“A Visit from the Goon Squad is a book about the interplay of time and music, about survival, about the stirrings and transformations set inexorably in motion by even the most passing conjunction of our fates. In a breathtaking array of styles and tones ranging from tragedy to satire. Egan captures the undertow of self-destruction that we all must either master or succumb to; the basic human hunger for redemption; and the universal tendency to reach for both\u2014and escape the merciless progress of time\u2014in the transporting realms of art and music.”
For things to keep in mind when writing about literature, please see page 8 of your text: Questions for Active Reading: FICTION. Also, make sure to review Chapter 8 in our text.
For this essay, on\u00a0A Visit from the Goon Squad,\u00a0choose from either\u00a0of the following three writing prompts. Please,\u00a0do not\u00a0combine or conflate\u00a0 these prompts to make your own; the result of combining prompts is very confusing for your audience; choose only\u00a0one\u00a0prompt.
Analyze what you believe to be the central concern of this novel.\u00a0What is the author, Jennifer Egan, holding up to scrutiny, if you will\u2014by portraying an interplay of time and music.\u00a0This book is organized in a fairly unique way; each chapter is it’s own self-contained narrative, but the chapters together also form one larger narrative.\u00a0The central idea\u00a0is the central, unifying element of a story, which ties together all of the other elements of fiction used by the author to tell the story. The central concern can be best described as the dominant impression or the universal, generic truth found in the story. The central idea or theme of a story is an author\u2019s comment, usually implied, on the subject of his narrative. For example, in the\u00a0Wizard of Oz, instead of saying it is “about a girl named Dorothy who learns to appreciate the life that she has,” you might say: “The\u00a0Wizard of Oz\u00a0reveals that when people lose sight of reality, they sometimes forget to appreciate the beauty of their everyday lives.”
Analyze what you think Jennifer Egan, is conveying about a theme that you have identified as being a major one of the novel.\u00a0 There are many themes explored in this novel many of which you’ve identified in your Discussion posts. Be certain before you settle on a theme that it is a major one because if it is not, you will have trouble writing at least 4 pages on it. To write this type of essay, you start with a main idea that you think that the author wants to convey about the big idea or subject.\u00a0 This will be your thesis, and the body of the essay should be paragraphs that develop the thesis by explaining and analyzing the characters, settings, or episodes that convey that main idea about the theme. There are many themes that are repeated throughout the book. Some of these themes we have discussed in class.
Apply Tzvetan Todorov\u2019s narratological theory to one or more sections of the novel, or to the novel in its entirety\u00a0or to a character\u2019s development.\u00a0\u00a0Remember, Todorov believes that narrative progresses in stages:
There is a state of equilibrium at the outset.
The equilibrium is disrupted by some action. (Disequilibrium)
There is recognition of the disruption occurring.
There is an attempt to repair the disruption.
There is a return or restoration of a new equilibrium at the end of the narrative (Reequilibrium).
If you elect this option, make sure you begin your essay by briefly introducing Todorov and this theory, and then segue into your discussion about applying this theory to\u00a0A Visit from the Goon Squad. To some extent Egan’s novel resists this structure, and some of the moments of \u2018equilibrium, disequilibrium, and reequilibrium\u2019 are incredibly subtle; it will be up to you to highlight and argue for the poignancy of these moments.
Remember,\u00a0writing an analytical essay requires that you make an argument. Your argument is your thesis. You must make a pervasive, persistent case that a certain thing is true about the novel. This \u201cthing\u201d should not be readily obvious to the casual reader. It is what you draw out of the book, how you\u00a0interpret\u00a0it.\u00a0It is a claim that must be supported by specific evidence from the text. Remember that your purpose in writing this essay is not merely to summarize\u2014this would be the first level of meaning\u2014the surface level storyline, but to recognize the existence of deeper level meaning. If you need further clarification, please review the PowerPoint on analysis posted on Canvas and if you are electing to write on Todorov, review the Narratology PowerPoint.\u00a0Also, do not confuse the author of the novel with the narrator of a particular section. Do not make the mistake of saying, “Jennifer Egan says…” unless you’re quoting her from an interview.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Make sure you use lots of quotes and support from the book. Make sure that your thesis statement is so solid that the rest of your paper flows from that statement <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“A Visit from the Goon Squad is a book about the interplay of time and music, about survival, about the stirrings and transformations set inexorably in motion by even the most passing conjunction of our fates. In a breathtaking array of styles and tones ranging from tragedy to satire. Egan captures the undertow of self-destruction […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[11],"class_list":["post-24085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research-paper-writing","tag-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24085\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}