Time is a Goon

One of the themes explored in A Visit From the Goon Squad, more specifically in A to B, is the idea that "time is a goon". This simple phrase has a lot of meaning behind it. Bosco is the one who originally says it, on page 127: "Time's a goon, right? Isn't that the expression?"

Goon squads are pretty self-explanatory. They are groups of people, often associated with a gang, who would hurt and intimidate those who disagreed with them. The original goon squads came about as a result of unionizing. The union workers would hire goon squads to threaten and assault non-union workers and parties, and anti-union groups did the exact same thing back.

When Bosco says "time's a goon," what he means is that the inevitable passage of time will scare you, hurt you and rob you of your innocence. This is a theme that we see explored over and over. Benny used to be a young, successful record producer. After enough time passed, his business was sinking, he got a divorce and he lost his sex drive. La Doll used to be the name that everyone knew, but she made one horrible mistake and she was swept away by the sands of time. Scotty and Bosco wanted to spend their whole lives like they did when they were young. But time caught up to them too, and they became old, sad and washed out.

"Time's a goon" has never been an expression used by anyone- that's the whole point. Bosco has lost touch with pop culture. When he was young and famous, he probably knew every popular slang term like the back of his hand. But time did what it does best, and took that away from him too. The phrase sounds as rusty and jaded as Bosco himself, because it is.

I am sixteen years old. With every passing year of my life, I have felt more in control of myself and, as a result, more happy. For years, I assumed that with every single year my life would become almost ubiquitously better. But what if in sixteen years from now I feel the opposite? How do I know that I'm not going to start losing my hair when I'm 25, or my eyesight at 30? What if I wake up 40 years old and feel like I've let everything pass me by?

Those "what-ifs" are what truly make time a goon. You can see it around the corner. I could easily spend the best ten years of my life worrying about the worst. In fact, I've probably already spent too much time worrying about my life at age 70. There is no easy answer to any of these questions- no happy ending, no A to B. What is going to happen, will. Time will chew you up and spit you out. Let's just hope we can find something meaningful along the way.