Jonathan Franzen's Freedom

Have you ever thought about what it would be like not to be free? What would it be like not to be able to make choices? What would it be like not to be able to do what you want? It's scary to think about not being free, but even in the world today some people don't even have basic human freedoms. Lois Lowry shows us in her books The Giver and Gathering Blue what it would be like not to have freedom and how important it is that we have it.

Freedom and Liberty are explained in many ways and in “Chains” by Laurie Halse Anderson it is explained in the American Revolution by different types of people like Patriots, the rebels that are fighting against the king to become independent, the Loyalists that want to stay with the king of Great Britain, and the slaves. The slaves are working for both Patriots and Loyalists and they chose different sides but still have their own opinion like Isabel who is more on the Patriots side but still has here opinion on freedom. They all have their own interpretation of the words, “Freedom and Liberty” but they're all different. In the book Isabel is a slave with her sister Ruth, and is with a kind woman until she dies then she is sold to the

This concept provides contrast and diversity in the author’s message of coming of age as a family. After the bombing Kenny sees Joey ,after thinking she was dead, and mourns, “Oh, you’ll probably see them nest. He takes you around to see your family before you go.” (187).The startled and confused Joey then complains, “What’s wrong with you Kenny? How come you looking so funny?” (187). Although no sign of Joey’s lack of change is visible, the point of this dialogue is to show the innocents that joey represents in the novel. Her symbolism of lack of aging and maturity is important to understand because overall, her symbol adds up to so much more than inocents, it adds up to a deeper understanding of the symbolism that the author uses throughout the

“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion,” is a quote written by Albert Camus, which displays the complexity of defining the term freedom. Jean-Paul Sartre’s play “The Flies,” defines the concept of freedom as the accountability of one’s own guilt, which allows individuals to recognize their own freedom. Furthermore, an individual that accepts accountability for one’s own guilt and responsibility for the city, or complete isolation, is living in freedom. Likewise, Zora Neal Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God explores the notion of being or becoming absolutely free, finding her voice,

Finally, Myers uses a metaphor/personification to show how freedom doesn’t come by that easily. For instance, "If you born with freedom in your mouth, you got to satisfy it" (Myers #). The word freedom is a very power throughout the book, it shows how the generations of the Lewis's fought to be free but could never make it there. The author compares how freedom is related to food because when you eat food, you always satisfy

Freedom is defined as being at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint; furthermore, to be released from an external force or control (dictionary). “Harrison Bergeron” is a short story that is in a society where the government is trying to make everyone equal, using handicaps to decrease certain individuals traits or qualities that are above average. In the novella Anthem, the people and society went back to the past when they are far into the future. The people are living in caves and have seemed to have lost or forgotten what people before them have discovered and believed. “Harrison Bergeron” and Anthem are very different but also have many similarities, especially referring to family and education.

"Joey has done all she set out to do… even right to the very end, and by sheer will-power (and God’s grace), she was still here to to see our baby’s 2nd birthday. Over the last number of weeks her pain had gotten worse and her health had continued to decline rapidly. And not long after Indy’s birthday my wife decided that ‘enough is enough’. She was ready to stop fighting and she told me so. She said the flowers would soon be blooming back in Tennessee. It’s time to go

During this conversation, the narrator asks, “Old woman, what is this freedom you love so well?” to which she responds, “I done forgot, son. It’s all mixed up. First I think it’s one thing, then I think it’s another. It gits my head to spinning” (Ellison, 11). In chapter eleven, the narrator himself struggles with freedom, both abstractly and physically.

Lizabeth led Joey all the way to Miss. Lottie’s house and Joey was very confused because he had no idea what Lizabeth had in mind. Furthermore, emotions traveled through Lizabeth “The great need for a mother who was never there, the hopelessness of our poverty, and degradation.” (Lines 326-328) Once Lizabeth arrives at Miss.Lottie’s house she had done the unthinkable.

O’Brien also has distinct feeling about his generation when he stated "I was the offspring of the great campaign against the tyrants of the 1940's, one explosion in the Baby Boom, one of millions come to replace those who had just died" (10). This quote in the book can be related to Give Me Liberty where the "baby boom" is a group of people that were born after World War 2 and before the mid-1960’s. He also felt those generational divides did not necessarily have regional boarders when he was told that regardless of nationality (American or Russian) or beliefs (Capitalism or Communism), that war produced the same deadly outcomes (61). I Compared this to Give Me Liberty where Forner stated that American aid poured into South Vietnam in order

Freedom is an individual’s ability to go about day to day life without restraint or interference from someone of a higher power. Shantung Compound: The Story of Men and Women Under Pressure by Langdon Gilkey and There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America by Alex Kotlowitz both explore the idea of what it means to be free. More specifically, Gilkey explores what it means to temporarily lose freedom in the Weihsien Camp while Kotlowitz explores what it means to never have freedom in the Henry Horner Homes. Through the documentation of these two very different living situations, it is clear that the individuals of the Weihsien Camp had more freedom than those in the Henry Horner Homes. The individuals in

Lastly, the climax reveals how telling the truth is the moral thing to do. When Cory got the courage to tell Mr. Kim of his past mistakes, he has a really hard time doing it. “Joey tell your father I stole some food from your market and I ran out” (161). Even though Cory had an idea that telling what he did will damage his relationship with Mr. Kim, he sacrificed that to do the right thing. After the long wait Mr. Kim spoke and Joey translated “My dad says you already have your punishment” (162). This shows how the lie he keep and the guilt he had for years have been so bad that he couldn’t enjoy life. When he did tell the truth it showed how doing the right thing is important.

An example of the freedom is the hooker that Mack brings along. She truly represents the distance they have from authority, and as a result of this freedom, the men have the best day of their lives. They return to the hospital chanting and hoisting up the day’s catch. Although the men now have a concrete sense of identity outside of the “fog” inside the hospital, the Nurse slowly turns the tide against Mack. She uses the fact that he is always “winning things” to gain awareness against Mack, representing his ordeal.

Author’s Life: Jonathan Franzen was born August 17, 1959 in Western Springs, Illinois. He grew up in Webster Groves, Missouri, raised by his two parents, Irene and Earl T. Franzen. Growing up, his passion for writing was never praised in his household, especially by his parents. In a recent interview held in an office at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Franzen was asked by interviewer Stephen J. Burn, if his work was ever encouraged at home. Franzen responded, “Mostly not, no. I hate the word creative, but it’s not a bad description of my personality type, and there was no place for that in my parents’ house… it was actively discouraged as a serious pursuit. My parents were dismayed and perplexed and angry when my older brother Tom

A. Form, structure, plot: Jonathan Franzen uses an interesting jumbled chronology structure to create a complex plot in his fifth novel, Purity. His 2015 novel has a total of 563 pages and divided into 7 sections, each section shows the reader a different perspective of the story about a recent college graduate by the name of Pip, who struggles with a complicated past and $130,000 in student loan debt. The sections, ranging from 40 to 90 pages, contain one character as the primary focus, the spot lights center in on that one character and the other characters fade. A character is basically given a block of pages and some scenes then disappears when a new section begins and replaced by another character, only to reappear later in the novel. Each character’s perspective provides the reader with a 360º angle of the story.