Most of our lives
consist of relative silence. It usually does not have meaning, and in a
conversation if there is a silence, we only notice it as a momentary lapse in
communication, a problem that is immediately solved by one comment or
another. However, sometimes silence
asserts itself, and these moments are often laden with truths. In Jennifer
Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad, silence
carries significance and often points out characters’ lack of power in their
lives. It is a moment of resignation, realization
that their reality is unavoidable.
The silence between Sasha and
Coz in her appointment is a good example of this. Sasha desperately wants to
change and wishes she could tell him she’s changing. She also wishes she could
believe it herself, but she doesn’t. She
asks Coz not to ask her how she feels and they sit in silence for minutes. It
seems like in this moment both of them realize the reality of the situation.
This silence really highlights Sasha’s helplessness. Sasha thinks, “Redemption, transformation—God
how she wanted these things. Every day,
every minute. Didn’t everyone?” (18) So many of Egan’s characters want change
and a chance to start over. Seeing Coz
is one of the ways that Sasha has been seeking the ability to change, and when
Sasha doesn’t want to discuss how she feels about her latest episode, it
suggests that she is resigning herself to her situation and feels like any
efforts to change are futile.
Another instance that
suggests the significance of silence is when Jocelyn is reflecting on her lost
time with Lou. Egan describes the
moment, saying, “(t)he silence takes on a kind of intelligence” (88). Jocelyn has just told Rhea that she “got
lost” and this statement is irrefutable, inconsolable. Again, this silence points out a moment when
a character comes to a realization, in Jocelyn’s case, that she got lost.
Getting lost is a common theme throughout this book, and the silence these
friends share after Jocelyn says that suggests something about the heavy impact
of getting lost.
One last example of silence’s
role is when Dolly and her daughter Lulu have returned from their trip to see
the General. They are sitting on the subway and the silence was described as
“inviolable” (161). This is another
moment when the current protagonist realizes something about her situation and
that she has no power to change it.
Dolly feels “a cold wave of conviction: if Kitty Jackson died, her
daughter would be lost to her” (162).
Again silence plays a key role in revealing truths about characters and
their lives and suggests that these characters are unable to change these truths.
While reading, I also perceived silence as some kind of reality check. For instance, when Ted goes to find Sasha the day after she steals his wallet, he sees that everything has been a struggle for her. Her father left, her boyfriend left; people seem to leave her, so she has resigned to a life of solidarity. Although Ted has no idea how far Sasha has gone to make this life for herself, he is realizing that he did nothing to help her, nothing to show her that she was cared for and loved. As he sits with his back against her door waiting for her to let him in, the novel reads, “For a long time—hours, it seemed (he’d forgotten his watch)—there was silence” (p.230). In this silence, Ted understands that Sasha is all on her own and has been for years.
ReplyDeleteAnother realization occurs in silence when Bennie drops his son Chris off at home to Stephanie. Bennie is feeling ashamed throughout the chapter due to remembrances of guilt or embarrassment from his past. Bennie’s life is nowhere near what it used to be or what he would like it to be. Sasha is with Bennie when he drops Chris off. The novel explains, “She sat with Bennie in silence, watching Chris climb the fat, bright grass to the front door, then open it without turning and go inside” (p.36). Bennie sees all that he has lost, including his son, his home, and his wife.
I completely agree with your interpretation of how and why Egan uses the element of silence in her text, specifically in your connection of silence to power dynamics. Understanding when Egan introduces moments of silence helps us understand the common threads that run between characters.
ReplyDeleteI want to add even more, silence is important not only in moments of dead silence, but in what characters choose to say and not to say. In an intimate moment between Rhea and Lou, Lou is presented as a jerk leading on Rhea, saying "The world is full of shitheads, Rhea. Don't listen to them - listen to me." (57). Reacting to this statement, Rhea narrates though she knows "Lou is one of those shitheads", she chooses not to say anything and instead listens to Lou (57). The choice to remain silent in this matter reveals Rhea's desperate state of teenage angst, which echoes your main claim that silence is used in terms of power relations. Though Rhea has the awareness and grounds to call out Lou, she chooses not to, thus demonstrating his influence over her.