The Dangers of Freedom

Although freedom is commonly seen in our society as a good thing, something that should be defended, in Jonathan Franzen’s novel Freedom, freedom is not always good. Characters often feel free right before terrible things happen to them, and characters who have too much freedom are miserable.

Patty is a prime example of a character who feels free right before terrible things happen to her and take away her freedom. In her autobiography, Patty recalls how “she’d been feeling so wonderfully free” at a party (38). At that party, she lost all of this freedom when she was raped. Years later, after exposing Eliza’s drug problem and lies to her parents, Patty felt free, and so she “sprinted down Eliza’s street in sheer exhilaration at her freedom,” only to slip on ice and sustain a basketball career-ending injury (97). Patty’s feelings of freedom were quickly taken away from her.

Patty and other characters felt miserable when they had too much freedom. In her autobiography, Patty recalls, “All she ever seemed to get for all her choices and all her freedom was more miserable. The autobiographer is almost forced to the conclusion that she pitied herself for being so free” (192). Patty felt that she had too much freedom, and this was one of the causes of her depression. At one point in Richard Katz’s life, “he was at once freer than he’d been since puberty and closer than he’d ever been to suicide” (205). Richard had nothing tying him down, so he was one of the freest characters, but he was unhappy. Freedom is commonly believed to make people happy, but when Richard had too much of it, he felt miserable.

Walter sums up the idea of freedom being dangerous when he says, “The one thing nobody can take away from you is the freedom to fuck up your life whatever way you want to” (383). Having too much freedom causes characters put themselves in dangerous situations and mess up their lives. Joey breaks free of his family, but ends up in a corrupt business deal. Lalitha, “in the freedom of the open road,” drives recklessly, and this does not end well for her (364). Throughout the novel, freedom is often portrayed in a negative light.