In Egan's A Visit from
the Good Squad, one frequented keyword is “anger.” We find that, in the
majority of cases, feelings of anger are the only ‘true feelings’ being
expressed by the character. Two clear cases of anger as a true emotion are
Jules and Rob; in these particular cases, however, we see these men utilizing
anger as a means to force other characters around them to reveal their true
selves, their anger having allowed them to drop their false pretenses and emotions.
Chapter 9 is the article Jules writes about his interview
with Kitty Jacson. Jules describes Kitty as “[belonging] in the category of
nice stars… [who] act as if they’re just like you” (167). Given this and other
comments such as “…the sort of shameless bit of fawning that makes [Jules]
wonder whether [he] might prefer death by lethal injection to [his] present
vocation as a celebrity reporter” (170) indicate that Jules is jaded with his
work; he is tired of working with celebrities in any capacity, especially those
like Kitty who try to be a ‘real person’ with their pretense of happiness. As
such, Jules make a conscious effort to anger Kitty, driving her to feel a ‘true
emotion,’ in order to learn more about her. He tries “… puncturing her prophylactic
shield of niceness” (171) by throwing out rumors of Kitty and Tom Cruise
hooking up. Furthermore, he gives her the “Big Fat Grin, a meaningless tactic
intended purely to unnerve and fluster my subject” (172). By using these stratagems
of forcing Kitty to anger, Jules is hoping to get Kitty to let her guard down to
reveal her true self. He is somewhat successful as he does get Kitty to reveal
her annoyance with being a sex goddess (177).
Rob, much like Jules, works to anger his friends in Chapter
10. We learn that Rob has been institutionalized for attempted suicide and has
recently returned to his friends in New York; these friends include Sasha, whom
we’ve already met, and Drew, Lizzie, and Bix. Since his return, Rob notes the
carefulness with which his friends treat him. After joking about inhaling
drugs, he notes that the others “probably only laughed because they could see [Rob]
was trying to be funny, and they’re
afraid [he’ll] jump out the window onto East Seventh Street if [he fails], even
at something so small” (187). Moreover, Lizzie is described as “using the Calm
Voice they’ve all been using since [Rob] got back from Florida, a voice that
leaves [Rob] no choice but to test how hard [Rob has] to push before it cracks”
(189). As indicated in the previous quote, Rob is tired of being treated
delicately. He aggravates Lizzie by calling her parents bigots and refusing to
let up; when she reacts by snapping back, Rob “[grins] with satisfaction at the
sight of real anger on a human face” (190). Once Rob experiences Lizzie’s
anger, a true emotion, he begins to feel real again. He has also achieved at provoking
Lizzie, and eventually the rest of his friends, to act relatively normally
toward him because they are all too angry with him than to be worried about
him.
In this novel, anger both drives characters to change their
behavior and the behavior of the characters’ around them. For Jules and Rob in
particular, utilizing anger forces other characters to drop their pretense and
act like ‘real people.’
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ReplyDeleteThis is a great analysis of the role which anger plays in the novel. I hadn't thought before about how multiple characters were motivated to make others feel anger. I think your quote referring to Jules trying to "[puncture Kitty Jackson's] prophylactic coat of niceness" can help to explain their motives as well (171). It seems like all the characters in the novel are trying to find the other’s true self, removing the layer of fake emotions which they always wear. Perhaps they aren’t interested in fueling anger so much as actual or “true” human emotion. This is a theme which gets repeated in almost every chapter. Bennie’s disgust with today’s music industry stems from the fact that it is calculated and perfect, unlike the music he grew up with which displayed true emotion and anger. Bennie cheats on his wife, perhaps trying to anger her (134). Both examples you provided show how those characters are trying to find true emotion as well. Kitty Jackson plays this role later in the novel when she tries to get under the General’s skin in chapter 8. In chapter 11 the search for true emotions continue. Ted speaks of his wife as being “brainwashed” and how he pictures his wife before she acted fake towards him. The more I think about it, the more I start to read this novel as a collection of stories with the common theme of people desperately trying to find true self and emotion.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that anger is a pivotal emotion in the novel. It seemed like you were discussing how anger is a driving force in the novel, and I definitely agree with that. I noticed a lot of anger in the eighth chapter, particularly with The General. He creates action in the entire chapter, and it is all driven by his anger. He is angry that he wasn't being received well in the press because of the blue hat (144). His anger then allows Dolly to realize she needs to link him to Kitty publicly. I think that it is also important to note here the dichotomous relationship between anger and fear. There are other instances in the novel where someone’s anger causes another’s fear. This action leads to the main conflict in the chapter, in which Kitty is dragged away by The General's guards due to her controversial exclamations (160). The anger of characters often causes a chain reaction of events in many places of the novel, like this one. I think, of the possible key words in the novel, anger is the one that most furthers the plot and causes characters to actually act on their emotions and instincts.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I was initially startled by the amount of suppressed anger many of the characters in this book deal with on a daily basis. It seems as if every new person introduced has something about which or someone with whom to be angry. The most notable of the angry characters so far, though, I would definitely have to say is Jules. Before he even meets Kitty he seems to have a problem with her, and near the beginning of the interview he wonders to himself on page 170 why he "might prefer death by lethal injection to [his] present ovation as a celebrity reporter." These are not the thoughts of a conventionally happy person. Jules seems generally disgruntled, which makes me think that his efforts to evoke anger in others comes from an angry place within himself. When Kitty dips her finger into her salad dressing, Jules’ mind jumps to the conclusion that she is mocking him by doing so, and this sends him into an internal fit of rage that later manifests as the act of violence that gets him sent to jail. He believes she is using her high place in society to make him feel inferior, and can’t stand the feeling. He says to himself, “… you do not register as a ‘man’ to Kitty Jackson, and so being around you makes her no more self-conscious than would the presence of a dachshund (173),” (173). He is angry at her for her celebrity status, and perhaps angry at himself that he would allow her to make him feel unimportant.
ReplyDeleteIt’s a dangerous thing, anger, and I think we see its harmful effects well-displayed by Jules’ episode in chapter nine.