Egan's Writing Style in A Visit from the Goon Squad
Jennifer Egan has a very unique postmodernist writing style; she encourages a different outlook on people’s relationships and the way that time affects them. She emphasizes the distinct change in each generation by jumping back and forth in time representing an anachronic order of events, and includes the new or old ways of communication, lifestyle, technology, etc. In order to show the separation experienced from generation to generation. The barrier between the young and old generations seems to grow larger as years pass and Egan makes sure the reader acknowledges the significance of these time gaps.
Sasha is introduced in the first chapter in order to give the reader a feel for her personality and pin point the source of her Kleptomania. Egan jumps back in time to discuss Sasha so that the reader can gain an opinion of her as well as a short backstory; this makes the present Sasha character easier to comprehend. A timeline layout begins in this chapter, and the remainder of the novel jumps back and forth along it. Egan lays out the connections between the characters in this chapter from separate stories and time periods. Chapter two jumps to a new main character and begins to follow the life of Bennie Salazar, it is written following chapter one, however chapter three jumps back in time to when all the characters were in high school. This writing development is no accident, Egan writes this way to show the reader what role time plays in people’s lives.
Point of view varies from first, to second, to third, and each individual chapter closely examines pieces of each characters life and eventually connects it to an overall larger story. An example of Egan’s use of second person would be in chapter ten when Rob narrates from an outer body perspective. In addition to this Egan outlines the missing pieces within different generations, establishing a unique way to interpret her writing.
Following the completion of each chapter Egan manages to make a mass entanglement of characters that all seem to lead back to the first chapter. She uses detached chapters to show what the characters perceive as empty spaces, but makes sure to point out that in reality these seemingly blank spaces are in fact surrounded by human experience. These experiences represent the disconnected relationships in society that Egan believes surround us in the world
Jennifer Egan has a very unique postmodernist writing style; she encourages a different outlook on people’s relationships and the way that time affects them. She emphasizes the distinct change in each generation by jumping back and forth in time representing an anachronic order of events, and includes the new or old ways of communication, lifestyle, technology, etc. In order to show the separation experienced from generation to generation. The barrier between the young and old generations seems to grow larger as years pass and Egan makes sure the reader acknowledges the significance of these time gaps.
Sasha is introduced in the first chapter in order to give the reader a feel for her personality and pin point the source of her Kleptomania. Egan jumps back in time to discuss Sasha so that the reader can gain an opinion of her as well as a short backstory; this makes the present Sasha character easier to comprehend. A timeline layout begins in this chapter, and the remainder of the novel jumps back and forth along it. Egan lays out the connections between the characters in this chapter from separate stories and time periods. Chapter two jumps to a new main character and begins to follow the life of Bennie Salazar, it is written following chapter one, however chapter three jumps back in time to when all the characters were in high school. This writing development is no accident, Egan writes this way to show the reader what role time plays in people’s lives.
Point of view varies from first, to second, to third, and each individual chapter closely examines pieces of each characters life and eventually connects it to an overall larger story. An example of Egan’s use of second person would be in chapter ten when Rob narrates from an outer body perspective. In addition to this Egan outlines the missing pieces within different generations, establishing a unique way to interpret her writing.
Following the completion of each chapter Egan manages to make a mass entanglement of characters that all seem to lead back to the first chapter. She uses detached chapters to show what the characters perceive as empty spaces, but makes sure to point out that in reality these seemingly blank spaces are in fact surrounded by human experience. These experiences represent the disconnected relationships in society that Egan believes surround us in the world