Squad was published in 2010, following a decade of

turmoil and unrest between America and foreign powers in the Middle East. In the ever-

shifting storyline of A Visit from the Goon Squad the attack of 9/11 is shown in multiple

chapters to be a focal point of change in both the characters’ lives and the future of

America. Sasha’s emotional connection to the site of the Twin Towers is a reflection of

Jennifer Egan’s connection the event, which dramatically altered security and politics on

a global level. In the aftermath of 9/11, George W. Bush passed the USA Patriot Act

and other laws to allow greater involvement of the federal government in domestic

surveillance and an increase in military spending. Citizens who feared future attacks

relied more heavily on the government than before, increasing the government’s ability

to implement aggressive reforms without backlash. The war on terror was in full effect

during Egan’s writing of A Visit from the Goon Squad and although no one yet knows

the lasting impacts of America’s intervention domestically and in foreign affairs, she

exposes a very possible future of America under the policies put in place after 9/11.

Through exaggeration of current issues in American society, in relation to terrorism and

global warming, Egan seeks to use fictional stories to reflect on real global issues

America is facing.

The altered future world that Egan presents is characterized by a much stronger

federal government with tight control over public safety. In Chapter 13, which describes

this future, citizens are not allowed to do seemingly harmless activities such as use

strollers because they impede public safety in the event of an evacuation. Alex also

describes the omnipresent existence of helicopters that are “flogging the air with a

sound Alex hadn’t been able to bear in the early years-too loud, too loud-but over time

he’d gotten used to it: the price of safety" (pg.330). The reasons for such tightened domestic

security are never fully explained, which is a tactic used by Egan to elevate the sense of

an ominous and paranoid destiny. The changes in society that are described in chapter

13 are an exaggerated version of real changes being made to the America economy

and foreign affairs influenced by the USA Patriot Act. For instance, a technological

economy and society arises which trains the youngest generation from birth how to use

handsets and communicate virtually. Those who thrive in the future world are young,

brilliant, and technologically capable individuals such as Lulu who can run the world

through their deep understanding of the workings of both human tendencies and

technology.

The symbol of “From A to B” in A Visit from the Goon Squad, used typically when

a character is attempting to discover which moments in their lives were pivotal to their

current position in life, can also be used to understand the importance of 9/11 in history.

The terrorist attack was a catalyst for not only domestic change, but a societal shift

globally, and is therefore a clear transition to a new modern world. In the novel only 7

out of 13 chapters are set in the time after 2001, which brings up the question, what is

the significance of focusing so heavily on events before 9/11? The earlier chapters are

included purely to juxtapose our future civilization with the oblivious world which existed

before. Chapters set before the shift feature a population less paranoid about its safety

and not worried about how technology could possibly alter how humans live and

communicate. Egan’s purpose is subtly explored in the other chapters after 9/11, but it

isn’t until the last chapter, chapter 13, that her objective is fully developed and

understood, making it the most important in the novel.

America faces its biggest challenges in foreign affairs with terrorist organizations,

and the catalyst for this war on terror was the infamous attack of 9/11. This atrocity

conducted by Al Qaeda left the world in shock and has had a profound impact on

foreign affairs up until the present day. Although only half of the book is set in this time

period after 9/11, it is in these chapters where she solidifies her purpose in writing the

novel. Jennifer Egan used events from the war on terror and other issues in current

affairs to create a future for society which serves to comment on present American

culture and new technology.