Worldline
Jennifer Egan utilizes the narrative device of "worldline"; that is, she interweaves characters' interactions with details about what happened to them before the chronicled moment or after the scene she depicts. She does so in a more straightforward manner than flashback, tending to present narratives in the present tense. An example of how she handles the theme that everyone has much more going on than can ever be revealed in a conventional structure takes place in Chapter 4, "Safari."
Because of this chapter's placement, we read it from the beginning as a flashback. Thus, this flash-forward does not function explicitly as such. Albert, nineteen, is a character used for his activity and confrontational decision-making. As a result, this passage creates a striking result.
"Thirty-five years from now, in 2008, this warrior will be caught in the tribal violence between the Kikuyu and the Luo and will die in a fire. He'll have had four wives and sixty-three grandchildren by then, one of whom, a boy named Joe, will inherit his lalema: the iron hunting dagger in a leather scabbard now hanging at his side. Joe will go to college at Columbia and study engineering, becoming an expert in visual robotic technology that detects the slightest hint of irregular movement (the legacy of a childhood spent scanning the grass for lions)." (62).
Moving On
Jennifer Egan’s characters are aware of the fact their lives exist and are expected - even by them - to conform to archetypes of overcoming and “getting better.” Revelations experienced by the characters can underlie their day-to-day interactions, such as Sasha’s with her therapist, Coz, who she employs with the end result of overcoming her kleptomania, or occur when they allow their attention to waver in situations like Sasha’s evolution of goals for her time in the music industry or forgetfulness about the particulars of her friend.
This theme is especially strong because Egan approaches it from all sides; we see the theme extensively through Sasha, but then we are led to witness the extent to which Bennie, her old boss, forgets her.
Family
Mindy, music executive Lou’s younger girlfriend, uses critical theory to understand the familial structure she experiences. This is one of complication and intrinsic dislike or attraction. Beyond our first experience with her, we do not witness her analytical take on the events of her new family but instead see details of tragic ends and age gaps between children.
Egan also presents the theme of family to illustrate how Sasha and others live; they use the concept of family to mentally represent to themselves how their lives ought to end and to make sense of their incremental actions.
Taste
Taste in the novel is used to demonstrate the consequence of tactile actions which attempt to minimize symptoms. Our first observation of this is Sasha’s direct appreciation of the taste her anti-anxiety medication has when she chews it, and we next see the taste of the gold flakes Bennie puts in his coffee.
Both of these instances present the interaction between short- and long-term. Bennie looks at Sasha’s breasts to try to measure whether or not his sex drive has returned, but his disinterest in sex represents a change that will only increase as he ages; Sasha’s anxiety about stealing will abate only when she ceases to steal, which she knows from therapy.
