‘Freedom’ by Jonathan Franzen
Summary
Jonathan Franzen novel ‘Freedom’ is an artful, intelligent and readable book that is appropriate to the young American readers. It is a novel that was published in the US in 2010. The book gives a preview of the life of several family members of the Berglund’s family as well as their friends, lovers and the close, complex and troubled relationship that they had in the course of their life. The novel touches on the times of the Bush’s administrations as well as partly on the Obama administration. The introductory paragraph begins with the introduction and the brief history of the Berglund family from the perspective of their nosy neighbors. The Berglund family is among the first white family to move back to St. Paul after years in the suburbs.
Patty is demonstrated as a young and pretty homemaker with a self-deprecating sense of humor her husband on the other hand is a lawyer with strong environmentalist leanings. This is evident when he takes up the Texas job and is concerned over the effect of removing of the mountain top. After several obstacles such as the rebelling of Joey who finally moves in with his girlfriends family the Berglund moves to Washington D.C. The readers of this novel are shifted back and forth in the life and times of patty when she was a young girl and when she was married (Seaman, 2010).
In the second segment of the book the readers are introduced into the autobiography of Patty, the autobiography was created by her therapist. The book focuses on the life of Patty as a successful basketball star and her different lifestyle. She is alienated by her parents; she attends a different school than her sisters. After she is involved in an accident that injures her knee and therefore marking the end of her career, she settles down with Walter after failing to get the attention of Richard, the man she gets into an affair with when already married to Walter.
The novel then flash forwards to 2004 in New York where we see Richard as a successful rock star. However, he gives up his career and goes back to building roof decks for the wealthy in Manhattan. Walter who has since taken up a job in Washington calls on Richard to assist him in his environmental sensitization campaign ass well as hold a concert in relation to the combating of overpopulation. Meanwhile the marriage between Walter and patty is steadily deteriorating as he even falls in love with the young assistant Lalitha.
On another angle Joey attempts to finance his college life by taking the contract of providing spare parts to the supply trucks of the US that were based in Iraq. He marries his sweetheart Connie and does not inform his parents. He also pursues and successful gets involved with his roommates sister Jenna. Just like his parents Joey’s life is messed up and after encountering numerous problems he reconciles with his parents, settles with his wife Connie and engages in a coffee business activity (Seaman, 2010).
Discussion
The novel mainly focuses on the Berglund family a bourgeois-progressives living on the St. Paul, Minnesota neighborhood. The novel also focuses on Patty the imperfect matriarch who is portrayed as the unloved daughter living with her liberal New York family. Patty’s parents are the least concerned about her, they are more concerned with the charming eccentricities of patty’s siblings. The constant neglect of Patty becomes unconscionable when she is raped by a boy who then gets away with it because he is a son of an important ally of her parents. The life of patty is vividly shown; as she rejects her East coast background and embraces the more decent mid west.
Patty later goes on to marry her sweet heart Walter who she chose over his rock star room mate Richard. Patty aims at not only being a good neighbor but also a great one. However while in her early forties patty is unable to maintain her neighborhood, her family, her marriage and even her self with reference to the high standards that she had set. Franzen focuses on the life of Patty after she turns forty and she encounters numerous defeats, Patty’s determination not to be defeated by among others her nasty neighbor wars, her affairs, marital collapse, her husbands’ professional suicide as well as her borderline craziness.
The Introduction
The introduction, though brief gives an overview of the lives of Patty, Walter and their children. Franzen gives an overview of their lives with retrospect to their neighbors from the time they moved to St. Paul to the time they departure when their two children go off to college. The readers’ first encounter with the characters of ‘Freedom’ is through the eyes of their nosy neighbors. The Berglund family seems like an assortment of disagreeable caricature that seems to perplex the neighbors of St. Paul where they have moved to. Walter appears to be a weak character that plays a passive aggressive role towards his wife and children. Patty puts up a nice person stunt which eventually is short lived when she is depicted as an ill-tempered individual.
Themes
Reconciliation
The theme of reconciliation is discussed in the book ‘the freedom’ after a series of adultery, the Berglund’s are able to reconcile. Patty has indulged in adulterous ways without focusing much on the damaging effects it had on her marriage. “A freedom that she could see was killing her but she was nonetheless unable to let go off” later, after both Walter and Patty have both committed adultery in their marriage, they patch up their differences and reconciled. Joey is also able to reconcile with his parents as well as his wife Connie whom she had secretly married and had cheated upon with Jenna, the roommate’s sister. His parents forgive him for going astray and his wife also embraces him back into their marriage.
According to Franzen’s freedom co notates recklessness, perjury and an excuse for bad deeds. Franzen’s in the book freedom also holds the opinion that neoconservatives are lying about the caus belli in Iraq.
Joey on the other hand explains that it is acceptable to manipulate and lie to the media for the service of a greater truth. Joey compares those that lie about Iraq to the Arabs who lie that no Jew was killed in the September 9/11 bombing. Basically Joey states that neo conservatives do not believe in human freedom, Joey goers on to clarify that according t the neoconservatives freedom ‘is as fancy piece of outfit to conceal their own will to coercion”
Freedom
The theme of freedom just like the title of the book has also been emphasized. Patty had a lot of freedom in her life and unfortunately it resulted to her being unfaithful and adulterous and as a result her marriage to Walter ended. She later turns to alcohol as her life becomes impossible and her children get out of hand. Walter also misuses his freedom by taking up a job with a Texas billionaire to establish a preserve in West Virginia. For the project to launch the Walter’s employer has to displace hundreds of residents as well as engage in a strip mining process known as mountain top removal.
Joey also messes up his freedom by choosing to realign himself with a group of young republicans while in college. During summer he spends time interning for an outfit by the name of RISEN an acronym for Restore Iraqi Secular Enterprise Now. The aim of this outfit is to privatize the bread-baking industry. The freedom with the relationship with Connie also sees Joey cheat on her as he befriends his roommate’s sister, Jenna.
Change as a theme is also evident in the novel. The Berglund family moves to St. Paul Hill in Minnesota and we as the readers are able to see Patty’s effort to make positive changes to the society and the neighbors they live with. Patty goes on to make baked cookies for her neighbors so as to create a friendly neighborliness. Change is also evident when they had to relocate to Washington D.C. despite having worked so hard to improve the neighborhood that they considered home for many years, the Berglund’s had to relocate after they began to face marital difficulties and tension. Patty also changed from being an aspiring basketball player to a housewife and a mother after she was injured and therefore brought an end to her dreams of being a successful basketball player.
Change
Change is also evident in the life of the characters. Joey after dealing with corrupt activities of supplying substandard parts to the US troops based in Iraq, as well as cheating on his wife, he turn a new leaf and reforms. He even returns the excess profits that he had acquired as a result of the shoddy spare parts deals. His wife forgives him and they are able to mend their marriage. Similarly, Walter and Patty after their adulterous adventures they are able to patch up their differences and love each other again.
The author holds the idea of pain and strongly holds onto it and vividly demonstrates the kinds of pain that his characters go through. The pain of being a mother, wife and a daughter is vividly illustrated in the novel. As a mother and wife, patty feels the spite of the neighbors on Ramsey hill. She was born to a family that was more concerned with politics than parenthood. Due to this, no action is taken when she is raped by a boy whose parents were allied to Patty’s parents. Patty also undergoes the pain of ending a promising career in basketball when she slips on ice. Through the second misfortune she meets her husband Walter and unfortunately their marriage is not blissful. She undergoes the pain of being a wife; she feels alone and engages in adulterous acts with Richard.
Change is also seen among the neighbors of the Berglund’s, at first they saw Patty as friendly but when her family begun to fall apart and her son Joey ran way to live with his girlfriends family, the neighborhood began to refer to her as a neighborhood killjoy and sourpuss, this names evidently made Joey to turn the more against her.
Authors’ ideas
Inferiority
The idea of inferiority is also upheld in the novel. The women in the book are negatively portrayed in the book. To begin with, Patty is raped when she was young and her father does not report the matter. He goes ahead to described the rapist as “an important person in the society”. Patty as a married woman is also shown to be adulterous; she cheats on her husband with his best friend Richard. Women are inferiorly portrayed as easy catch for the men. Joey while in college is able to befriend and become romantically involved with Jenna. Walter is also at one time romantically invoked to an Indian woman. Patty unable to cope with her problems drowns her sorrow in alcohol.
I dislike the author’s idea and perception of women in this book. He portrays as weak and almost as sex toys that any man can get any time he wants to. For example Joey married Connie his childhood sweetheart and still went on to be adulterous with Jenna. Richard is also depicted to be promiscuous and could get any woman that he wants. Walter’s assistant Lalitha is also readily available for Walter and as a result Walter also engages in adulterous acts. It is unfair that the author does not demonstrate fairness such that not even one woman was able to lead an upright life and at least turned down the sexual advances of the men.
Freedom
The author also upholds the ides of freedom throughout the novels. Most of the characters have some degree of freedom, for example in terms of their relationship like Patty, in terms of the decision they make such as Joey and Walter. Due to freedom the characters are able to make decisions that have an effect on their lives. The writer hopes to pass the message that freedom is merely an opportunity to achieve happiness while faced with societal expectations. Joey, the son of Walter and Patty has the freedom of a college student burdened with adult responsibilities. He is determined to pay his own tuition fee. He is free to pursue as many women as he wishes as well as still maintain his childhood sweet heart in case he ever needs to get back with her.
Joey also enjoys the freedom of affluence as he is able to visit the home of powerful politicians of New York as well as go for holiday breaks. Patty, the wife to Walter has the freedom to be a homemaker after the children have all left for college. Unfortunately she spends most of her time reading books and having extramarital affairs that eventually leave her depressed. Patty also had the freedom to choose which of the two men, Richard or Walter she could marry. Though Richard is cooler and much fun than Walter, she chooses to marry Walter who was more like a geek.
Franzen successfully shows Patty to be consciously aware of the emptiness that blank and careless freedom brings. This is so because it is clearly demonstrated that as a result of her adulterous lifestyle her husband, Walter leaves her. Patty goes on to state that negative and insubstantial freedom by itself is soul killing, she admits that “she had all day to figure out some decent and satisfying way to live and yet all she ever seemed to get for all her choices and all her freedom was more miserable”.
Walter on the other hand has the freedom to devote himself to the preservation and the conservation of the North American song bird, the cerulean warbler. He is portrayed as loyal and focused with a concern for the desires and the feelings of others. He has the freedom to resist the allure of Lalitha but unfortunately he succumbs and also just like Patty engages in adulterous activities.
The forth character is Richard Katz. Richard had the freedom to roam the world and enjoys all that it entails to be a star which includes engaging in promiscuous activities with numerous women .All the characters in this novel are faced with the dilemma of what to do with all the freedom that they have. At one point Walter tells a friend that “it’s all circling around the same problem of personal liberties” Walter goes on to state that “people came to the country for money or freedom. And it you don’t have money then you have freedom and that is one thing that no one can take away from you…you may be poor but the one thing that no one can take from you is your freedom to fuck up your life whatever way you want.”
Determination
The ideology of a never giving up spirit and determination is also emphasized in the novel. After he took up the Washington job, Walter finds himself in a mountain top removal mining scheme which after a while goes hideously wrong. He is fired and returns back to Minnesota. Walter is determined to do his best for the bird species; he embarks on a lonely crusade to save the birds. Also after years of separation Walter is determined to get back with his wife who at the end of the novel we see happens. This means that they were in love and were determined to maintain their love no matter the circumstances that they had encountered.
I love this idea because after we are taken through the life experiences that the character’s experiences we realize that it is through determination that they were all able to conquer it all. Through the determination of the Berglund family, they were once again re-unite. Patty and Walter decided to give their marriage a second chance. Joey also sort the forgiveness of his wife colleen as well as that of his parents and it is because of determination and the focus to succeed that they managed to overcome their trials.
War and Peace
The idea of war and peace has been efficiently covered in this novel with focus on the lives of at least the four main characters. Patty and Walter are at war with each other after Walter discovers that Patty, his wife has been having an affair with his best friend and college mate Richard. Patty and Richard are also at war when Patty turns down Richard offer and he goes ahead to show Walter the explicit details regarding their relationship. Joey is also at war with his parents when he leaves their home and goes to reside with the parents to his girlfriend.
Peace prevails when Patty and Walter patch up their differences and gives their marriage a second chance. There also is peace when Joey seeks the forgiveness of his parents as well as his child hood sweet heart and wife Colleen. Generally all the main characters are at war with their conscience regarding what to do with their freedom. At one point the readers are able to read in to the conscience of Patty where she talks of all the time she had to make the right choice but unfortunately ends up choosing the wrong option (Tanenhaus, 2010).
Recent Era
Franzen is focused on writing an up to date novel that is relevant and familiar to majority of the readers. ‘Freedom is a snapshot of the recent times. The novel begins in the second presidency of the Bush administration and by the time it ends it briefly touches on the coming in of the Obama administration. The novel has a plot that features several aspects/events. For example Walter cuts a deal with the mining company that is linked to Vice president Dick Cheney. Joey on the other hand is involved in shoddy contracts to supply substandard spare parts to the US military that is based in Iraq. Franzen creatively touch3es on the political matters in the US but instead of delving on them he briefly shows how the political spheres in the country can affect the ordinary man in the US (Robson, 1996).
Style
Descriptive
The style of description has been used. Franzen’s has on several instances vividly described the characters in the book ‘Freedom’. Patty is described as a “tall pony tailed, absurdly young, pushing a stroller… ahead of her, an afternoon of public radio, the silver palate cookbook, cloth diapers, drywall compound, and latex paint.”
The style of symbolism has also been effectively used. The life and marriage of Patty and Walter has been used to symbolize the. Patty and Walter began their married life intensely but unfortunately they fall apart as the novel ends. This is depicted when Patty has a brief affair with Richard Katz which results to the destruction of her marriage to Walter (Michiko, 2010).
Symbolism
Symbolism has also been used in Joey; Joey is the short form of the name Joseph. Joey joins the Iraqi secular enterprise movement so as to fight for the privatization of the bread-baking enterprise. Joey in this novel can be compared to Joseph in the Christian bible he also took up the task of managing the food situation in Egypt so as to prepare the country for the eventuality of hunger as it had been predicted. Joseph in the Christian Bible was the favorite son of Jacob and his father always enquired about him and wanted him by his side. Similarly, Joey is described as a child “he is like a baby Kangaroo usually is in mothers pouch,” due to his ego though Joey moves out of their home
Imagery
Imagery has also been used in several instances, for example “the rain lashed and the sky flashed” ‘flashed’ and ‘lashed’ rhyme. Rhyme is intentionally used for the purpose of making the readers have a vivid feel of the described event. In the statement the rain lashed and flashed, the writer of the novel successfully creates in the readers mind the image of a storm or a heavy downpour with lightning.
Generally the novel has a homely and lazy tone. Franzen writes “while the rains lashed and the sky flashed,” “fucked her like a brute”. This is plain simple language and it is possible that the writer applied this so as to plainly state the facts as they were and so as to elicit some sort of reaction form the readers (Michiko, 2010).
5 things I dislike
There are several things about the book that I despise; first the book has scenes that illustrate the characters Patty and Walter having sex after a fight. This makes the book not appropriate for all ages and more especially for class work. This is so because of the explicit scenes. Secondly I the structure of the novel is complex and if not keenly followed, readers can get lost in the novel. The novel begins with the life of Patty, then flashes backward to Patty’s autobiography ,briefly we are able to see the life of Patty in the past then shortly into the novel the readers are flash forwarded and focus is shifted temporarily on other family members before the story then goes back to focus on Patty.
Thirdly I also dislike the fact that Franzen decided to negatively denote women in this book. The novel demonstrates that Patty was so absorbed into Richard that she even sleeps walks to Richards’s bed, seduces him and eventually has sex with him. Patty is also described to be emotionally troubled and as result drowns herself with alcohol and wine.
Fourthly I was not impressed by the fact that Franzen over indulges the character in the book. To begin with there is too much sex in the novel. Secondly the characters are like finger puppets characters with clutter of contemporary life. For example there was no relevance explanation as to why the writer had to inform the readers that someone was wearing Chinese-made sneakers. What the writer failed to realize is that information that is relevant of connected to events in the novel should be mentioned and not anything and everything that is unnecessary. It makes the novel so wordy and also makes the reader to assume there is a connection to the Chinese made shoes to the character wearing them yet in real senses there is no connection at all.
Lastly the novel is full of conversations and rants that are supposedly supposed to pass off as dialogue. Dialogues should serve a specific purpose for example tells the reader about the character of the speaker. From the dialogues, the readers should be able to acquire some useful information that is relevant for the development of the story However; most of the dialogues in this novel do not serve any specific narrative purpose
Language use
Franzen has effectively made use of language to bring forth his ideas as well as his characters that assist him in bringing forth his ideas. Franzen uses language to show how people make use of personal freedoms and intelligences that have been endowed to them. He meticulously does this by bringing out the four main characters in his book: Walter, Patty, Richard and Joey. The main protagonist in the book is Walter Berglund who is depicted as a passionately striving person who is determined to do the right thing so as to save the planet or at least prevent further destruction of the planet (Smallwood, 2010).
The readers are taken through Walters’s effort at this through creation of a birds nest as well as holding campaign against the over population of the planet. Walter is able to overcome a difficult childhood and land above his squalor by landing a scholarship at Manchester College where they meet with Richard Katz where they form a life long friendship. The author is able to vividly demonstrate to the readers his power of words as he meticulously analyses the life of each character and the life experiences that they encountered, how they handled the situations (Smallwood, 2010).
The book is not monotonous as each page of the novel is well written and is revealing of the life of the characters. The novel is solid and full of ideas in the tradition of the 19th C social realism. Franzen gives the notion of logorrhea, when one reads the novels it feels as though he was telling an everyday story to a bunch of friends; he is expansive and covers the issues in the book right to the bottom. This is what makes the novel an interesting and captivating read. Franzen is also able to rule out phoniness and pretension in his novel by delving the readers into the consciousness of Patty. “How about the flip flop thing? I have always had issues with their flip-flops. It’s like the world is in their bedroom. And they can’t even hear their own flap-flap-flap-ping, because they all got their gadgets…at least they are not running around in flip flops advertising how much more laid back and reasonable they are than us adults (Smallwood, 2010).
Franzen also uses an easy to read prose with hardly any hidden interpretation to the storyline. The storyline also moves at a fast pace despite the fact that the author frequently changes the perspective of his narrations. The novel Freedom also has a sharp contemporary comic and satirical energy, established and renowned writers such as Franzen refuse to crash their characters. They prefer to grow with the characters that grow in their novel. This explains why as readers we expected that the Berglund family would crash and the novel will basically be a lesson to all that have the character traits like the ones illustrated in the novel.
However, Franzen being the good writer that he has always been did not bring up the characters such that he reduced them to the sum of their obsession and imperfections, for instance Franzen in this novel does not entirely focus on the negative aspects of his character. For example, he portrays Walter as a conservationist who is concerned about the good of the birds and the ever rising population of mankind. Patty except for the negative traits that are highlighted in the novel is caring and friendly and this is demonstrated through the friendly neighborliness attempt that he makes with her neighbors at St. Paul (Campbell, 2010).
There is therefore a sense of responsibility with the writer of this novel. Franzen having created characters in the novel he felt a sense of responsibility for them and grew to like them abetted their efforts situations where the character seemed doomed to fail. The writer does not give up on characters that do not give up on themselves. Characters such as Walter held the belief that the birds can be saved from the cats and at the end of the novel we see him establish a secure sanctuary for the birds.
Patty determination to save her marriage is upheld throughout the novel and though he seems a destined for failure she is successful as we see her reunite with her husband Walter after years of separation. Generally the author maintains an imagination of disaster as we are taken through the hardship, calamities and vices that the Berglund’s family encounters before finally overcoming them one by one. Even with the constant imagination of disaster Franzen is successful in imaginings virtue and in occasional situations success (The Economist, 2010).
General thoughts and opinions
The book is primarily focused on one couple Patty and Walter Berglund. The readers are taken through the journey of their life. This is a cleaver way for the writer to analyze the various aspects of life such as gentrification, parenting, population growth, marriage and sexual commitment, neoconservative dynasties, environmentalism as well as parenting. Franzen skillfully demonstrates to the readers who a good writer can cover more than one issue in one novel. By analyzing the life of each of the characters, Franzen is able to take us through their lives and in the process describe their encounters. So as readers we are not only entertainment, we also are informed on the various aspects that affect our life today. For example it is a fact that the issues of population control as well as environment conversation have to be addressed so as to save the planet from further destruction. The novel also gives information on the involvement of US soldiers on the war in Iraq.
More intensely though Franzen does not focus only on the enthusiasm and complications of the American middle class instead, the novel explores the tension between the stability of communal bonds and the continuous search for self-definition. The main focus is on how freedom exists in strained relationships between partners and families. Broadly speaking the novel is about how we go about making choices about life regarding what we want to do and who we want to be in future. Franzen’s view of the bourgeois life during president’s Bush administration is based majorly on looking what your parents did and then doing the opposite even if the effects could have a negative impact. Besides the novels focus on family crisis, disintegration and social changes lays the question of whether the cycle of personal and social upheaval is the inevitable cost of freedom (Smallwood, 2010).
Conclusion
Franzen has successfully written a good literary piece of work that will evidently pass as one of his best literary pieces to date. His focus on the current era makes the readers identify with the issues addressed in the novel. He skillfully also tackles issues touching on parenting, the Iraq war, marriage as well as sex and marital difficulties. This are issues that at one time or another readers can identify with. Though the writer takes an anti- feminist approach an diminishes the character of the women in the novel, he is able to grasp the audience attention and once one begins to read the book he/she cannot put it down until he/she is done.
The ease with which he tells the story as well as the use of the simple language makes it possible to understand the story and the flow. The main theme is that of freedom and how it affects us and the decision we make in our lives. Except for the explicit sex scenes of the book the novel is a good read and by reading it we are able to see the skill of a literary master at work as he writes sympathetically about the kind of characters whose main problem is freedom just like the name of the book.
Reference
Franzen, J. Freedom. Booklist 106.21. Article Citation. Web. 19 Apr. 2011.
Michiko, K. (2010). A family full of unhappiness, still hoping for transcendence. New York Times. 16th Aug. 2010 article citation. Web
The Economist 396 (2010). New fiction: The stuff of life. Article Citation. Web. 19 Apr. 2011.
Robson, L. (1996). I feel your pain. New Statesman. Article Citation. Web. 19 Apr. 2011.
Tanenhaus, S. (2010) Peace and War. The New York Times Book Review. Article Citation. Web. 19 Apr. 2011.
Campbell, J. (2010). Time for tears. The Times Literary Supplement 24 Sept. Article Citation. Web. 19 Apr. 2011.
Smallwood, C. (2010). Heartache and the Thousand Natural Shocks. Harper’s 321. Article Citation. Web. 19 Apr. 2011
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