Diction in A Visit from the Goon Squad

An author's choice of words is her most important decision; it literally makes the novel. Words set the tone of the novel, and the author's diction can also give readers insight to the characters' personalities without explicitly stating them. Jennifer Egan uses a number of simple words that are prevalent from chapter to chapter, but are used differently by each character, giving the reader a sense of what that words means to them. Her characters are driven by emotion, one such emotion being anger.

Anger is a common link among the characters of Goon Squad. Just about every single one of the myriad of characters in the novel feels it at some point and expresses it differently. Anger is a passing sensation for Bennie, one he has learned to get used to. "Bennie blinked, stung, he felt a gust of anger at Sasha that passed a few seconds later, leaving odd relief" (33). This anger can pop up at any time for Bennie, normally originating from some memory such as, "As he and Chris left the car, the memory of his last visit provoked a convulsion of anger in Bennie that made heat roll up toward his head--why the fuck hadn't anything happened in all this time?" (27). Rolph, on the other hand, sees anger the way a young child would: as a purely physical response that one can see and recognize. "Her thin purple sweater rises and falls quickly as she breathes. Rolph is surprised by how angry he is," (74) or, "Rolph gapes at him. His father angry, a muscle jumping in his jaw, and without warning Rolph is angry too" (78). He processes anger by the way it changes people on the outside, sometimes he isn't even sure why someone's angry, he only understands the fact that they are. And he recognizes the subsiding of the emotion through physical clues as well, for example, "His father's arm is around her. He isn't angry at her, so neither is Rolph" (79). This is clearly the view of anger through the lens of someone emotionally immature; he barely understands anger or the causes of it, he can't even harness his own anger without the guidance of others, and he merely views it as just another part of life. Bennie has had a long history with anger, its feeling is familiar and he has learned how to internalize it, Rolph is a young boy still trying to get familiar with the powerful emotion. Although none of that is stated explicitly, Egan's use of anger with different characters gives the reader a deeper understanding of who they are.