A West Virginia Journal

January 7, 1959

I’m following what the papers been writing about that couple from Virginia, the Lovings. It’s hard not to follow when they’re headlining every paper ‘round. What I’m getting at is the two were married in D.C. ‘cause there ain’t no law ‘gainst it there but then moved back to Virginia. Didn’t they know that in Virginia their marriage wasn’ gonna fly? Virginia is under strict code, has been for centuries, and this code is made to keep the whites and the blacks from mixin’.  They have to know as everybody knows that Jim Crow got his hands gripped tight round the South. They shoulda stayed in D.C. where no one would mind what color they are but now they in deep with the law. Just yesterday the two confessed guilty to violatin’ the interracial marriage ban and were given a year in the state penitentiary. I read that the only way for them to not go to jail is to leave the state. I don’t know what they are gonna do next, but if it were up to me I would get myself out of Virginia. I agree that the law needs to be changed but the way them folks going about it makes me uneasy. Not everyone is acceptin’ of change. All I sayin’ is that these two had been arrested for gettin’ married, not like they robbed a bank or stole an automobile, but it’s gonna take a lot for people down south to change the way they think. They been raised to believe that there ain’t no way a black girl and a white man are equal ‘nough to go on a get married and I don’t think that their mind is gonna change anytime soon. I am gonna keep on readin’ ‘bout these Lovings in the papers and I wish them the best. Who knows what could happen? Maybe this could be one of them landmark events that they teach kids ‘bout in the classrooms someday. I just wish them safety, wouldn’t want for them what happened in Arkansas with them students just tryin’ to go to school and gettin’ the near crud kicked outta them. Wonder whats gonna happen, but ‘til then, I’ll be readin'!

The House Holds All the Humans' Secrets

"If you were to tell the story of your world, your journey, how would you do it?"

 

My walls are far from bare. Pictures, paintings, clocks and even wreaths have found their ways to hooks, decorating each and every wall. I wouldn't say the extra weight is unpleasant, because it's not. It can shield from the sun and protect from the cold, besides, one can learn a lot by the art decorating a man's walls. And the ceiling, don't get me started. It seems as though my inhabitants are blind as the sheer number of lights which penetrate my walls are enough to light an entire football field, which, from my understanding, is quite large as I have never actually seen one myself. When the humans forget to turn out the lights, leaving their blinding shine glaring all night, I am utterly annoyed as I prefer the darkness. The humans with their human eyes, cannot see, if you even want to call it see as I don't have actual 'eyes', what I can. Perspective, in my opinion, is about experience. It's hard to gain perspective, being cemented in the ground, but I'll do my best to make due with the cards I've been dealt. As someone, once again one can argue that I'm not a someone but a something, who is only an observer I find it easy to criticize those who have inhabited my walls. What I'm trying to say, in so many words, is that I've done my share of watching. Now its time for someone to listen. This is my story. I know what goes on in every crack and every crevasse of this place. I've know for decades. This is also the story of the families who've lived within me. Oh, where are my manners? I should be well learned as a pleasant Protestant family with immaculate etiquette has once been residents. They were kind enough, a little dry for my tastes but served me well. The Cambells painted my walls with a lovely, pastel, eggshell purple, a lavender one can argue. But before I'm able to deviate again, I, as I am formally known, am the ranch-style home located at six Annette road.

My story, would be told from the point-of-view of the house.

Who knows the secrets of a family better than the house in which they reside? One can create a façade fooling the public, but once inside the comforts of their own home they return to their true nature.

Pets, becoming a part of the family?

My family's received countless Christmas cards where the dog is right smack in the middle of the picture, next to the smiling children. Americans today are treating their pets as members of their family, a child to care for and nurture. Dogs have come a long way from just being used as hunting companions or sheep herders. Two-thirds of American households own at least one pet, totaling to about 7.1 million. A reason for the increase in pet ownership is that it has become more affordable for Americans with the growth of the middle-class. Another huge reason pets have grown in numbers is their loving nature. Pets don't judge, they don't talk back, and they are completely loyal. They are the perfect companion and provide for a sense of stability in one's life. You know that when you return after a tough day your furry friend will be there waiting for you. They know how to cheer you up, the perfect time to help and what mood you're in. It's no wonder Americans are treating them as a valued part of the family. They care about the family just as a person would, protecting its master the best it can. If unconditional love isn't enough to be considered family, I don't know what is.

Goon Squad Character Map

http://prezi.com/qkuyo10krc70/a-visit-from-the-goon-squad-character-map/

Time's a Goon.

This novel sets out to send a message: as time goes on trends fade, and as those trends fade it is replaced by the next hot topic of discussion. That new topic will eventually become a thing of the past as tomorrow's generation has created something bigger and better. This constant cycle of replacing and adapting is addressed by Egan through an array of characters. She depicts them throughout different stages of their life, well adapt to society's culture and what was expected of them by their generation. As a teen, Bennie was focus on his drive to make it as a punk rocker, complete with a Mohawk and a dream. When he reaches adulthood Bennie is still in music business, however he has lost his drive to make it as a musician. He has become a record executive, conformed to what society expected as having the dream to become a musician is unfitting and unrealistic. Readers see how time and expectation shaped the course of Bennie's life, taking his dreams and aspirations and crushing them, crushing them into thin pieces of gold to be poured upon the coffee cup that is life. Goon Squad is a novel about aging, about being forced to grow up, and being forced to accept it.

 

Why is fitting this book into a defined literary category such an imperative and daunting task? Does it add to the plot discovering once and for all that Goon Squad is in fact a novel? The form is challenged throughout the book only adding to the storyline, so the necessity to categorize Goon Squad only takes away from its overall effect. There needs to be no definite form in literature; unique narrative thrives off the complex blending of genres and writing styles and to constrain such elements is to eradicate innovation in literature. The emotional response Goon Squad draws from its readers wouldn't have been accomplished if the novel was constructed any other way. The PowerPoint, newspaper article, and second person writing style works. It's crazy but they work. We see inside the mind of the characters, they become real to the reader, taking on a persona of their own, one in which a narrator would be unable to capture.

 

 

 Pushing boundaries, breaking from tradition, and separating from the norm, these ideals have become a part of today's society, one that champions originality and encourages creativity. Egan takes the notion of new and unexpected and runs with it, as no one could have predicted the end result. What Egan creates is an innovative novel that captures the reader's attention with its constant spanning of time and characters as each chapter's perspective is up for grabs. I have never read a novel like this before. I have never had the experience of reading a book and not knowing which characters were to be introduced, what stories were coming, and which time period the story was to be taking place. What results is a novel that requires one to think and engage in what's happening and because of the effort required of the readers there is an attachment to the characters as you've become invested in their stories and lives.

 

 

What is going to become of my generation when our children are the innovators? Egan gives us a hint of the future with her final chapter of speculative fiction. She warns of children becoming reliant on technology at a young age and that marketing has become directed to appeal to their age group. This thought scares me. I am afraid to think that I am going to become the grandmother who annoys her grandson, begging him to explain this shiny new contraption or the bright new gadget. Readers are shown how time can pass a person by and how society, with its superficial standards, is continuously striving for the next innovative breakthrough.

 

 

"I used to rule the world, seas would rise when I gave the word; now in the morning I sleep alone, sweep the streets I used to own."

 

Time's a goon.

 

Chapter 12, innovation at its best.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I embarked on the ominous "PowerPoint" chapter. Would it live up to the hype it was receiving from the class? How could there be a random PowerPoint thrown into a novel that already had a news article for a chapter and contained a section written in the second person? It seemed as though Egan wanted to drive her readers insane while writing, "what would completely blow their minds? I've already thrown in an umpteenth amount of characters, a constantly shifting time line, and very, very confusing plot, ...how about adding article and a PowerPoint? That would really throw 'em off." The crazy thing is, it works.

This book isn't like others. It's far from normal, so I'm not quite sure why I thought it would be. Throughout the novel we see a series of events unfolding, these events, which seem unrelated and obscure, matter, the characters matter. Evidence of this is when a character, Lulu, is mentioned in the middle of chapter four as the future wife of the future grandson of a present character. She is given only a sentence but returns in chapter eight and again in chapter 13. A character who seemed so irrelevant returns and has a big role in the book's ending.

The chapter I found to be the most innovative would in fact be the PowerPoint chapter. I know it sounds cliché as the entire class probably choose it but there's a reason for it: it's different, very, very different. The chapter allows readers to see into the mind of its creator, Alison. We see her life through her eyes, although we've seen the two characters she calls mom and dad in a different light. We are able to see the feelings of appreciation and resentment she shares for each of them and why they exist. In a few words, the PowerPoint is able to make what most writers of regular chapters aren't: a connection. We, the readers have invested time in the characters of Sasha and Drew and to see them portrayed as a mother and father, especially through a PowerPoint created by their daughter, it gives the characters so much more depth that a typical novel can't reach.

Goon Squad is different, but it's a good different. It's the kind of different that opens new doors in literature, questioning the status quo, creating future masterpieces.

Complex narrative, creating complex television.

Television today is confusing. One of my favorite shows, Game of Thrones, has many characters which required me to search a map. Well, here it is:

 

 

  This map doesn't even cover the amount of characters introduced. Each character has their own back story, their own relationships. There are twists and turns in every episode, keeping viewers constantly on their toes. This show doesn't follow the mold of those before it. Full House didn't have me cringing, gasping, or crying. I wasn't hoping that DJ would find her dragons or that Danny would emerge victorious in his revolt against the Lanisters. What contemporary television does is it keeps you engaged, keeps you thinking. It's not the mindless shows that run on Saturday afternoons. Each episode ends in a cliffhanger, causing you to wonder where on earth the writers are going next episode. Game of Thrones isn't the only show taunting its views.

 

  Lost, the immensely popular adventure drama, makes its viewers nuts with smoke monsters, flash backs and ominous talk of 'the others'. I've just completed season one and I can say that it ties as one of my favorite shows with Thrones. I never know what's coming next, where the story is headed. This isn't your average castaway story, there is something strange about this island these unlucky flighters found themselves on. Season one wraps up without voices or sounds, just instrumental music tuning it all out. The viewers see the castaways boarding the plane, ending with the beginning, showing those who are still alive, struggling and deserted, and those who have perished, casualties of the island. The dramatic end, with its music and flashback, served to me as an in memoriam, mourning those who died and the lives all the castaways once lived. It drew an emotional response from me and I am sure I'm not alone.

 

 

That's contemporary television. Those shows that reach the viewers within, making them think, making them angry, upset, anxious, making them feel as though they knew these characters. Television is no longer a one sided activity, it requires, DEMANDS, the attention of its viewers, creating a never before seen experience.



Kleptomania....what's that?

Kleptomania is defined as a irresistible need to steal, resulting from emotional disturbance rather than economic need.

I hadn't know that kleptomania was, I mean, I knew that people stole things for fun but I didn't know they stole out of necessity, to fill the void that was forming from the need to swipe something, anything. It's the way their brains are wired, they way they think and feel. It's an emotional state, a mental disorder and is not brought on by choice. Kleptomaniacs live a life of shame, they are embarrassed of who they are and what they do.

 

 

Following Sasha in chapter one of Goon Squad we see that she doesn't want this, to be this person. She snatches the wallet of an unsuspecting bathroom occupant,  one who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. What follows is an exhilarating flow of emotions. The night is no longer a dull date, but an evening filled with an abundance of possibilities. I can't say Sasha's actions are justified, stealing's a crime. But the world's not black and white and not everything in this world is just.