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Essay / Changing points of view during a visit into the mind of The Goon Squad
In A Visit From The Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan, each chapter brings with it a different point of view that adds new dimensions that rely on the arc of the story. To emphasize the characters' thoughts and feelings and to provide different perspectives on recurring characters, Jennifer Egan uses different points of view in "Ask Me If I Care", "Safari", and "You (Plural)". Rhea's point of view in "Ask Me If I Care" gives the audience a holistic view of her group while telling the story in a teenage way. The narrators of “Safari” offer insight into the minds of the characters and their futures. Finally, in "You (Plural)", Jocelyn explains in the first person how her relationship with Lou has affected her. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Rhea's first-person perspective offers a holistic view of her group and a reflection of her own adolescent state. Rhea is the odd one out in the group. As she says: “Jocelyn knows I’m waiting for Bennie. But Bennie is waiting for Alice, who is waiting for Scotty, who is waiting for Jocelyn... Jocelyn loves Scotty in return, but she is not in love with him... Nobody is waiting for me. In this story, I am the girl that no one expects” (Egan, 42 years old). She is the only ranger in this mix of lovebirds, and her status gives the reader an overall view of the gang. If the story were told here from the perspectives of other characters, the scope would be limited to only that person's romantic interests. Rhea is interested in everyone's love lives, as evidenced by the frequency with which she asks Jocelyn to redescribe her night of sexual debauchery (43). This focus on other people's lives and his sexual activities can be attributed to his adolescence. Throughout the story, his youth drives the direction of the narrative. Channeling a typical teenager's manner, the mood of the story can best be described as present. There is no obvious foresight involved in the writing, as evidenced by abrupt transitions, as when the narrator takes us directly from "1980 is almost here" to "We spend every spare minute in the pit" (40- 41). Yet this immediacy plunges its audience into the heart of the action. The narrator herself is close to the story; his descriptions are laced with raw emotion and initial thoughts, as if the audience is receiving the narrator's thoughts as they come to him. Another way the narrator shows her adolescence is by replacing “go” with “say”: “Jocelyn says, “Look, Rhea. They will be blonde like her, the sisters. I said: “So what?” » » (40). This is how most teenagers speak: short, assertive expressions. As the story progresses, Rhea begins the transition from adolescence to adulthood thanks to Lou, who acts as a catalyst in her personal change. Moving away from the previous chapter with its first-person point of view, "Safari" offers more insight into the characters' true thoughts, feelings, and future with the third-person omniscient point of view. The chapter is divided into three parts, each focusing on a different character and their perceptions of the other characters. This makes for an eye-opening chapter, in which the reader sees each character in a new light across all three sections. For example, "Grass" focuses on Rolph and his father, while briefly depicting Mindy as Lou's next adventure. However, "Hills" focuses on Mindy's thoughts and feelings, and the audience is given a fresh perspective. AMuch of the passage is devoted to Mindy's sudden attraction to Albert, a man who reveals a side of Mindy that the reader would never see if the focus remained on Rolph and Lou. Egan also uses the telescoping of time to give the reader a sense of who each character really is and where they are going. For example, an African warrior is briefly mentioned in "Grass," but Egan's use of telescoping time adds depth to even unimportant characters: "Thirty-five years later, in 2008, this warrior will be caught in tribal violence between the Kikuyu and the Luo and died in a fire. He then had four wives and sixty-three grandchildren, including a boy named Joe” (61). This description goes on and on, until it seems almost pointless, but the extreme detail and foresight helps characterize these people and give them meaning. Divided into three parts and focusing on three different characters, "Safari's" third-person omniscient point of view also provides insight into the different characters' opinions of Lou, which culminate in an unprecedented characterization of Lou himself. In the previous chapter, Lou is negatively portrayed as taking advantage of a young teenage girl for sexual favors. In “Grass,” Rolph gives the audience their first view of Lou in a somewhat positive light: as a father. The narrator says that Rolph “is the only person in the world who can appease [Lou]” (63). The public sees the romantic relationship that the couple has and portrays Lou in a more human and caring light. In “Hills,” Mindy offers a slightly different, more superficial perspective: “Structural incompatibility: a powerful, twice-divorced man will be incapable of recognizing, much less sanctioning, the ambitions of a much younger female companion. By definition, their relationship will be temporary” (65). Mindy bluntly states that her relationship with Lou is not based on true love, but rather a fleeting relationship where one party gains sex and the other gains "luxury, adventure and a break from his roommates” (66). This helps to further characterize Lou as a shallow player in constant need of sex. Finally, in "Sand", the focus is on Charlie who foreshadows the family devastation that will occur years later thanks to Lou. Even though she's just a teenager, Charlie may begin to notice the signs of a dying family. As she points out, Lou hugged her all the time, "but as she grew up, it happened to her less and less" (75). The audience gets a glimpse of a separation that begins between Lou and Rolph after Lou says "Women are assholes" (78). Rolph develops a “seething rage at this man who pushes everyone aside” (79), realizing how despicable his father is. Rolph struggles with his father's misogynistic mindset and feels an anger parallel to Lou's when he learns of Mindy's attraction to Albert. It is clear that Rolph is unhappy with the current state of his family and longs for what it used to be, as evidenced by his use of the word "remember" over and over again. The reader only sees a snippet of Lou's interactions with Rolph, but it is clear that there will be problems between the two in the future, as the narrator later describes. Lou's lifestyle and mentality, as well as their effects on his children, are detailed through Charlie's point of view. Two chapters after Egan delivers Rhea's perspective, Jocelyn tells the story from her first-person perspective in "You (Plural)" and describes the effects on her. relationship with Lou had on her. The first-person point of view offers a more personal insight into.