Alice Chapter Summaries

Alice’s relationship would not go very far, constructing her ending for Henry, “Henry Reyna married Della in 1948 and they have five kids, three of them now going to the University, speaking calo and calling themselves Chicanos.” This quote essentially dispersed Alice’s hope for something more with Henry. Making Alice side with Henry’s parents in his potential marriage with Della due to his responsibilities, “If it was just me and you, Henry it might be different. But you have to think of your family.” This quote shows Alice’s understanding of what Henry must do. In the end Alice’s feelings are put aside due to what cannot be done and what must be

For her, everyday acts seem much more enjoyable when on drugs. She goes out of their way to experience something new and exciting. She is a creative writer and uses drugs as a way to get back to her child-like imaginative state. Suddenly, with the drugs back in her life, she seems to have much more insight and a wilder imagination. "And the afternoon was absinthe yellow and almond, burnt orange and chrysanthemum. And in the abstract sky, a litany of kites"(93). She longs to feel this way all of the time, but she knows the consequences. She sees doing drugs like going to a carnival. It is an escape from the boring life she is leading now. Even though she has a daughter, she still feels like there is something she is missing out on. The idea of motherhood takes backseat to her lust for drugs.

The opening scene has Alice drinking and the film continues from there to focus on the alcohol. The scenarios of the mother’s slide to the bottom include incidents like that of: egging the neighbor’s car who’s alarm keeps going off, falling out of the boat on their trip to Mexico, and the night that she locks herself out of the house because she was throwing her “evidence” bottle away. These episodes reflect not only that the problem is getting worse, but that he is enabling/ accepting it.

As time pass, Chris and Alice decides to flee San Francisco and vows to turn Richie in and stays sober with Chris. She gets to San Francisco where she and Chris both find jobs to support themselves. She also matures within this time frame, learning about her sexuality. However, she has not have sex sober yet. Beneath Alice’s psychedelic adventures is her continuing desire to find someone with home she can have the same open, loving relationship she once had with her family. Her shifting emotions concerning her family were the major cause for her departure, yet she longs for them in San Francisco.

She becomes very reactive and unapologetic. Her final step in harming her marriage is stonewalling. Alice starts to pull away from Michael and his love. He wants to help her, but she is not ready to accept that yet. She makes is difficult for the entire family to heal by doing this. She becomes withdrawn and pushes away those who love her. These things are very are very apparent in this couple’s relationship.

Alice has gone though a lot, but things start to go well for her. She’s with Joel, her family loves her, and she’s friends with kids that don’t smoke or drink. She stops writing in a diary, but dies a few weeks later because of an overdose. Either she was drugged or she started doing drugs again.

Anna is Alice’s oldest daughter; she’s a successful lawyer and is married to Charles, also a lawyer. Anna is strong and fiercely independent just like her mother. Anna deals with her mother’s disease by suggesting that if her mom “thinks for a second” then maybe she’ll be able to remember things (p. 173). Anna, however still makes time to care for her mom when her dad is away.

This screenplay follows the protagonist Alice Howland, who is a professor of linguistics at Columbia University. Alice Howland is later diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer’s Disease, which turns her world completely upside down; especially given her career and ambitious nature. She becomes unable to perform normal everyday activities, and struggles with the loss of her independence. Alice’s husband, John, who is a physician, attempts to act as a guide for her through this time, but it ultimately puts a strain on their relationship. John’s job offer to move to Boston does not help matters either, and it quickly becomes the last straw for the two of them. He soon moves to New York to take the job after Alice’s memory starts to decay at a faster rate. John and Alice have 3 children, Lydia, Anna, and Tom as well as a son-in-law, Charlie. They are introduced at the beginning of the screenplay, as they all gather to celebrate Alice’s 50th birthday at a restaurant. This is also the time in which the audience notices her decline in normal conversation as she is unable to follow smoothly. Alice could be considered the catalytic hero of this screenplay, and the disease being the antagonist. Alice wants to hold on to as much of her memory that she can, and slow the regression by writing down everything. By Act 3, Alice loses her ability to do activities that she had been doing for many years; such as going out for her morning run without getting lost, remembering words, phrases, and

Go Ask Alice tells the story of a teenage girl that develops a drug habit. Controlled by her mental struggle, Alice runs away on a journey of escapism, and self-destruction.

She ends up at this party with Jill and without her knowing she drinks the punch, which was laced with LSD. Alice never felt that way before, it scares her at first, but then she began to get used to it. Alice stated that she was glad they laced it because now she feels free and honest. Over the course of days, Alice continues to find herself becoming friends with drug addicts and “party animals.” In the middle of the story, she loses her virginity while being on LSD and worries that she might be pregnant. She then meets a girl name, Chris, at a boutique; Chris and Alice start using drugs together with their boyfriends, Richie and Ted, who sells drugs. Alice and her friend, Chris, then flee to California where they met Sheila. Sheila invites Alice and Chris to parties where they were introduced to heroin and while being stoned they were raped by Sheila's boyfriend. Alice and Chris then moved to Oregon where they opened a small boutique. They soon move back home for Christmas where everything turned for the worse. Alice begins to find herself relapsing and running away. She finds herself hitchhiking, homeless, and even becoming an

In Alice’s Adventures, Alice falls down a rabbit- hole for what seems like forever, while bits and pieces of her identity remain trapped at the entrance. After this fall,

     Alice’s drug addiction drives her along with her family insane. She has to fight a

The emotional focus of Alice Walker's story is rage, red-hot and isolating.  As I read this piece, I became livid, not only at the thought of her devastating

Before seeking treatment, Alice’s struggles are pretty evident. I think the struggles are the most evident when looking at Jess. You can tell that she knows her mom is not well and that she worries about her. She watches her struggle to get out of bed in the morning, and voices her worries to Michael when she does not come home when she is supposed to. Trying to find a solution to their struggles, Michael suggests that they rearrange his flight schedule and take a trip to Mexico. While there, Alice continues her heavy drinking and reckless behavior. This results in her falling out of a rowboat, into the water and if not for Michael jumping in to save her, drowning. This event scared the two of them enough to realize that she had a problem and needed to start putting in some serious effort to stop.

As the film unfolded, Alice became open with her family regarding her recent diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, fears and struggles. John who was physician, Anna who was a lawyer, Tom who was a medical student and Lydia an aspiring