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Definition of Motif
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the central themes of a book... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of... read full definition
Chapter 1: Found Objects
Explanation and Analysis—The Stolen Wallet:
Stealing wallets is a recurrent motif across Sasha's storyline, providing a sense of continuity in her character from her adult years in Chapter 1 and to her teenage years in Chapter 11.
The motif of the stolen wallet appears twice in Chapter 1, when Sasha steals the unnamed woman's wallet in the bathroom and when she later flips through Alex's in her apartment. She again steals Ted's wallet during a flashback to her teenage years in Naples in Chapter 11. In the first instance, Sasha regards her urge to steal as an assertion "of her toughness," but the stolen wallet also represents an escape, or the possibility of escape. Sasha steals the unnamed woman's wallet because of the excitement it offers:
But this wish only camouflaged the deeper feeling Sasha always had: that fat, tender wallet, offering itself to her hand—it seemed so dull, so life-as-usual to just leave it there rather than seize the moment, accept the challenge, take the leap, fly the coop, throw caution to the wind, live dangerously [...]
Related Themes:
Chapter 4: Safari
Explanation and Analysis—The Future Self:
Throughout A Visit from the Goon Squad, many characters dissociate and instead imagine themselves as a person viewing the present from some distant future. This idea of the future self is a significant motif in the novel, and it deepens the themes of disconnection and memory.
One such moment of depersonalization occurs in Chapter 4, when Mindy listens to the cassette Lou hands her. Every time, an out-of-body experience overcomes Mindy, and she struggles to define these experiences in rational, academic terms:
Unlock with LitCharts A+[...] The experience of music pouring directly against her eardrums—hers alone—is a shock that makes her eyes well up; the privacy of it, the way it transforms her surroundings into a golden montage, as if she were looking back on this lark in Africa with Lou from some distance future.
Related Themes:
Chapter 8: Selling the General
Explanation and Analysis—Color and Colorlessness:
Across Chapter 8, the dynamic between color and colorlessness is a significant motif representing opposite ways of masking one's moral corruption. Whereas Dolly and the General are associated with a lack of color, Lulu and Kitty are full of color.
The first moment in Chapter 8 that features this motif is when Dolly informs Lulu she will travel on a business trip sponsored by the General. Dolly enters Lulu's bedroom unannounced, feeling uncomfortable in the very room she decorated for her daughter:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Entering Lulu's bedroom, Dolly felt like Dorothy waking up in Oz: everything was in color. A pink shade encircled the overhead lamp. Pink gauzy fabric hung from the ceiling. Pink winged princesses were stenciled onto the walls [...] And Dolly did feel like a black-and-white incursion into this bower of color, a refugee from the dinginess surrounding it.
Related Themes:
Chapter 10: Out of Body
Explanation and Analysis—The Future Self:
Throughout A Visit from the Goon Squad, many characters dissociate and instead imagine themselves as a person viewing the present from some distant future. This idea of the future self is a significant motif in the novel, and it deepens the themes of disconnection and memory.
One such moment of depersonalization occurs in Chapter 4, when Mindy listens to the cassette Lou hands her. Every time, an out-of-body experience overcomes Mindy, and she struggles to define these experiences in rational, academic terms:
Unlock with LitCharts A+[...] The experience of music pouring directly against her eardrums—hers alone—is a shock that makes her eyes well up; the privacy of it, the way it transforms her surroundings into a golden montage, as if she were looking back on this lark in Africa with Lou from some distance future.
Related Themes:
Chapter 13: Pure Language
Explanation and Analysis—The Stolen Wallet:
Stealing wallets is a recurrent motif across Sasha's storyline, providing a sense of continuity in her character from her adult years in Chapter 1 and to her teenage years in Chapter 11.
The motif of the stolen wallet appears twice in Chapter 1, when Sasha steals the unnamed woman's wallet in the bathroom and when she later flips through Alex's in her apartment. She again steals Ted's wallet during a flashback to her teenage years in Naples in Chapter 11. In the first instance, Sasha regards her urge to steal as an assertion "of her toughness," but the stolen wallet also represents an escape, or the possibility of escape. Sasha steals the unnamed woman's wallet because of the excitement it offers:
Unlock with LitCharts A+But this wish only camouflaged the deeper feeling Sasha always had: that fat, tender wallet, offering itself to her hand—it seemed so dull, so life-as-usual to just leave it there rather than seize the moment, accept the challenge, take the leap, fly the coop, throw caution to the wind, live dangerously [...]
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Bennie's Music:
An important instance of auditory imagery concludes the meeting between Bennie and Alex in Chapter 13, returning again to the motif of music throughout A Visit from the Goon Squad as well as deepening the central theme about disconnection.
At the end of their meeting about Scotty Hausmann, Bennie urges Alex to listen to new music he has discovered. In this parting exchange, Alex describes the cadence and register of the song using auditory imagery:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The mournful vibrato; the jangly quaver of slide guitar—to Alex it sounded dire [...] Immediately sounds thickened in his ears: choppers, church bells, a distant drill. The usual confetti of horns and sirens. The tingle of track lighting overhead, a dishwasher slop. Cara-Ann's sleepy "No..." as Rebecca pulled on her sweater [...] "I think you hear what I hear, Alex," he said. "Am I right?"
Related Themes:
