Freedom

Freedom is the central theme, which is heavily telegraphed by the book’s title. Most characters in the novel claim to desire freedom: the ability to pursue one’s desires and agenda. At Thanksgiving dinner, Joey asks: “Isn’t that what freedom is for? The right to think whatever you want?” (267). Joey’s question raises the additional question of definitions, which is what Franzen is most interested in exploring. These questions include: If Joey is incorrect, what is freedom? What does it mean to be too free, or not free enough? Joey faces these questions soon after arriving at college: “Almost everybody in his dorm communicated with their parents daily, if not hourly […] it also touched off something like a pain. He'd asked for his freedom, they'd granted it, and he couldn't go back now” (241).

Characters like Richard, Joey, and Patty spend much of the story doing whatever they want, indulging their appetites, making others suffer as a result, and then regretting their newfound freedom. The consequences of misusing freedom are more acute and impactful in the story than the struggle to gain the freedom in the first place.

As soon as each character gains what they would have considered their freedom, they grow unhappier and more dissatisfied with their lives. Patty thinks, “All she ever seemed to get for all her choices and all her freedom was more miserable” (181). Whatever freedoms she might achieve for herself, she struggles to leave her past—including her feelings for Richard—behind.

Richard is wealthy and famous, but the cost of relinquishing his anonymity is a sacrifice of his freedom. He returns to building decks because it gives him a sense of greater independence than the rigid touring schedule and constantly recognition on the street gives him. After the critical and commercial acclaim of Nameless Lake, he thinks that he is “at once freer than he’d been since puberty, and closer than he’d ever been to suicide” (193). Richard is never able to gain control over his addictions and self-destructive impulses, which means he will never be completely free.

Walter gives up on his dream of filmmaking and acting, then becomes a success in many ways. But he is never free of his competition with Richard until near the novel’s conclusion. He can also never completely give up his desire to be with Patty. Walter extends his perspective on freedom to America itself when discussing its corrupt political system with Richard and Jessica. He says, “The reason the system can’t be overthrown in this country is all about freedom” (362). In Walter’s opinion, Americans have such freedom of choice that they become irrational and apathetic towards activism.