Jon Snow and Frank Gallagher are two very different individuals as they reside on opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of morals. But one thing is for sure, they both know how to put themselves and others around them in danger. That and their amount of near death experiences are most likely their only major similarities, although Jon’s are from battle and Frank’s are from alcohol poisoning. Frank Gallagher is the father of a lower class, dysfunctional family in the Showtime series “Shameless.” The biggest standout of Frank’s behavior would probably have to be how drunk he is at all times. He has been qualified as the “most impressive case of alcoholism” by a renowned doctor. This causes him to be a horrible father who fails to connect with and provide for his family due to his alcoholism and unemployment. As a result, the eldest sister of the family had to step up as the main provider. Frank exhibits many odd behaviors while intoxicated, he frequently finds himself waking up in strange places with no memory of how he arrived there, these places can range from his house kitchen in Philly to a random sidewalk bench in Toronto. But interestingly enough, his oddest behavior, at least from the perspective of his kids, comes from when he is not inebriated. This is difficult to see because Frank is always drunk, but in one episode he gets offered $3000 if he can remain sober for two weeks for a scientific study. His soberness changed everything. Instead of the kids having to
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.
Randomly, people will turn their drinking habits into a reason why to drink. Whether they drink to just have fun, to release some stress, or because they drink to help with various sorts of problems. Often, the alcoholic in the family starts drinking too much, causing the family to always be on edge and be cautious with his mood swings, because they never know how they’ll end up acting. Often in times a sign of abuse on alcohol is when ¨Legal problems, such as being arrested or harming someone else while drunk¨ said researchers in Talbott Recovery. Once the alcoholic figures what kind of power they have over the family, they’ll often tend to use it in a more manipulative way, to make sure they get what they want in the end of the day. And when they’re drunk, they could care less about the family and just desire to get another bottle, and to let their emotions/actions lash out. That is when a person ends up becoming an
Many alcoholics are so preoccupied with their addictions, that issues and activities that were once of interest to them, are no longer a concern. The alcoholic then becomes oblivious to his responsibilities for his or her children. Children of alcoholics often suffer from neglect. According to the Children of Alcoholics Foundation, each year “1.2 million children are confirmed by state agencies as being victims of child neglect. Forty percent of these cases involve alcohol or drugs. This suggests that an estimated
Primarily, Sanders obtains the trust of the audience by establishing a common struggle. The intended audience of Sanders’ essay includes the sons or daughters of alcoholic parents. By sharing his personal testimony, Sanders reveals to the audience to have experienced the same
I was so drunk last night that I cheated on my girlfriend, but I don’t remember it, so does it count? People instinctively try to place blame on anything but themselves, and alcohol presents itself as the perfect escape route for a guilty conscience. People often find themselves making impulsive decisions more frequently while under the influence of alcohol. However, how much poor behavior can alcohol excuse before a person must accept the consequences for their own actions? Tennessee Williams delves into the theme of alcohol dependence throughout his play, A Streetcar Named Desire. Throughout the play, both Blanche and Stanley seem to rely heavily upon liquor. Alcohol is used as both a crutch and an excuse for poor behavior in A
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.
It is hard to have a healthy relationship with someone when they are controlled by alcohol. The relationship between John Purcell and his son had drifted apart more and more by his actions and his choice of being alcoholic. As inconsiderate as John he says to a curate "Three dollars! Why, I could have taken Johnny to a burlesque show for less than that." There is a little boy present and their parents do not want their children exposed to such inappropriate jokes like John often expressed. John is inconsiderate therefore he does things without thinking. His recklessness continued when he met another untrustworthy father at the meeting. At that point when the outsider offered him a drink, he expected it happily expressing “You’re a lifesaver,” because of his dependence on alcohol he humiliated his child much further; and had not taken his wife’s oath of being on his best conduct into thought. When he went up the stairs to receive Johnny’s reward, on the way he trips and falls making his son embarrassed and
According to a 2017 study done by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, “More than 10 percent of U.S. children live with a parent with alcohol problems.” The author Jeannette Walls uses the book, The Glass Castle, to talk about her childhood struggles of growing up with an alcoholic father. The reason this book was appealing was because I grew up with an alcoholic father as well and I found it interesting to read about someone who had gone through similar situations. In the first 90 pages the author tells us about her chaotic family life. Her father, who is weary of civilization and authority, packs up the family camp often to roam around the desert. Due to their frequent moving her father is not able to keep a stable job,
¨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.
When an alcoholic is alone, the drinking can be done the way he/she wants to
Similarly, Sanders represents the seriousness of the effects of alcohol through medical statistics when he states, “I knew the odds of my becoming an alcoholic were four times higher than for the sons of nonalcoholic fathers. So I slipped warily,” (Sanders, 150). This affirmation of a child of a drunk being more likely to become an alcoholic through a medical source allows Sanders to broaden the span of his story by using facts that not only affect him personally, but overall all children that are in a similar situation. His experiences are easy to relate to for many readers because he uses intelligent sources that strengthen his arguments. Ultimately, Sanders is able to better connect with readers from his story through the use of facts and references from medical journals.
“Under the Influence” by Scott Russell Sanders was a gripping story about a family and child that had to keep a dark secret that their father was an alcoholic. Sanders opens his story by saying, “My father drank as a gasp for breath, as a starving dog gobbles food compulsively, secretly, in pain and trembling”. Pg. 60 When I read those words my stomach turned. It made me think about my ex-husband, he drank the same exact way. I felt the same way Sanders felt, that I had to keep this dark secret from my family and friends. Sanders went into detail how they would never know what person would come home from work. Would it be there loving father who was attentive, who was smart, who would be nice, or would
We knocked on the door of the off-campus apartment, as it opened we were confronted with the heavy stench of alcohol. A young girl was passed out on the living room floor, a pile of empty beer cans filled the kitchen sink, and the deafening music rattled the window panes. A group of girls managed to stumble past us. They waved goodbye to the host, who was handing drinks to me and my sister. It was not my first time drinking. In fact, everyone there was quite experienced – after all, it’s college. Half of the guests were completely drunk, and I had no problem with it. That is, until later that night when my sister locked herself in a room with a guy she had met only a week before. This prompted me to seriously consider the effects of
Change of behavior caused by alcohols has negative impacts on one's surrounding and will, eventually, creates a rift among loved ones. Alcoholic can do anything without thinking for the future as long as they get the money to buy alcohol, ones may use the rental money for the house to buy alcohol and the worst case could happen is he loses his jobs. With this, drinker cannot be dependent on and divorce is inevitable as he could no longer support his family. Not few child abuse cases caused by alcoholic parents. Studies have shown that "2/3 of child abuse case involves alcohol" ("Facts about alcohol"). Family members also began to avoid friends, hide problems and cover up for the drinker as they are ashamed of their family member who is alcoholic. "More than one-half of American adults have a close family member who has or has had alcoholism" ("Dawson and Grant") Moreover, there is higher chances for their teenager child to be alcoholic too as they are used to seeing their parents drunk.
In addition to dinner, the menu included an open bar. What originally started out to be an innocent and business appropriate function turned into a wild free-for-all that lasted into the late hours of the night, and behaviors erupted that should never occur in any business relationship. The following morning, a large percentage of those in attendance at the party were absent from work, and many of those who did show up were tardy and ill, incapable of performing their duties. Productivity was significantly decreased for the entire day, and for some, even into the following day. In light of that single event, the practice of “open bar” social gatherings between the financial office and the dealerships was abolished. It is not surprising to note that according to the United States Office of Personnel Management, the rate of absenteeism is estimated to be 4 to 8 times greater among alcoholics and alcohol abusers (L'Etoile, 2011) .