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A Visit From The Goon Squad Essay

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Introduction The literary world is distinctly not benighted towards multiple interpretations of works, allowing authors to associate their messages with a variety of characteristics in our society. The convention of this resource contributes to the author's style and influences the generation of profound motifs for literary pieces. For instance, in A Visit from the Goon Squad, the author, Jennifer Egan, utilizes allusion as a tool that establishes a meaningful connection between an illustrated motif and our daily lives. More specifically, through the lense of Psychoanalytic Criticism, the reader is presented to Egan's significant motif of one's search for identity and the allusion of mental disorders within characters. According to her interview for BOMB Magazine, she admits to relate to one of the sections of the novel where her "neurotic" side is conveyed in order to differentiate the "recognizable characters" and their "thumping storylines" (Julavits). Notably, intense characterization is a present quality in Egan's work, which leans towards the characters' identities being related to psyche accounts. My question - How does a Psychoanalytic Criticism of Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad convey characterization through the motif of one's search for identity and the characters' …show more content…

Yet the exploration of the value of the characters psyche's has been restricted as not many have adopted the school of literary thought, Psychoanalytic Criticism, in their interpretations of characterization. It is my objective, hence, to scrutinize how the applicability of Psychoanalytic Criticism conveys characterization through the motif of one's search for identity and drawing connections between the dramatis personae with mental

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