Freedom in jonathan franzen: An Exploration of Self and Family

The protagonist's family in Freedom lives in St. Paul, Minnesota. Patty, Walter, Jessica and Joey have their own characteristics.

Patty, a housewife, was born in a middle-class family in new york, and her grandfather worked hard for the next world. Her father, Ray, is a famous lawyer, and her mother, Joyce, was born in an ordinary family, but after marriage, she entered politics. There are two sisters and a younger brother at home, and she has been well fed and clothed since childhood. However, her parents are busy with work and social activities, and Patty is lonely. Only endless basketball liberated her. When she grew up, she just wanted to run away from her family and chose the University of Minnesota, far away from new york.

Husband Walter was born in a poor family in Minnesota, and his grandfather immigrated to the United States from Sweden and earned his first bucket of gold. However, since then, he has been conceited and drunk. By Walter's father Keane's generation, there was little property left. Keane used his legacy to buy a shabby motel that could be demolished at any time. Keane wants to be as good as possible to the children, but when things don't go well, he becomes like his father, drinking and doing nothing. Walter has a brother and a younger brother. When he could have a better choice of universities, he chose the University of Minnesota, which is closest to home, so that he could go home to take care of his sick father and help his mother Dorothy run a hotel on weekends.

Patty and Walter met because they were good friends in college. Looking back, they actually have some deep-rooted similarities. Both of them are the most annoying children in the family. Patty seeks comfort from basketball, while Walter supports himself by studying and working. But there are obviously more differences. Walter has a strong sense of family responsibility and has been trying to make his family better. He is full of respect and love for his mother and hates the behavior of his father and brother. He lived in an interactive environment of good and evil since childhood, but he learned more positive energy. Patty has been running away from her family. She wants to get more care from her parents, but her parents pay more attention to the realization of self-worth. Patty freed herself from basketball, but she didn't know what she wanted.

When she met Walter, Patty obviously fell in love with Walter's friend Richard, a musician full of passion, freedom and novelty. But the lack of family care since childhood made her yearn for a warm and stable family life. Although she chose to marry Walter, there was always a little desire in her heart. She wants to be a good housewife and care about her children's mother, but when she shows excessive concern for her children, the last straw that crushed her appears. My 13-year-old son actually slept with his little girlfriend, but caring about love actually made the child more rebellious. In Patty's view, the role of mother obviously failed. Looking back on being with Walter for so many years, she doesn't seem to have any value improvement. Angry, anxious and sad, she changed from a neighbor's favorite pie to a nagging unhappy pie. But what has not changed is Walter's tolerance and love for her.

When Walter found Patty with Richard, and Patty always had Richard in his heart, his despair and sadness could be imagined. He always took Patty's sadness and depression as his responsibility, and he gave it to someone who didn't seem to recognize himself so much for more than 20 years. Walter couldn't take it anymore, so Patty left.

Going around, at the end of the story, the two came together again, with scars, but their love and dependence have always existed.

This book is a story about the influence of family background, self-exploration and marriage thinking combined with the background of the times. Throughout our lives, we may all be on the road of self-exploration. What kind of partner we want, what kind of life we want, what kind of image we want to show to the outside world, whether we follow the rules or cheat, there is no standard to judge right or wrong. Maybe everyone who is tired of the current job will want to see other opportunities, just like thinking that others will be better in marriage. The age of the people and things we experience affects our thoughts and behaviors, so we often want to get rid of the status quo and think that this is freedom, but we ignore the beauty of the present. Freedom may be the possibility given by the present stable and beautiful state, rather than the panic and anxiety in the state of releasing desire and radical betrayal.