The Corrections

The main action of The Corrections is set during the turn of the millennium. This is a time of great financial prosperity—at least for many—in the United States. Materialism is rampant, and hucksterism and get-rich-quick schemes abound. All of the Lamberts must navigate this heady new climate, which is at odds with the more rooted and conservative climate of the American Midwest.

Alfred Lambert wants little to do with market fads or technical innovations; however, they intrude in his life in the form of Axon Corporation, which wants to buy his patent. As Gary discovers, this patent is a key ingredient in a new neurological treatment that claims to be a quick-fix cure for everything from depression to Alzheimer’s, making it doubly relevant to Alfred. While it is still being approved, the treatment attracts the attention of many high-profile investors; Chip hears about the treatment from a financier acquaintance at an upscale New York City deli, unaware of the treatment’s connection to his family: “‘The idea,’ Doug said, ‘is your basic gut cerebral rehab. Leave the shell and roof, replace the walls and plumbing. Design away that useless dining nook. Put a modern circuit breaker in’” (96).

Doug’s description seems like a callous and frightening one, implicitly comparing a person to a broken-down house. Yet it is of a piece with the dehumanizing language that other characters use in this book. Gary, who is a banker, often imagines his own emotional state in terms of the financial market: “Declines led advances in key indices of paranoia […] and his seasonally adjusted assessment of life’s futility and brevity was consistent with the overall robustness of his mental economy” (137–38). Gary keeps a vigilant eye on his emotional state because he is terrified of being “clinically depressed” (138)—or being diagnosed as such by his wife. Caroline herself reads nothing but parenting and mental-health manuals and encourages her teenage sons’ addictions to computers and video games.

This focus on technology and self-optimization does not make Gary’s family happy, nor is Chip able to find his footing in his wealthy New York City surroundings. Gary is successful and wealthy himself, while Chip is jobless and broke. Yet both characters experience a similar brand of estrangement, coming from a capitalism-induced pressure to make themselves simpler and more efficient than they are.