The Limitations of Freedom in Austen, Fowles and McEwan

Abstract

This thesis aims to explore the intricate nature of individual freedom and choice and the history’s imposing power on shaping the choices of people and how the novels manifest the dynamics between individual freedom and history with the references of three books: Jane Austen’s Persuasion, John Fowles’ The French Lieutenant’s Woman and Ian McEwan’s On Chesil Beach. Sharing the similar geographical background, the Dorset seashore, each work provides its own ample place to contemplate about individual freedom. Rather than being a place where larger than life characters achieve ruinous freedom and enlighten the readers to liberate themselves, novels are there to present the ambiguous nature of freedom, featuring the limited freedom and characters’ paradoxical reactions to liberation. While the characters in the novels this paper examines yearn for liberty from their family, class, norms and society, some are reluctant to grab that freedom when the opportunity comes. They compensate their freedom for the sense of safety and protection. Depicting these ironical choices the characters make, novels show the limitations of individual choice and freedom. Although it seems that the novels’ view on the individual freedom is depressing, novels, particularly these three works, do not try to declare that pursuing freedom is meaningless or that individuality is permanently lost. Instead, novels encompass the restraint, and the desire for freedom, guiding the readers to have more comprehensive view on freedom.