In the novel, A Visit from the Goon Squad, power is a
concept that is intertwined between all characters, however it is handled and
respected in different ways. While power is often seen as a beneficial part of
one’s life, it can often lead to negative decisions and treatment of those
around you. The role of power within the novel displays the both positive and
negative side effects of authority and privilege within people’s lives. Along
with this, it also demonstrates how one’s power can ultimately lead to
decisions that affect those people around you. For example, Lou’s access and
abuse of power ultimately effects his family and girlfriend, as described in
pages 64 and 65. Lou’s daughter is described as, “the adolescent daughter of a
twice-divorced male will do everything in her limited power to distract him
from said girlfriend’s presence.” In this quote, the idea of limited power
hinders Charlie from being happy with her father’s choices. Lou’s power allows
him to deter all the opinions of those around him in order to gain
satisfaction.
Another
example of power is discussed on page 103, when Bennie and Scotty are
conversing: “all at once I felt strong, as if some balance had tipped in the
room and all of Bennie’s power – the desk, the view, the levitating chair –
suddenly belonged to me…Power is like that, everyone feels it at once.”(103)
This exert demonstrates how many characters have a sense of power struggle when
interacting with other characters, and introduces the idea that power is
limited. Within the music industry, power is directly correlated to success,
and this is why many of the characters in this novel has such a struggle with
coming to terms with their deteriorating amount of power.
After
focusing on the word “power” throughout this novel, I realize that the
characters with the most power are the ones I have sympathized with the least,
such as Lou or Jules. I think when
reading this novel, it is important to question: why did Jennifer Egan
incorporate so many references to the characters’ power within the novel?
I
believe she emphasizes the idea of power to suggest power is a universal notion
that everyone longs for, and how one uses their power can ultimately affect
your own life and the lives around you. On Oncourse, I found an article written
by Egan relating to her experience with eating disorders, and in it, she
mentions the idea of power behind the illness: “Our route to worldly power
involved shrinking the world to match the dimensions of our own small (but
never small enough) bodies, and then dominating those.” While Egan is directly
referring to her own experience, I believe this quote can also relate to many
characters within her novel. Many of her characters are intertwined in a crazy,
exotic world that enables them easy access to power. What is interesting is
that many of her characters end up feeling powerless and alone as a result to
their attempted “power scheme.” Do you believe that Egan is using her own
experiences with power to fuel her characters’ power struggles?
While I do believe that Egan is using personal experiences to mold power struggles in the novel, I also think that the power struggles arise from conflict among the different ideals and goals of the various characters. In an interview that we watched in class, Egan explained that she wrote the novel by compiling a bunch of different scenarios she had imagined. These scenarios contradict one another; hence a different character takes the reigns in each chapter.
ReplyDeleteComparing the chapter centered on Jules and the chapter centered on his sister Stephanie demonstrates this contradictory element in the novel. Stephanie feels guilty for lying to Bennie about playing tennis with Kathy at the club, but playing tennis with Kathy gives Stephanie the social power she desires. As hard as she has worked to gain and maintain that social power, she gives it up to be loyal to Bennie. The novel reads, “In that moment, Stephanie knew she would cancel her game with Kathy—stand Kathy up, in essence—and drive to Manhattan to meet Bosco at ten” (p.120-121).
Jules, on the other hand, has no problem with faking it and lying to get what he wants for his story on Kitty Jackson. He has a much more self-centered, independent mindset than Stephanie does. He notes, “if the piece stinks… it might very well be killed, thus further reducing my stock in New York and Los Angeles…” (p.172). Jules and Stephanie’s mindsets are so different that their power quests have varying limits.
I do think that Egan is using her own personal experiences with power in writing this book. In the quote that you used about eating disorders, she talks about trying to shrink the world down and have power over it that way. Several of the characters in the book are trying to do that as well.
ReplyDeleteThe best example of that I can think of is Bennie. He wraps himself up in his music and becomes almost obsessive over its quality. Egan writes, "[Bennie] listened for muddiness, the sense of actual musicians playing actual instruments in an actual room.… everything was an effect in the bloodless constructions Bennie and his peers were churning out. He worked tirelessly, feverishly, to get things right, stay on top, make songs that people would love…above all, to satisfy the multinational crude-oil extractors he'd sold his label to five years ago." (page 22-23)
This passage also serves to underline Bennie’s powerlessness. He shrinks the world down to just his music and his record label and he has the illusion of power over it, and his perfectionism is an outward sign of that. However, it’s his corporate lords and masters who actually pull the strings on Sow’s Ear Records, leaving him with a much smaller degree of control over it than he would like to believe.
I believe Egan focuses on power so much for her characters because it is their misuse of power that is what causes them so much regret in their respective current situations. The clearest example is Lou, who uses his power, both sexual and reputational, to hold dominance over various women and in his business. Bennie regrets using his power to give deals to musicians that he feels deep down are not up to par, which saddens him due to his unique insight and experiences with the music business. Jocelyn had little power, really only the power of her sexuality, which she misused by giving to Lou, who in turn abuses by using her and then leaving for long stretches of time. Jules blatantly misuses the power conferred to him by his job, a journalist, to assault the young actress Kitty, which he regrets because of the legal consequences that change his life forever. Dolly misuses her power to try and sell the public a version of a man she knows is evil as someone who is reformed. She regrets this morally because of Kitty being taken hostage and the negative influence this has on her daughter, Lulu.
ReplyDeleteWhile I’m not sure how Egan’s experience fit into this notion of power, I do agree with you that the characters “power schemes” all lead to them feeling powerless and alone. The only exception may be Scottie, who had no real power to begin with.