Examples Of Alcoholism In The Shining

“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

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.

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

He again establishes his ethos by revealing his first-hand experiences dealing with the effects of alcohol abuse. Additionally, he employs diction through words with strong negative connotations in order to further emphasize his disdain toward his father. For instance, Sanders illustrates how alcohol would transform his father from a capable man into a “pathetic, frightening, deceitful” (12) man. Put in such stark terms, Sanders leaves his readers no choice but to confront the ugly truth behind alcoholism. Sanders’ word choice creates a condescending tone that emphasizes the shame Sanders had felt as a

How does alcoholism affect families living in poverty? In A Tree Grows in Brooklyn the writer, Betty Smith, portrays the devastation drinking causes in the life of the main character Francie and her family as her father drinks himself to death. "But this acute alcoholism was a definite contributing factor; probably the main cause of death" (Smith 182). Johnny, Francie's father, was an alcoholic and was the reason for many hardships in the Nolan family lives. Johnny thought of drinking boozes as an escape from his reality. In fact, the drinking and Johnny's alcoholism was a prison to the Nolan family, caging them in poverty. In this paper I will be showing how alcoholism connects to the novel and how it affected the Nolan family. I found three major conflicts that

¨In the morning he would wake up groaning like the demon in a Kabuki drama; he would vomit and then start sipping again. He terrified us all, lurching around the tiny room, cursing in Japanese and swinging his bottles wildly,¨ (Houston 50-51). This is a quote from the book Farewell to Manzanar. In this point of the book Jeanne’s father was an alcoholic. He would drink himself to sleep every night and just wake up and do it again. As a child it is hard to go through this because you can never really understand why a father would do this. Especially when he has a loving family that is there for him during it all. It’s hard to comprehend why someone would put themselves through that physical state knowing that it was hurting the ones they love.

Alcoholism is sometimes a result of negative environmental factors a person has faced in his or her life. This was the case for Rex Walls. His mother, Erma, sexually abused him at a young age causing him mental and physical harm. Sexual abuse makes victims thirteen times more likely to abuse alcohol ( ). This would explain why Rex drank so much; he used it as a coping mechanism once he entered adulthood to escape the trauma that he had to experience. When sexual acts are imposed on a young child, their brain hasn’t yet developed an understanding to consent to these acts ( ). Although people can sympathize with Rex, him drinking to escape his problems only made

Robin Williams once expressed that “[a]n alcoholic is someone who can violate his standards faster than he can lower them.” Many instances in Under the Influence by Scott Sanders displays he idea of depletion of character triggered from alcohol. Sanders reveals the contrast in behavior of alcoholics while sober and under the influence. Sanders also delves into the view of family members of an alcoholic and how astute they become in seeing signs of an alcoholic. To achieve this review one of the important elements of Under the Influence is that Sanders does not make this experience feel singular. Sanders’ goal of writing Under the Influence is understanding and describing the reach and affect of an alcoholic family member. Sanders’ pursues the understanding of his goal through bringing together the concepts of flashback and reflection.

April’s parents and Cheryl turn to alcohol to blur out their problems, but it only causes more damage. The author uses the themes of addiction, racism, and trauma to illustrate that it can damage identity and create problems that affect more than one

and presents a paradox with which the native writers must grapple. The pathetic city drunks and

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.

First, before I could answer this question, I had to do a little research. Alcohol addiction is a physical dependence on alcohol which occurs gradually. Over time, drink too much alcohol changed the balance of chemicals in your brain associated with the pleasure aspects of drinking alcohol. Excessive, long-term drinking can affect the balance of these chemicals, causing your body to crave alcohol to restore good feelings or to avoid negative feelings. “Alcoholism was officially recognized as a disease by the American Medical Association in 1991”. ( http://www.learn-about-alcoholism.com/alcoholism-disease.html ).

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

Alcoholism is a demon, a disease, something reached for out of desperation. It helps with a person 's problem by deadening their senses, and increasing his problems at the same time by destroying his character. When you drink, you don 't have to think about all your problems, you can just let the alcohol wash them away from your mind. But it can never take away all your problems—they still remain, just your sense to care for them is gone. Alcoholism has a great chance to pass on to later generations, but sometimes growing up in an alcoholic family will make the children swear off the drink because they have seen what it can turn people into. It turns them into the basic raw human emotion of grief. They are miserable for alcohol is the only thing that can make them feel normal after awhile, their entire bodies ache for it. Even when they have given up drinking, their bodies can revert back after having just one drop again. Yes, alcoholism is truly a terrifying disease of the mind and body—not just to the addict, but also to the loved ones

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