Alex Character Analysis in A Visit from the Goon Squad

Early in the novel, Alex is new to New York City, and enamored by the novel environment. He goes on a date with Sasha, during which she steals a woman’s wallet. Alex has strong morals, and stands up to the hotel workers, whom he feels are not doing a sufficient job helping the woman find her wallet. Alex returns later in the novel as a divorced and remarried father of a toddler. He is disillusioned and disconnected from his new wife, Rebecca. He takes a job with Bennie doing social media marketing to promote a concert played by Scotty. He works alongside Lulu, and feels insecure about his work, but ultimately goes on to promote a show that goes down in history.

Alex Quotes in A Visit from the Goon Squad

The A Visit from the Goon Squad quotes below are all either spoken by Alex or refer to Alex. 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:

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.

Related Characters: Alex (speaker), Rebecca, Cara-Ann

Related Symbols: Pauses

Page Number and Citation: 337

Explanation and Analysis:

Through this chapter, Alex has been struggling to find connection with his wife Rebecca. Much of the tension in their relationship revolves around the use of technology. Alex has taken a job doing social media marketing for Bennie, and has been unable to admit to Rebecca that he is engaging in this work. Rebecca condemns this kind of work, and Alex feels a conflict within his own identity around the ethics of the job. Over the course of the chapter, however, he begins to see the benefits of technology as a connective force, though he remains unable to share this Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta imp

Alex Character Timeline in A Visit from the Goon Squad

The timeline below shows where the character Alex appears in A Visit from the Goon Squad. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

In the story, Sasha is on a boring date with a man named Alex. Alex stares at the television in the bar while Sasha tells him stories about her... (full context)

Sasha asks Alex if he wants to go somewhere else, and he agrees. As he stands, she examines... (full context)

The story shifts back to the night of the wallet theft. As Sasha and Alex leave the hotel, a woman approaches and tells them that someone stole her wallet and... (full context)

When the security guards arrive, Sasha tells Alex she will go search the bathroom. Once inside, she takes a Xanax in her mouth... (full context)

Sasha and Alex leave the hotel and walk through the Tribeca neighborhood in Lower Manhattan. Sasha hates the... (full context)

Sasha and Alex talk about the wallet incident. Sasha lies, telling him she found the wallet in the... (full context)

...has stolen on display around the apartment. Her bathtub, which is in the kitchen, impresses Alex. Sasha tells Alex she never uses it since she showers at the gym. Alex loves... (full context)

In the living room, Alex asks Sasha about the stolen objects laid out on tables around the apartment. Sasha then... (full context)

After they finish having sex, Sasha is left with a terrible sadness. Alex asks Sasha if he can take a bath in the tub. He leaves the room,... (full context)

Alex puts the salts in the bath, and Sasha is reminded of Lizzie’s bathroom, where she... (full context)

Fame, Art, and Popular Culture Theme Icon

This story is set in the near future. Alex meets with Bennie to talk about a job promoting a concert. Their children play on... (full context)

Alex feels some tension around taking the job, which revolves around social media marketing. The job... (full context)

Bennie understands that Alex wants to work with sound, but the problem with the industry is it is no... (full context)

When Alex’s daughter bites Bennie’s daughter’s shoulder, the women rush into the room. Alex reveals that he... (full context)

...closes his eyes as he listens to Scotty’s album. He believes his sound is pure. Alex closes his own eyes and takes in the sound, which sounds like choppers, church bells,... (full context)

That night, Alex gets out of bed and goes into the living room. Outside the window, the Empire... (full context)

Taking out his handset, Alex begins choosing people he might try to recruit for the job by three criteria: how... (full context)

Alex meets with Lulu, who is Bennie’s assistant. They are working together on the social media... (full context)

Alex learns that Lulu has known Bennie since she was a child because her mother, Dolly,... (full context)

Cara-Ann wakes up, and asks who Lulu is. Lulu asks if she can just “T” Alex, meaning can she send him a text message. She texts his phone, and he reads... (full context)

Three weeks later, as Alex and Rebecca walk to the river, Cara-Ann points to Alex’s pocket, asking for his phone.... (full context)

Rebecca sets Cara-Ann down, and Alex takes Rebecca’s hand. He notes that lately he has not found her as attractive as... (full context)

...crowd at the wall. Cara-Ann runs off, and Rebecca peruses in attempt to catch her. Alex, left alone for a moment, checks his phone, finding some texts from Lulu reporting people... (full context)

As they begin walking again, Alex remembers the night he met Rebecca. He had chased down a man in a wolf... (full context)

...the concert is unseasonably warm. The trees, which bloomed in January, are full of leaves. Alex had debated how to tell Rebecca about the concert, but she had brought it up,... (full context)

On the way to the concert, they run into Alex’s friend Zeus and his girlfriend. Zeus and his girlfriend say that they have heard Scotty... (full context)

On the way to the outdoor venue, Alex and Rebecca have nine or ten similar exchanges with different people. Alex struggles to believe... (full context)

When they reach the venue, there are helicopters overhead. Alex has gotten used to these forms of security, but today it seems strange to him.... (full context)

Alex leaves Rebecca and Cara-Ann in the crowd after receiving a text message from Lulu that... (full context)

...jumps to his feet and lunges for the door, trying to escape. Scotty grapples with Alex, eventually swinging at Alex. He hits the door, and then knees Alex in the groin.... (full context)

Lulu stands before Scotty, the sun reflecting in her hair. Scotty hesitates, and Alex realizes that Scotty has lost the fight. Lulu offers to walk him to the stage,... (full context)

As Alex watches, he is stunned by the response. He wonders if a crowd at a particular... (full context)

As Alex watches with Bennie, he wishes he were with Rebecca and Cara-Ann. He locates Rebecca with... (full context)

...elated, and says that this kind of event only happens once in a person’s life. Alex notes that after the concert, Rebecca kept asking him to see about a job with... (full context)

They turn a corner, and Bennie says that Sasha’s apartment was right there. Alex feels a flash of recognition and a shiver of déjà vu, as if he is... (full context)

Bennie and Alex begin walking again and Alex says he doesn’t know what has happened to him. Bennie... (full context)

Alex Character Analysis

Alex Quotes in A Visit from the Goon Squad

Chapter 13 Quotes

Alex Character Timeline in A Visit from the Goon Squad