Organized Chaos

As happy as I am to be done with this, it was so fun to make. With about 50? I'm not really sure. I tried to count but I kept losing my place. characters connected its a little crazy to look at. But I tried to order it best I could, in a way that made sense to me. It's mostly in chapter order with a few tweaks here and there. Notably, the ending Alex chapter is not positioned last, in order to give the most attention to the much more deserving PowerPoint chapter. The relationships of the characters are described along the arrows physically connecting their circles. And in most of the circles are words, phrases, and  dialogue from the book, which are somehow significant to who those characters are. As complicated as a map like this, it really is the best way to begin understanding all the characters from Goon Squad. For music, I chose The Passenger by Iggy Pop, mentioned by Rhea in "Ask Me If I Care." This song, I think, describes both the way many of the characters feel throughout the book, as well as the reader, as the go along for the crazy wonderful ride that is A Visit from the Goon Squad.

I am the passenger
I stay under glass
I look through my window so bright
I see the stars come out tonight
I see the bright and hollow sky
Over the city's ripped backsides
And everything looks good tonight

THAT. TIME. THE. END. IS. FOR. REAL

"The pause makes you think the song will end. And then the song isn't really over, so you're relieved. But then the song does actually end, because every song ends, obviously, and THAT. TIME. THE. END. IS. FOR. REAL."

Song pauses are something I never thought about before. But I've had that feeling before as I'm sure everyone has. When you think "oh the song is over now". But then it's not. It's sort of a weird experience and I never stopped to think why? But listening to songs and looking for pauses makes you understand why the artist would choose to do that. It makes such a difference. Who would have thought the absence of noise in a song would make it better but somehow it does.

Shake it Off, Taylor Swift’s upbeat and carefree song, has a great song pause from 2:43-2:45. This song is fun and joyful, the pause giving the listener a moment after the silly and carefree spoken section before going into the chorus again, dancing and having a ball. I think this pause kind of gives you a moment to register what just happened in the song. The spoken section isn't really something you really expect in a TSwift song and that pause kind of gives you the chance to laugh at how weirdly awesome it is before throwing you back into the catchy chorus.

Shake it Off

 

Skinny Love by Birdy shows a different way to use song pauses. In this sadder pleading song, there are five pauses! (:39-:40, 1:02-1:03, 1:31-1:32, 1:53-1:54, 2:21-2:22) and each of the pauses seems like a breath for the listener to take. There is one more last pause at 2:39-2:41 that is the most interesting.  If you listen carefully, in the middle of this pause a single note is played on the piano, followed by a squeaky noise that sounds like someone moving on a chair. This adds such authenticity to the song, making it seem as though Birdy is in the room with you, playing this song at a piano. When the song finally does end, you almost think it’s just another pause and that the song could keep going on.

Skinny Love

 

The pause in Cool Kids by Echosmith is by far my favorite. It’s just so fun! And probably the most “classic” style of pause. The song could have been over right there but after that two-second pause, suddenly the chorus is back even more sing-able and dance-able than before. The pause has so much power that a musical break doesn’t because there is this moment where you think “is it over?” and you think it could be. But suddenly, almost instantaneously, the song is back and that makes the catchy chorus seem even better than it was earlier in the song. And once you know it's there it's even greater. You wait for the pause, and wait for the chorus to begin again and it just sounds right.

Cool Kids

True, That He's No Prince Charming...

You approach a dark castle sitting on top of a hill amongst the trees. You feel yourself trembling but you keep walking forward, up the bleak pathway. You’re at the front door. It looms before you, tall and imposing. Using all of your strength you open the door a crack and squeeze yourself through.

                “Hello,” you call, softer than you meant to. You speak again, “Is anyone there?”

                The castle seems empty and you turn to leave, feeling both relieved and disappointed. Suddenly you hear a voice from the side of the entryway.

                “Bonjour!”

                “Who is that?” you say fearfully. You do not recognize the voice and it is certainly not your father’s. You see a flicker of light out of the corner of you eye. You eyes adjust to the sudden change and to your shock you see what appears to be a candlestick with a face. A moving, living face starting directly at you.

                Obviously, you scream. You fear yourself grow faint.

                Next thing you know, you’re lying on the ground in a cold dark place. You sit up and hear a familiar voice.

                “Is that you?” You turn and you see him beyond the wall of bars separating you.

                “Father!” you call out in relief. Your father glances around, frightened.

                “What’s wrong? Where are we?” you ask.

                “I don’t want him to hear us. He might get angry,” he answers vaguely.

                “Father, tell me what’s going on,” you say desperately. “We need to-“ Your words are cut off by a terrifying roar. What you see next you cannot believe. A hideous monster with a face the size of a bear’s, eyes like a wolf’s, a snout like a lion, and terrible horns. It’s huge claws move towards you.

                “What are you doing here?” it growls. In your fear you cannot even form words.

                “Answer me!” it howls.

                “Please, I just wanted to find my father,” you plead, finding your voice. “We’ll leave right now.”

                “Leave?” it snarls.“That thief isn’t going anywhere!”

                “Save yourself, please run,” your father begs. Shaking your head adamantly, you turn to the monster again.

                “My father is not a thief!” you say defiantly. The monster laughs coldly.

                “Tell that to my garden! He took a rose from me and he shall pay.” You feel horrified instantly. A rose. That is all you had asked from your father when he left on his journey. Now his imprisonment was all your fault.

                “It was for me,” you whisper. “It’s my fault he took it. Let him go and take me instead.”

                “No!” your father yells. The beast sniffed in disdain.

                “Very well,” it replied, slightly amused.

                Suddenly the beast grabs your arm and leads you out of the dark dungeon.

                “Father!” you yell as you catch a final glimpse of him before you are pushed into another room, this one with a bed and furniture. The monster slams the door and you are left all alone, wondering what your future holds for you in this place.

“It’s so mechanical, methodical, it might be in some dreary socialistic periodical”

These are certainly not the words one would use to describe, “Forty-Minute Lunch: Kitty Jackson Opens Up About Love, Fame, and Nixon!”, Chapter 9 of Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad. This chapter is indeed unconventional. What begins as what could possibly be a real magazine article, though perhaps an unusual one, quickly turns into a manic stream of thoughts coming from Jules Jones, a man who is paranoid, bipolar, and otherwise mentally disturbed.  And as to not be typical in any way, Egan accomplishes the task of relaying this character to her audience through the use of footnotes. Extensive footnotes. Barely less than a full page footnotes.

These footnotes describe everything from Jules Jones’ apparent interest in physics and photons to what Kitty Jackson tasting her salad dressing with her finger might mean. His thoughts move in rapid succession, overanalyzing every movement and applying his own skewed logic to the situation. As the chapter goes on, it becomes clear that Jules is writing from prison. In a sense it becomes his confession for his assault of Kitty. Despite his horrible crime, everything Jules writes doesn’t make him seem despicable. He just seems pathetic. From his description of himself, to his recent break up, everything you learn about him induces a cringing sort of pity.

Some might question why the use of footnotes was necessary. After all, an article is already an out of the ordinary way to write a chapter of a book. Without the footnotes, however, the reader would never get a full sense of how Jules thought. The chapter is already pretty confusing but with no footnotes it would be impossible for a reader to navigate. Through this unique format, the reader gets a full picture of what the inside of Jules Jones’ head looks like. And though it’s not a pretty picture its definitely an interesting one.