Scotty Hausman Character Analysis in A Visit from the Goon Squad

Guitarist of the Flaming Dildos, Scotty is an eccentric musician. Bennie’s good friend as a teenager, Scotty and Bennie stop hanging out after Scotty begins dating Alice, whom Bennie has a crush on. Though Bennie goes on to find success in the music industry, Scotty gets divorced and recedes into a life of seclusion, resentment, and delusional theories about his situation. He ends up working as a janitor and fishing in the East River in his free time. Scotty resents Bennie’s success, and even visits his office once, leaving a dead fish behind when he exits. Scotty continues to love music and write songs on the lap steel guitar, and after rekindling his friendship with Bennie, goes on to play a redemptive, history-making concert in New York City.

Scotty Hausman Quotes in A Visit from the Goon Squad

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

). Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Anchor Books edition of A Visit from the Goon Squad published in 2011.

I looked down at the city. Its extravagance felt wasteful, like gushing oil or some other precious thing Bennie was hoarding for himself, using it up so no one else could get any. I thought: If I had a view like this to look down on every day, I would have the energy and inspiration to conquer the world. The trouble is, when you most need such a view, no one gives it to you.

Related Characters: (speaker),

Page Number and Citation: 103

Explanation and Analysis:

Scotty Hausman Character Timeline in A Visit from the Goon Squad

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

...is told through the voice of a young woman named Rhea. Late at night, Rhea, Scotty, Bennie, and Jocelyn go to Alice’s house. Alice tells the group about a private school... (full context)

Fame, Art, and Popular Culture Theme Icon

...story takes place. She enjoys punk rock music, and spends her time hanging out with Scotty and Bennie, who are in a punk rock band called the Flaming Dildos. At school,... (full context)

On Saturday, Jocelyn and Rhea go to Scotty’s garage for band practice. Alice is there with a recorder that her dad bought her,... (full context)

Bennie and Scotty later drive around from club to club with the recording of their music, trying to... (full context)

...tackle the people throwing garbage. The crowd erupts, and everyone begins slam dancing. Rhea notices Scotty close his eyes, and notes that his magnetism is starting to work. One of the... (full context)

...leaves. She waits, at the top of the stairs, looking down into the living room. Scotty is playing a gold guitar and Alice is behind him with her arms around his... (full context)

Two weeks later, Jocelyn runs away. Rhea tells her parents that she is with Lou. Scotty and Alice have begun dating, and Bennie no longer hangs out with Scotty. Rhea notes... (full context)

...house in the daytime, and it seems smaller. Alice is calm and happy now that Scotty loves her. Rhea wonders if Alice is actually real, or if she’s stopped caring whether... (full context)

...death was not a thing she focused on, though there were instances of death, including Scotty’s mom and her own father, who died of AIDS. (full context)

Scotty Hausman sits in the park, watching women jog past him. Some of them remind him... (full context)

Five days later, a letter arrives in Scotty’s dented mailbox. It is from Bennie, and it says he still thinks of the days... (full context)

The next day, Scotty goes fishing in the polluted East River. He catches an enormous striped bass, and brings... (full context)

The décor in Bennie’s office impresses Scotty. He puts his fish on the reception desk, and asks the receptionist (Sasha) to see... (full context)

Scotty ponders his theory about experience. He believes that since humans are information-processing machines, translating X’s... (full context)

A little while later, Scotty returns to Sasha’s desk and puts the fish, which is wrapped in newspaper, on it.... (full context)

Scotty finds Bennie’s office awesome. The entire city seems laid out beyond his office window. He... (full context)

Scotty is offended that Bennie thinks he came for a handout. Scotty says he wants to... (full context)

Scotty goes to the window and closes his eyes. He can sense Bennie’s fear. Bennie asks... (full context)

Scotty looks out the window and thinks that if he had this view he would have... (full context)

The next day, Scotty goes fishing with two of his friends, Sammy and Dave. As the sun rises, he... (full context)

Scotty walks home, noting the beauty of the spring in New York City. He looks forward... (full context)

...reveals that he met Bennie through Bennie’s much younger wife, Lupa. Lupa suggests Bennie play Scotty’s record for Alex. He plays the record, and tells Alex Scotty’s album is selling well... (full context)

Bennie closes his eyes as he listens to Scotty’s album. He believes his sound is pure. Alex closes his own eyes and takes in... (full context)

...pejoratively called “parrots,” to spread the word about an upcoming concert to be played by Scotty. (full context)

...who is Bennie’s assistant. They are working together on the social media marketing campaign for Scotty’s concert. Lulu is perusing a marketing degree, and Alex is surprised that she has to... (full context)

...then, Alex gets a text from Lulu, asking if he has heard that Bennie moved Scotty’s concert outdoors. This means that Alex will have to do more outreach so people will... (full context)

...Alex’s friend Zeus and his girlfriend. Zeus and his girlfriend say that they have heard Scotty is really good, and Alex wonders if they have been recruited for the marketing project.... (full context)

...work has been so successful. He feels like a genius, but begins to worry that Scotty might not be as good as everyone is saying. Rebecca, noticing that Alex seems nervous,... (full context)

...crowd after receiving a text message from Lulu that Bennie needs help. Alex goes to Scotty’s trailer, and finds Bennie and an old roadie inside. There is no sign of Scotty.... (full context)

Bennie takes a long breath and reminds Scotty about the time he came to his office twenty-some-odd years ago and brought him a... (full context)

Lulu stands before Scotty, the sun reflecting in her hair. Scotty hesitates, and Alex realizes that Scotty has lost... (full context)

...response is just because two generations of war and surveillance have caused people to peg Scotty as the embodiment of their own unease. The crowed is bowled over when Scotty stands... (full context)