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The Body and Appearance
Pauses serve a symbolic function in A Visit from the Goon Squad, pointing readers toward the passage of time, and imitating the ups and downs of the characters’ lives. Structurally, the interwoven narratives in the novel are often put on pause and returned to after time has passed. In this way, the novel imitates an album. These pauses, however, are not static. The pauses are packed with meaning. Within them, story continues to unfold, and characters continue to develop.
Pauses often point toward the idea of life and death. In the story “Great Rock and Roll Pauses,” Sasha suggests that pauses in rock music make you think the song will end, and one is relieved that they keep going. So many of the novel’s characters have this experience in their lives. They believe they are ruined, that they will never regain their lives, but often times they are just experiencing pauses in their relationships, health, or careers. Moments of pause within the stories are often moments of reflection and connection for these characters, an opportunity to reflect on the way in which things have changed. Like an album, these characters pause between the songs of their lived experience. For some, the album continues, and for others it comes to an end.
Pauses Quotes in A Visit from the Goon Squad
The A Visit from the Goon Squad quotes below all refer to the symbol of Pauses. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 13
Quotes
At last he found Rebecca, smiling, holding Cara-Ann in her arms. She was dancing. They were too far away for Alex to reach them, and the distance felt irrevocable, a chasm that would keep him from ever again touching the delicate silk of Rebecca's eyelids, or feeling, through his daughter's ribs, the scramble of her heartbeat. Without the zoom, he couldn't even see them. In desperation, he T'd Rebecca, pls wAt 4me, my bUtiful wyf, then kept his zoom trained on her face until he saw her register the vibration, pause in her dancing, and reach for it.
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Pauses Symbol Timeline in A Visit from the Goon Squad
The timeline below shows where the symbol Pauses appears in A Visit from the Goon Squad. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2: The Gold Cure
...on the World, which was in the World Trade Center. Bennie waits out a respectful pause, and then changes the subject back to the band. Bennie tries to rationalize the band’s...
(full context)
Chapter 6: X’s and O’s
...she divorced him. Bennie tells Scotty he worked hard for what he has. A strange pause ensues, during which Scotty grapples with the past and the loss of his friend. He...
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Chapter 8: Selling the General
...his short stature and sullied military uniform. He looks tired and grumpy. There is a pause in which no one, including The General, seems to know what to do.
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Chapter 11: Good-bye, My Love
...says she has had a hard time, though she won’t admit it. There is a pause, and then Sasha tells Ted she used to think she saw her father in China...
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Chapter 12: Great Rock and Roll Pauses
...describes Lincoln. He looks like his father, Drew, but is skinnier. He is obsessed with pauses in great rock and roll songs. Alison states that Lincoln knows more than grownups about...
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Lincoln loops the pause in each song so it sounds like it lasts for minutes. When Alison’s friends are...
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...following slide shows just their father’s response, telling Lincoln that what he says about the pause in “Fly Like an Eagle” is good to know.
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...He clamps them over her ears. The music stops, and Alison waits through a long pause for it to start again. After a minute, she asks if that is the end...
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...He agrees to let Lincoln play some music. Lincoln plays some music, and analyzes the pauses. Drew whispers to Sasha, asking if they should encourage Lincoln’s obsession, and whether it will...
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Drew tries to ask Lincoln why the pauses matter so much to him, but Lincoln continues analyzing different songs. Eventually, Drew yells at...
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...for them, that they are sleeping. Alison hears the silence in the desert like the pauses in Lincoln’s songs. She says the whole desert is a pause. Drew admits that he...
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...asks if he has ever heard of a band called the Frames that have a pause of more than a minute in one of their songs. Drew says Sasha used to...
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Chapter 13: Pure Language
...to become a star. Scotty had dared him to do it. There is a long pause, and then Scotty jumps to his feet and lunges for the door, trying to escape....
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