Freedom

"I had a theory about that, but I looked it up and it turned out to be wrong. Jonathan Franzen said in an interview why he called it Freedom , that he gave the title to the publisher because he really, really wanted to be free. My theory was rather different. In the book, some people explore their own freedom in relationships with others – there is the boy Joey, Patty’s son, who behaves very badly. He’s really seeking the edge of freedom – trying to be really free in that family, and harming other people by doing so. Later on in the novel, Patty explores her own freedom in a way that harms her husband. When I finished the book I thought it was about people seeking freedom at the cost of others. And although I can imagine people seeing the world in that way, that is something I really didn’t like about the book. People can be free and act free, and still have responsibility for other people’s feelings. Jonathan Franzen lets his characters – especially Joey and Patty – get away with being really self-interested and just pursuing their own interests without caring for the interests of the ones they love. It’s a wonderful novel, but this really gives freedom a bad name. It’s the same with Geert Wilders and his Freedom Party – which is not really a party, more of a movement. He took the word freedom, but what he means by it is that he should be free to do whatever he wants. It’s not that everybody should be free – he denies freedom to people from other cultures. He is pro-freedom, but only for people who think like he does. Both Jonathan Franzen and Geert Wilders give freedom a bad name, which is a pity, because it’s such an important concept. Personal freedom and the experience of freedom is a very important part of becoming happy. You can’t be really happy if you don’t feel free."