Author: David Hoffman

Respond to two of the following:

1) A Visit from the Goon Squad is structured as a series of interlocking short stories. Although the stories feature the same set of characters, most of whom are associated with a 1980s punk rock band, no single character appears in all the stories. The time at which each story takes place jumps around quite a bit, with some of the middle chapters being set far earlier than the opening chapters. And there are numerous flash forwards in the stories themselves. All in all, the narrative form of the book is unique. Write about your impressions of and reactions to this narrative form. What does the narrative structure allow you to see better than a traditionally structured story? What is more challenging in reading a novel in this form than in reading a more traditional novel?

2) We do not learn the meaning of the title of A Visit from the Goon Squad until the last chapter when the aged Scotty gets cold feet about going on stage, Bennie tells him, “Time is a goon, right? You gonna let that goon push you around?” The “goon squad” is time.   The book is about, among other things, what time does to people. Respond to several of the following: Who is treated justly by time? Who changes the most? Who changes the least? Whose life turns out to be the biggest surprise? If you are having trouble remembering what happened to who when, visit this page, which has a useful timeline for each major character.

3) Compare one of the characters from A Visit from the Goon Squad to a somewhat similar character from one of the other stories or novels. For instance, I might compare Lou Klein to Pete from Maggie, Girl of the Streets, Bennie to Blake from “The Five-Forty Eight,” or Sasha to Eleanor from “Physics,” or to Maggie. What are the similarities and differences in circumstances, outlook, and conduct of the characters? How many of the differences can be accounted for by personal choice, and how many by cultural and historical circumstances? Make ethical comparisons, too. Which of the characters is a better person (or in some cases, a less bad person)?

In the final paragraph of “Physics,” Tama Janowitz writes, “I suddenly wished I could go back to school and take physics again: I knew that this time I would understand it.  The notion of random particles, random events, didn’t seem at all difficult to comprehend.  The whole business was like understanding traffic patterns, with unplanned crack-ups and hit and run accidents…I saw how emotions caused objects to go whizzing about…”

Because of their density, urban environments produce many chance encounters between different people and different ideas.  There are many seemingly random “collisions.”  But these chance encounters and random events arguably occur within the context of a larger, ordered systems and patterns.

Ginsberg’s “Mugging,” Janowitz’s “Physics,” and the excerpt from Koyaanisquatsi that you just watched all touch on this theme of chance occurrences within larger urban patterns.  Write a reflection on the role of chance and order in these three works.  What happens that is improbably at the individual level, but part of a larger pattern?  Which works portray the city as being more dominated by chance, and which portray it as more dominated by order?  What are the positive and negative  aspect of chance and order for individuals who dwell in the city?

Mention one new detail that you learned from the documentary segment that none of your classmates have commented on previously.

Mention one new detail that you learned from the documentary segment that none of your classmates have commented on previously.

Mention one new detail that you learned from the documentary segment that none of your classmates have commented on previously.

Mention one new detail that you learned from the documentary segment that none of your classmates have commented on previously.

In Chinatown Family, Lin Yutang depicts the life of a family of Chinese immigrants living in New York City in the 1930s. Comment on the similarities and differences between Chinese and American culture, as they are portrayed in the book, with regard to a couple of the following: family, social hierarchy, wealth, religion, and confrontation. If you feel you have the perspective to do so, feel free to also comment on the extent to which Yutang’s portrayal remains true today, or even the degree to which it was ever completely true.

Also comment on what traits the book suggests, through its plot, are ultimately of the greatest value.