Time & Titles Anonymous College

Titles of literary works do not exist frivolously. Just like any other literary element, titles enhance a reader’s understanding of the novel; unlike other literary elements, the title is a “stand-alone” element in that it is the first impression that a reader gets from the novel or the beginning of a chapter. Jennifer Egan, the author of A Visit From the Goon Squad, takes advantage of using titles throughout her novel by labeling each chapter with a unique title. With each chapter’s title and the title of her novel, Egan prompts her readers to recognize the repercussions of the time, and later, furthering their recognition of the connections between each character and their encounter with the goon of the novel.

Before the novel even begins, Egan immediately draws in the reader with the title of her novel, A Visit From the Goon Squad. Alone, the title has various implications that can be made by the reader, one of those being that the characters in the novel might receive an unexpected visit from The Goon Squad, assuming that their definition of goon is someone whose purpose is to cause dismay; another is the running question throughout the novel of “who is the Goon Squad?”. This title causes the reader to expect a literal goon...