Freedom 1

So far the book Freedom is fairly interesting. While reading, I have developed a great dislike for the character Patty. I know that Patty is deeply depressed and has gone through so many difficulties in her life, but I think that there is no excuse for the way she treats Walter. From the start, Patty has been nothing but selfish in their relationship. The only reason she is even interested in him instead of Richard is because she knows that he would do anything for her. Patty knows that she is more attracted to Richard than to Walter, but if she chose Richard, he wouldn't be the type to stick by her side no matter what. Patty is a broken person and feels as if she needs Walter's desperate affection in order to make her feel better about herself. No matter what Patty does in this book, it is all about herself, and it drives me crazy. What bothers me the most is that every single problem Patty has she brings upon herself. Her complaining is something that becomes tiring and irritating because she could easily fix her life if she tried.

A question that I had been pondering while reading this book is why it had been titled 'Freedom'. It wasn't until I came to a passage on page 192 that I could find a reason for this. On this page it is talking about Patty and her self-pity. "She had all day every day to figure out some decent and satisfying way to live, and yet 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." After reading this I realized that the book is called 'Freedom' because its entire point is to draw out all of the flaws of the American system that go along with the liberty we are granted. The theme of this book is that too much freedom can lead to downfall. This quote shows this by tying in the character Patty to this theme. Patty fits this because she is a woman granted so much freedom that she should be content with, but she misuses it by choosing unhealthy and selfish things to do with it. This theme is then applied to larger concepts in the book such as population growth and global warming. The root of both these monumental problems is that people are given too much freedom, which then leads to major problems in the world. When people are given the freedom to reproduce without care, it leads to overpopulation. When people are given the freedom to harness energy from the earth, it leads to global warming. I think this book is trying to say that freedom is only a good thing when its in moderation.