"my father's brain"

Kyle Reszczynski
English 101 8AM Section
October 27th, 2008
Assignment 5
Jonathan Franzen follows his fathers actions and emotions in his written piece called “My Father’s Brain.” Franzen uses interesting techniques while not always seeing his mother and father too often. His mother informs him in letters written various times to explain what is going on with his father and asking for advice of what she can do to make things better even though she has been complaining Jonathan‘s whole life. Franzen explains that the only reason his parents stayed together was for the sake of their children. His mother has been hospitalized about thirty times in her life and his father had perfect health until he retired. It is important to see the how he explains the relationship of his parents and those with his siblings and family.
As a reader of “My Father’s Brain” I find that Jonathan Franzen says a lot about his parents relationship. It interesting to see how a pair may act under given circumstances within their lifestyle. Before the illness of Alzheimer’s approached Mr. Franzen, the relationship with his wife seemed very unhappy. He seemed to be a very private man and didn’t believe there is a such thing as love. This may be the reason they aren’t satisfied with one another. I think Mr. Franzen thinks his wife is bothersome probably because he is slightly deaf, depressed, and takes strong medicines for other ailments. Mr. Franzen expected to live until he is ninety to see how everything plays out but in order for that to happen he needs to realize his wife is only helping him for a good sake. For instance, how would you feel or what would you do if you feel your significant other treats you poorly not just once but all the time? Some would take it hard on themselves and make things worse and some would try and fix it depending on how severe it may be. The illness of Alzheimer’s could have made situations with Franzen’s parents a bit worse. The fact that he loses complete memory of things he is involved in makes it harder on his wife. She may feel that he needs a lot of attention such as sitting. This is exactly the case. Since Alzheimer’s patients don’t like to hear from people that they need to talk to someone or go to therapy, this creates disagreements and depressed individuals. I think this is important because Mrs. Franzen just wants to have everything be alright and show that she cares for Mr. Franzen. Even though, “She, paradoxically, was the one who slowly and surely lost her self, living with a man who mistook her for her mother, forgot every fact he’d ever known about her, and finally ceased to speak her name” (92), she needs to realize that no one is perfect and things don’t always come out to be what you expect when you suffer a disease like Alzheimer‘s. From the perspective of Jonathan Franzen, his parents don’t live too happy with one another but they obviously find ways to get through it.
The illness of Alzheimer’s affected the relationship of Jonathan’s parents and their family members. It affected the relationship because it didn’t make things any better. In one of the letters to Jonathan his mother wrote, “…he has too much time to worry & think about himself--he NEEDS distractions!… More and more I feel the greatest attributes anyone can have are (1), a positive attitude & (2), a sense of humor--wish Dad had them” (87). The passage in this letter shows that his mother isn’t pleased with what his father’s day to day emotions and activities. It is important also to know that Alzheimer individuals have a sense of memory loss. Mr. Franzen forgets to close the car door, shut off lights, water, and stove. Mrs. Franzen knows these things would continue to occur if she were to leave him home alone. This results in her becoming more and more upset and upsetting for Mr. Franzen because he has to be watched upon and not left alone. The unhappiness affects Jonathan because he has to listen, receive letters, read them and/or write back to his mother. It is a positive way of communicating how each other are doing and benefits Jonathan keeping each other in touch.
Jonathan Franzen’s explanations of his fathers Alzheimer’s experiences create a wishful and hopeful mood. The reason for this is because it is good to know that Mr. Franzen gets the great repetitive pleasure he needs, for instance, “If your short-term memory is shot, you don’t remember, as you stoop to smell a rose, that you’ve been stooping to smell the same rose all morning” (91). This says a lot because since he is depressed or unhappy he gets repetitive pleasures that please him. His will to live is so high that you cannot begin to explain what it means to him. His will to live is in his control and getting rid of his repetitive pleasure isn’t necessarily good for him. It is interesting when he states, ‘“I have always loved your mother. Always.”’ (93) Does he really love her? Or is he just saying that to get him out of the horrid position he is in? I think this passage is of great importance for the fact that Mr. Franzen doesn’t say it too often and he wants his son to realize they haven’t just gone through things because of their kids but for the fact that they are together for a purpose to be there for each other even when times may get rough.
Why does Franzen use writing to explore the aspects of his fathers brain? I find that the writing that he has done brings back more and more memories in remembering his father’s lifestyle. It is important to see how the repetitions of the bolded “my father’s brain” throughout his writing because he is emphasizing and showing that this is what is going on his brain. This technique helps me thoroughly understand and visualize that he wants you to know that his father’s brain means something to him. This perspective seems to be more of a male perspective because he does a lot of explaining and gets down to earth and to the point.
In conclusion, my critical reading of Jonathan Franzen’s piece shows his way of expressing his father’s brain creating visuals what he still can remember of his father. He has definitely displayed an aspect of understanding an Alzheimer’s experience with his strategical writing skills.