Alcoholism: An Enemy of the Abandon Essay

Scott Russell Sanders’ “Under the Influence” is about a family growing up with alcoholism, mental and physical abuse. When Sanders was very young, he didn’t recognize that his father was an alcoholic, but as he grew older, he saw the bloodshot eyes, hiding alcohol, the deceptions, and the dual personalities of an alcoholic. “My father drank. He drank as a gut-punched boxer gasps for breath, as a starving dog gobbles food—compulsively, secretly, in pain and trembling.” (215). Sanders story starts at the end, where his father dies from alcoholism. The turmoil and fear this family suffered because of their father’s alcoholism, is a story a lot of families are familiar with.

F. Scott Fitzgerald once said “First you take a DRINK then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you.” Later Fitzgerald capitulated and died of a heart attack due to being an alcoholic the last 2 years of his life. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian written by Sherman Alexie talks about a 14 year old Indian boy changing his life. He goes to a white school, and changes into a different person throughout the story. The story talks about other real life dilemmas, like death and alcohol. There are multiple themes that are present throughout the story, but one theme that protrudes is that alcoholism kills.

of alcoholism and its impact upon the lives of the Native Americans, Alexie does not aim to put

Alcoholism does not only affect a person’s physical, mental, and emotional state, but it also changes the lives of people close to the drinker forever. It ruins relationships and trust that took years to build up, and may never be able to be restored. In Jeannette Walls’s memoir, The Glass Castle, she tells the story of her childhood in which her father was an alcoholic. Jeannette’s father, Rex Walls, was brilliant and charismatic when he was sober, but when he drank, he was destructive and dishonest.

Alcohol has always been one of the most profitable industries in the business world. More than $400 billion worth of alcohol purchased in the US alone in 2013 according to an economic website. Alcohol is a common figure where it can be easily spot in every household to grand restaurants, however, it is a huge factor contributed to the death rate each year. It has ruined an innumerable number of people lives due to excessive drinking or affect by an alcoholic person. In his book, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”, Sherman Alexie emphasizes how significance alcohol can affect a teenager life, where Junior, the main protagonist has lost 3 family members because of alcohol. He shows that alcoholic should not be taken as a

“Alcohol addiction stunts the spiritual, emotional and mental growth of a person”~Anonymous. Sherman Alexie’s novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, is a book based off the author’s teenage life. The novel is about a poor 14 year old named Junior who faced numerous challenges in his life. Junior has experienced bullying, he was called a traitor for following his dreams, got in a huge fight with his best friend and lost three very important people in his life because of alcohol. Fortunately in the end, Junior got through the pain and lived on but he learned many lessons. One of the lessons Junior learned was that the fall into addiction, in this situation alcohol, leads to a great deal of misery for the individual and those

     The book has many short stories that sometimes are connected with others. The book focuses mainly on showing the degraded Indian society, where everyone is or will be an alcoholic. The story ?The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Doesn?t Flash Red Anymore? (Alexie p. 43-53) is an example of how the author depicts alcoholism in the Indian society. In this story there is a young Indian that could have a nice future playing basketball. However, he turns out to be just like most of the other Indians in his reservation. He was committing crimes and then started drinking.

In today’s society, alcohol has become one of the main necessities for people to create relaxation, confidence, and the ability to be social. In the short story “A Bartender Tells What Man Did to Booze, and Booze to Man”, an anonymous bartender gives an up close and personal account of his observations about the effects alcohol has on men. He emphasizes the change in their character after a few drinks. Koren Zailckas from Smashed shares a memoir of her life describing her relationship with alcohol abuse and the problems that it caused for her. Although certain types of alcohol are used to support good health, it is the excessive consumption and misuse that leaves people dependent resulting in significant social, physical, and mental

Alcoholism is defined as an addiction to the indulgence of alcoholic liquor and the compelling behaviour which results from alcohol dependency. In the novel “Medicine Walk” by Richard Wagamese and the essay “Mother’s Milk” by Christie Blatchford, the reasoning behind and dire repercussions of alcohol abuse are evident through the characters Eldon Starlight and Christie’s mother. However, Eldon’s reason for alcoholism is much more traumatic and its effect on both himself and those around him is of greater severity as opposed to Christie’s mother. As a teenager Christie’s mother suffers from social nervousness and uses alcohol as a means of reducing her anxiety, whereas Eldon begins drinking after he was forced to leave his home as his mother chose her abusive husband over him. After Christie was born her mother began drinking at a higher degree while Eldon’s alcoholism heightens after he must kill his only friend to ensure his own survival. Occasionally Christie’s mother would quit alcohol for around a month’s time and her health would improve, contrastingly Eldon’s attempt to abstain from alcohol lasts only a couple of days and results in the deterioration of his health. Despite her alcoholism Christie’s mother lives past the age of 80 and even outlives her husband by 15 years, on the other hand due to his alcohol abuse Eldon suffers from liver failure which results in his early death. Her mother’s

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.

Alexie’s story progressed hour to hour in the sense that Neddy swims from pool to pool. Each pool can be seen as Ned’s timeline of Alexie’s story (hour to hour). We can compare the loss of Ned’s memory to the missing hours of Jackson’s story, in the sense that alcohol had a major role to play in their blackout. Neddy and Jackson’s actions and decisions are impaired by alcohol, a common theme in these stories which is also a common problem that many people are faced with in real life. Both of their timelines were obscured by alcohol.

The journalist Amy, was torn as someone who was both a journalist, somebody who had to be skeptical when taking into account the story of the French doctor, and as somebody who had personally witnessed the effects of alcohol on a loved one in a past relationship, she wanted to believe in a cure or a treatment that could resolve the addiction issue associated with alcohol use. She wanted there to be a treatment for this wide-spread issue that plagued lots of people, but she also had to be skeptical as professional, because she was a journalist.

Alcohol coming into Amory’s life is a direct result of the struggles he goes through with his

In Sherman Alexie’s ‘The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven’ (2005 edition) alcoholism plays a huge role throughout the book. Particularly in the short stories ‘Amusement’, ‘The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Doesn’t Flash Red Anymore’ and ‘A Train is an Order of Occurrence Designed to Lead to Some Result’. Kids on the reservation always start off good with school and sports keeping them busy, but somewhere along the way they always seem to fall off track. That is why things like basketball play such a huge role in their lives; distracting them from partying, drinking, and drugs. If just one person could make it out of there with a scholarship or something of that sort they would have hope. Victor being one of the most talked about character in these stories is a clear example of how his drinking problem affected him. In spite of that fact drinking affects every Indian on the reservation, if they haven’t drank, they’ve been around it all their lives. These stories help support why alcohol plays such a major role in their lives.

Surrounded by alcoholism by his friends, family, and other relatives, Victor is susceptible to his own dreams of drowning in first rain, then alcohol as it gets more intense. For example, “And of course, Victor dreamed of vodka, whiskey, tequila, swallowing him just as easily as he swallowed them”(Alexie pg. 7). Also, when his uncles are fighting in their yard, it says that, “Victor could almost smell the sweat and the whiskey and the blood”(Alexie pg. 3). The last example in this short story comes when Victor goes to sleep in between his parents, he smells alcohol on the both of them, “His mother and father breathed deep, nearly choking on alcoholic snores”(Alexie pg. 9). These acts of alcoholism are not just for parties they throw to have