The Corrections Themes

The Corrections Themes

Family

The Lamberts are the kind of people who would go on Family Feud and just end up fighting among themselves. These seemingly normal suburbanites are struggling to reconnect after years of separationâ...

Marriage

We'd like to recommend The Corrections to all of the soon-to-be newlyweds out there—as a cautionary tale, that is. You'll see how a lack of honest communication can suffocate a marriage, meet inc...

Gender

There's more gender-bending in this book than a Lady Gaga concert—and that's a good thing. Enid and Alfred Lambert represent the old world, so concerned with gender norms that they forbid their d...

Mortality

The Corrections is a harrowing look at the slow decay of Alfred, the patriarch of the Lambert family. Alfred's health has been deteriorating from some time, but nobody (himself included) wants to...

Society and Class

Franzen wrote The Corrections during an interesting point in American history: before terrorism was a thing that we ever thought about, before the wealth disparity had grown out of control, and bef...

Politics

So you want to rage against the machine? Tired of being just another brick in the wall? You want to stand up for your right… to party? If you're seeking a book that gets to the heart of our curre...

Contrasting Regions: Midwest vs. East Coast

The Corrections follows the Lamberts, a family of hapless Midwesterners who've become entrenched in East Coast life. For the elder generation, the East Coast represents everything that's wrong with...

Technology and Modernization

The 20th century saw more technological advancement than any other period of human history—whether you're talking about railroads, computers, or brains—and The Corrections is concerned with how...

Madness

Crazy is as crazy does, and the Lamberts sure do some crazy things. The Corrections focuses on two characters dealing with similar psychological issues at very different stages of their lives. Alfr...