Addiction In John Steinbeck's The Shining

Secondly, religion and its correlation to addiction are reflected in the novel through the Twelve Steps Program of Alcoholics Anonymous. The Twelve Steps are meant to assist drug addicts in reaching a long-term state of sobriety by conforming them to a higher power, as demonstrated by the second step which explicitly states that one has to,”[Come] to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity” (Hazelden Betty Ford). In A Million Little Pieces, James dismisses the basis of this program and its insistence towards the acceptance of a higher power, deeming it to be an alternative addiction as opposed to a viable treatment option. A clear indication of this is exemplified when saying that, “I have been to AA Meetings

“It was for one minute that I saw him, but the hair stood upon my head like quills. Sir, if that was my master, why had he a mask upon his face?” (Stevenson 84 ). In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson Mr. Utterson realizes that Dr. Jekyll has been acting strange and locking himself up in his laboratory. When Mr. Utterson meets Mr. Hyde for the first time he is weary of him. Mr. Hyde does many questionable things, such as killing a man and attacking a child. This leads Dr. Jekyll to write a note about his duality of human nature theory and how Mr. Hyde came about. In the letter he described how this theory had been his life’s work and that just by simply drinking a potion that he had compounded he became, the evil, Mr. Hyde. After writing this note Dr. Jekyll kills himself because he cannot stand to be Mr. Hyde any longer. Dr. Jekyll is in denial, he experimented with the potion, and because he is addicted to becoming Mr. Hyde, all of this makes Dr. Jekyll comparable to a drug addict of today.

Ever wondered why we act the way we do and how we become who we are? Well it all dates back to when we were just infants. As we grow older we constantly learn from what we see and feel. As babies, we connect with our caregivers in a way we sense what they sense that can shape us as we develop.

The addiction to alcohol emulates the Biopsychosocial-spiritual model. According to the text, the “biology of chemical use relates to the formidable hereditary components in the etiology of this illness and the physical problems that may arise with extended use.” (Wormer & Davis, 2018 p.12). Nick’s father an alcoholic and could explain the heredity and learned behavior portion of this model. Psychological concepts are present in Nick’s life such as the

“Yet it had happened and here I was, talking about algebra to a lot of boys who might, every one of them for all I knew, be popping off needles every time they went to the head. Maybe it did more for them than algebra could.” (Page 125, Paragraph 4) This quote takes place at the beginning of the story when the narrator teaches his first algebra class after reading in the newspaper that his brother, Sonny has been arrested for heroin use. He is so unsettled that he begins to look at his life in a whole new way. The author uses this passage to describe how the narrator contemplates the possibility that maybe even his own students experience more pleasure from the use of heroin than learning algebra.

Soma in the World State is equivalent to drugs in modern day society. Heroin and Opioid is one of the closest drugs that is related to soma, in with being used as a stress reliever and having the same side effects. In Rajita Sinha manuscript “Chronic Stress, Drug Use, and Vulnerability to Addiction” claimed that “[m]any of the major theories of addiction also identify an important role of stress in addiction processes. These range from psychological models of addiction that view drug use and abuse as a coping strategy to deal with stress, to reduce tension, to self medicate, and to decrease withdrawal-related distress” (Sinha). Sinha claims that people will use drugs in order to relieve stress, in the book Brave New World that's exactly what the people use soma for to relieve their stress in life, like what Benard did after everyone had left him or when Lenina went to the reservation had regretted for leaving her soma back at their room.

Stephen King began abusing alcohol when he was sixteen years old. He cites his early childhood unhappiness as the catalyst for his substance abuse. Later, after King had established himself as a number one writer while under the influence of drugs and alcohol, he feared quitting drugs would end his career. With the help and support of his family and friends, King continues to maintain his sobriety by attending AA meetings regularly.

In 1981, the iconic video game character, Mario, flashed on television screens made possible by the Nintendo Entertainment System, marking the beginning of video games taking over the globe. The retro, pixel interfaces of video games quickly strides to advance its graphics, gameplay and quality, becoming an ambitious industry as the years continue on. In the early 1900s, this was an unreal thought by society from the technology at the time, including a man named Aldous Huxley. The author of the novel Brave New World, published in 1932, Huxley creates a dystopian science fiction novel in which a futuristic society must be stabilized, kept together by conditioning the individual. The novel bares a resemblance to advancing technology in the modern day world, particularly the video game industry.

In “The Shining”, written by Steven King, the reader is exposed to an issue that a lot of families face in the real world that of which is alcoholism. The story’s main character, Jack Torrance, struggles from this issue due to his troubled past regarding an abusive and alcoholic father as well as his struggle of becoming the very man he loved, yet hated as a child. By exposing the reader to alcoholism, they are instantly aware of the outcomes of it and how it can affect someone. King uses this method to help enhance the story, to allow the contents of the book to become real and relatable to the reader, and most importantly, to allow the reader to actually sympathize with the main characters.

Despite his father’s violent behavior and untrustworthiness, Huck appreciates and copies his economic ingenuity. Huck says “the June rise used to always be luck for me” as it allowed him to scavenge log and “sell them to the wood yards and the sawmill”(32), an idea shown to be picked up from Pap when he does the same(33). The

Most people deal with addiction at least one time throughout their life whether it's with themselves, a family member, and/or friends. Addiction is a horrible thing that can turn your life upside down. Many people cope with addiction in different ways, people go through multiple stages of addiction, and I have learned multiple lessons about abusing alcohol/drugs. In the novel, Mr. Hyde doesn’t only demonstrate how badly addiction can efftect your life but also how much it can affect others around you.

Up to this point David has tried so many times to help his son relinquish his drug addiction. But now, it seems as if he feels defeated, and is trying to accept the fact. That his son can not or will not, ever change. Prior to this he has tried so hard to help his son. He would talk to conselors about his son's condition “... and continue to drag him to the therapist, even as he becomes increasingly furtive, argumentative, and reckless” ( David Sheff 91).

The themes of escape, addiction, and sexuality in The Basketball Dairies are all intertwined. Jin Carroll first use of drugs was recreational. It was something to do to past the time and to be able to fit in with his friends. In fact, he was so immature and naïve about drugs that he thought marijuana was addictive and heroine was not. It did not take long for his addiction to manifest. Jim Carroll grew up in a difficult time of political and social upheaving. During the 1960’s, the Unites States at war with Vietnam, Russia (The Cold War), and also faced a nuclear threat from Cuba (The Cuban Missile Crisis). Civil unrest, disobedience, increased racial tension and riots also proceeded this era. Young Jim Carroll felt powerless and hopeless in his environment and resorted to drugs to escape his catastrophic reality. Jim stated, “You don’t feel guilty about not fighting a war or carrying signs to protest it either. We’ve just mastered the life of doing nothing, which when you think about it, may be the hardest thing of all to do” (Carroll pg. 128). Jim Carroll was internally wounded by the plague of war. He lived in a world of constant state of terror. To be able to adjust and cope with this reality drugs were his only choice. I believe that if he attempted to handle all of his problems without the use of drugs, the talented artist that he grew to become would have been extinguished.

A number of strange incidents occur throughout the story. Jack finds a wasps' nest while maintaining the roof, uses an appropriate wasp bomb on it, and puts it in Danny's room. That night, although Jack had checked there were no wasps still in the nest, Danny is stung several times, and when Jack manages to put a bowl over the nest, there are many wasps trapped inside. Then in an almost hypnotic fit after spending too much time going through the hotel's papers in the boiler room, Jack smashes the radio, effectively cutting them off from the rest of the world as snow has fallen heavily, and reaching the nearest town has become impossible except by snowmobile.

Tony is an indian. In the beginning, you get the impression, that he is a sweet, innocent and caring boy. He’s very helpful but also very naive. Through the story, it gets more and more clear, that there is something mentally wrong with Tony. He keeps believing, that the cop is something that his parents warned him about in his childhood, wich he calls ‘a masked dancer’. His parents told him not to look into the eyes, so in Tony’s head, the cop’s sunglasses equals the masked dancer’s mask. And Tony ends up killing the cop, and telling Leon that everything is O.K., it’s killed, they somethimes take on strange forms. He also compares the cop’s raised billy club to the witch’s raised human-bone in his dream.