Analysis Of Jonathan Franzen's 'Liking Is For Cowards'

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In “Liking Is for Cowards. Go for What Hurts,” Jonathan Franzen highlights the fact that technology has taken over our lives so much that we have become incapable of loving someone. We have attached ourselves to our gadgets so much that it is almost as if we are in a relationship with them. However, this relationship is, he says, one sided. The technology, which is so beloved to us, has become nothing but an extension of ourselves. Due to this, we have immersed ourselves into a world of liking. To like is much easier than to love, for by falling in love we make ourselves vulnerable to pain and suffering. Liking, on the other hand, does not require any commitment whatsoever. However, the author states that, “To live through a life painlessly …show more content…

In my opinion, social media is a way to bring the world closer and an assertion of consumer choice can be used for promoting issues that matter. A human rights activist can make an unknown story reach hundreds of thousands of people by the ‘simple click of a button’.
Even though, the arguments put forth by the author are relevant to the central theme, they lack clarity. He tends to go off on tangents and loses the flow of the article. It seems that the author has a slight bias against our generation’s obsession with technology, but that can be attributed to him being a quinquagenarian. I feel that the author has not covered the topic thoroughly enough. He has not quite explained the topic in depth or covered it from various perspectives.
Overall, I like the general tone of the passage. Although, Franzen often focuses on the adverse effects of technology with reference to human relationships, it never comes across as an angry rant. Neither does he propagate the Luddite view of technology.
My only contention with the author’s point of view is that technology is not the only culprit. The only thing we can truly blame technology for is enhancing our true

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