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1. Introduction

When I finished reading The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen I wanted to know if there is a general theme or problem that connects the Lambert’s siblings. The title of book itself has a negative connotation and makes it clear from the start that somebody already did something wrong. By reading the title, one can already anticipate that there is something wrong. However, it is not as Joseph Epstein suggested that the characters in the novel are because of their problems at various times on some sort of ‘correction’ pill (Epstein, 2002). The corrections or problems that the characters are trying to solve by using medical treatment come with their own lives and experiences. However, the title indirectly presupposes that the ‘hills’ that needs to be overcome in their lives cannot be flattened by taking corrections. Furthermore, the fictional place where the Lambert’s house is situated, St. Jude - saint of hopeless cases- gives further evidence that the characters do not succeed with their plans. Yet, besides these references that are detrimental for the tension of the narrative, the question that needs to be settled and on which the whole tension of the novel is based on; what did the characters wrong and why did they fail? The characters must have faced some problems or obstacles that needed to be overcome. Certainly, as the title already indicates, they failed or did something wrong even though their problems might have been different. Therefore, I would like to examine if there are connections between the reasons of their failures and the mistakes they have done. Although it has been seven years since The Corrections has been published and three years, it has been included in the Time magazine's list of the 100 best English-language novels, not much has been written about it yet. Thus, I mainly used the novel itself for my researches, since most of the secondary literature I found, tried to see The Corrections as a ‘Novel of Globalisation’ that indirectly conveys market regulations (James Annesley, 2006) or as a narrative that portrays Midwestern stereotypes

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(Poole, 2008). I don’t want to look at The Corrections from a certain angle in order to understand it; I want to look in the novel to find the connections of the Lambert’s siblings problems.

2. Gary’ s problems

His impulse on his birthday [...] was to weep. From certain pop-psychology books on Caroline’s nightstand, however, he’d learned to recognize the Warning Signs of clinical depression, and one of these Warning Signs, the authorities all agreed, was a proclivity to inappropriate weeping. (Franzen, 2002, 148)

When reading these lines of the third chapter it is for reader apparent enough that Gary suffers under severe depressions. However, throughout the first couple of paragraphs of the third chapter Gary’s thinking appears reliable. The story is presented by a figural narrator. It is the first time in the novel that Gary’s thoughts are focalised and thus there is a tendency to trust them. Accounts such as “Gary had been worrying a lot about his mental health, but on that particular afternoon, [...] the weather in his brain was warm and bright as the weather in Philadelphia.” (145) or even “He was not the least bit clinically depressed.” (146) do not appear suspicious. Nevertheless, the evidence for his depression hardens. He faces problems like insomnia “He hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in three weeks.” (210) or anhedonia “He’d read the dictionary entry for ANHEDONIA with a shiver of recognition, a kind of malignant yes yes...” (172) that are typical symptoms of clinical depression. More evidences can be found in the fact that he is looking for lame excuses like “[t]hat it was almost night“ (163) to drown his depressions with alcohol. Furthermore, his wife addresses him directly and asks him if he realizes that he is mentally depressed (191/192). Yet the reason for his suffering remains a

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mystery for the reader. Gary as the oldest of the Lamberts’ siblings, who works successfully as a banker, and as father of three sons and husband of a beautiful wife has actually no reason at all to be depressed. The title of the chapter itself, The More He Thought About it, the Angrier He Got can be regarded as a hint. Gary is obviously facing a problem; he himself does not know where it comes from. And like the title already suggest, the more he tries to look for the root of his problem, the angrier, the more desperate, and the more depressed he gets. Throughout the narrative, the text gives no black and white answer to the question why  

Gary is so unsettled and depressed. At first, it seems that Gary is paranoid. His “suspicion that Caroline, consciously or not, had tried to exile him from the house by putting the darkroom in the garage was another key index of paranoia” (148). Furthermore, he suspects that “Caroline and his two older sons were mocking him” (146). Consequently, he desperately clutches on his youngest son Jonah in order to “secure a tactical ally for his team” (169). Gary’s paranoia is like his depression more a repercussion than the actual reason for his problem. It is unlikely to happen that someone gets paranoid without any given reason. Therefore, Gary’s paranoia cannot be regarded as his actual problem for his depression but moreover as consequence of something, that bothers him on a deeper level.

A possible solution to Gary’s problem that might be considered as his core-problem can be found in his relationship to Caroline. When Gary speaks of “[h]is resentment of his wife, Caroline, was moderate and well contained” (145) it is apparent that he dislikes her. Yet, there is no clear answer, where his resentment comes from. It is certainly not because of her appearance or her origin, since Gary is still “excited by her effortless good looks and by her Quaker bloodlines” (149). Furthermore, Caroline appears to be caring for her children as well as for Gary. The book titles that Gary finds on her nightstand such as “Feeling Great (Ashley Tralpis, M. P., Ph. D.)” (172) or “Middle Ground: How to Spare Your Child the Adolescence YOU Had (Caren Tamkin, Ph. D., 1998)” show that she wants to help her husband. Caroline

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knows that there is something wrong with Gary. “’Gary you are depressed’ she said, ‘and I want you back. I’m tired of living with a depressed man.’” (192). That he is suspecting Caroline that she and his older sons are conspiring against him and mocking him leads us back to his paranoia. The connection between his paranoia and his resentment for his wife can be found in his fear of losing his position as the head of the family. As a matter of fact, Gary fears to admit that he is having a problem and suspects that if he would admit it, he would lose his right for his own opinion. “He would forfeit his moral certainties; every word he spoke would become a symptom of disease; he would never again win an argument” (168). Gary’s fear may explain his paranoia and depression but where does it come from? It seems that he does not or cannot really trust his wife Caroline. Apparently, little bounds him to his wife; nevertheless, his understanding of fidelity goes beyond what can be considered as a stickler for the rules. Gary’s feels less attracted by Caroline’s understanding and caring character but more by “adhering to principle” (233). He is “in love with fidelity” (233). Therefore, Gary does not fear to trust his wife but he fears that by trusting her he would automatically cheat on someone else. The last sentence of the third chapter tells us who this person in question is. “[H]is mother’s news could therefore not be good, Gary believed that she was calling because she knew that he’d betrayed on her (249)”.

Consequently, Gary’s paranoia, depression and his fear to trust his wife come from the fact that he does not want to be disloyal to his mother. It seems that Gary has a black or white perception of trust. Either he trusts his wife Caroline or his mother Enid but he cannot be loyal to both of them. The fact that he changes his side from his mother to his wife at the end of the third chapter does not make him a round character. He has just the opposite position to his mother and wife than at the beginning of the narrative. Therefore, he just changes the person on whom he is dependent from and who is responsible for him. In the last chapter, he intentionally considers himself as the bad child since he trusts Caroline and not Enid anymore.