Visit From The Goon
Children of Divorce
A theme that stood out to me, in Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad, was the effects on children caused by divorce. Adults whose parents have divorced are likely to experience serious social, emotional and psychological troubles (Arkowitz). One of the main characters in Egan’s book, Sasha, experiences divorce at a young age, which results in an unstable life. Jennifer Egan can relate to Sasha, since was also a child of divorce, at the early age of two. Egan refers to her adolescences as being “manifestly uneasy” (Kellogg). Divorce researcher Dr. Judith Wallerstein claims:
Divorce is a life-transforming experience. After divorce, childhood is different. Adolescence is different. Adulthood—with the decision to marry or not and have children or not—is different. Whether the outcome is good or bad, the whole trajectory of an individual’s life is profoundly altered by the divorce experience (Davey).
Although I have never experienced a divorce within my family, it is clear that with divorce comes some kind of change. Ones life will no longer be the same, especially for children, who often look up to their parents with great admiration.
In the chapter, “Good-bye, My Love,” Sasha is living in Naples alone, two years after running away from home at age seventeen. “Disappeared like her father, Andy Grady, a berserk financier with violet eyes who’d walked away from a bad business deal a year after his divorce with Beth and hadn’t been heard from again” (Egan 213). Another connection I made to Jennifer Egan was that her stepfather, who eventually also divorced her mother, was an investment banker (Kellogg).
Before Andy’s disappearance, life in the Grady household was tough. In one summer alone, Sasha’s mother, Beth, received two dislocations of her left shoulder and a broken collarbone from her husband (Egan 218). Although Sasha had her uncle Ted, who took her out of the house during some fights, problems are visible to children in high-conflict
A theme that stood out to me, in Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad, was the effects on children caused by divorce. Adults whose parents have divorced are likely to experience serious social, emotional and psychological troubles (Arkowitz). One of the main characters in Egan’s book, Sasha, experiences divorce at a young age, which results in an unstable life. Jennifer Egan can relate to Sasha, since was also a child of divorce, at the early age of two. Egan refers to her adolescences as being “manifestly uneasy” (Kellogg). Divorce researcher Dr. Judith Wallerstein claims:
Divorce is a life-transforming experience. After divorce, childhood is different. Adolescence is different. Adulthood—with the decision to marry or not and have children or not—is different. Whether the outcome is good or bad, the whole trajectory of an individual’s life is profoundly altered by the divorce experience (Davey).
Although I have never experienced a divorce within my family, it is clear that with divorce comes some kind of change. Ones life will no longer be the same, especially for children, who often look up to their parents with great admiration.
In the chapter, “Good-bye, My Love,” Sasha is living in Naples alone, two years after running away from home at age seventeen. “Disappeared like her father, Andy Grady, a berserk financier with violet eyes who’d walked away from a bad business deal a year after his divorce with Beth and hadn’t been heard from again” (Egan 213). Another connection I made to Jennifer Egan was that her stepfather, who eventually also divorced her mother, was an investment banker (Kellogg).
Before Andy’s disappearance, life in the Grady household was tough. In one summer alone, Sasha’s mother, Beth, received two dislocations of her left shoulder and a broken collarbone from her husband (Egan 218). Although Sasha had her uncle Ted, who took her out of the house during some fights, problems are visible to children in high-conflict
Cited: Arkowitz, Hal. et al., “Is Divorce Bad for Children?” Scientific American Mind. Scientific American Mag., 14 Feb. 2013. Web. 7 Apr. 2014. Egan, Jennifer. A Visit from the Goon Squad. New York: Anchor Books, 2011. Print. Egan, Jennifer. “West Village June 2008.” Jenniferegan.com. Jennifer Egan. Web. 10 Apr. 2014 Fackrell, Tamara, and Alan Hawkins. “Should I Keep Trying To Work it Out?” Divorce.usu.edu. Extension Utah State University. Oct. 2009. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. Fagan, Patrick. “The Effects of Divorce on Children.” Worldcongress.org. World Congress of Families. 8 Nov. 1999. Web. 9 Apr. 2014. Kellogg, Carolyn. “Jennifer Egan’s trajectory through life.” Articles.latimes.com. LA Times. 29 Apr. 2011. Web. 10 Apr. 2014