Symbolism In Ten Nights In A Barroom

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.

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

In “Cathedral”, a short story by Raymond Carver, an unnamed narrator awaits the arrival of a friend of his wife’s, a blind man named Robert. Robert is stopping by for a visit on the way to his recently dead wife’s relatives. The narrator is not happy about the relationship his wife has with Robert, so he drinks constantly throughout the story. He even smokes marijuana near to keep his mind off of the situation. This trait that the narrator has can be linked back to the author Raymond Carver, who was a suffering alcoholic for many years. By the time Carver wrote this story, he had been alcohol free for three years, so his unconscious desire to return to drinking is shown through the narrator.

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, it has been around for ten thousand years. Some great things have come from it, but in some situations it has ruined people’s lives. Some may ask how something can have such opposite endings. Well the answer is that people don’t know moderation while consuming alcohol. Alcohol can easily be misinterpreted as an un-harmful substance. In this essay I will educate readers that in moderation and in church traditions it is not harmful or being abused. I will be discussing the importance of where the selfishness and rule breaking comes from when one is intoxicated while driving. I say selfish because that is what it is, a human being lacking consideration for

In the book ‘Dry’, Augusten Burroughs gives us an insightful look into the life of someone who has been struggling with alcohol abuse. Augusten is just an average man in his twenties, he lives in Manhattan, New York, works in advertising, and has plenty of money. But there is one thing that makes him anything but. When an average man may be having one or two drinks, Augusten had eleven. His whole life revolved around alcohol. He would stay out going to bars all night, and never go home. At work you could smell the alcohol in his pores and his breath. With his job on the line, Augusten was asked to go to rehab.

Throughout the eighteen hundreds saloons were the site of rockus drinking, profane drunkards, and unthinking violence. This drinking culture was defined by masculinity and by free flowing alcohol that permeated all throughout America, city to city. The saloons became so popular with working men because it was time they could spend away from their wives and their homes. In Catherine Murdock’s book Domesticating Drink she argues that these elements of saloon culture, exclusivity, inebriety, and violence, were eliminated by the increase in popularity of mixed sex speakeasies, cocktail parties, and the overall domestication of drink. But this conclusion misinterprets the history of alcohol from Prohibition to the present. Although alcohol is now consumed without the exclusively of the past, it has evolved to be over sexualized and associated with a masculine culture of binge drinking over sexualized and domestic violence.

In the book “Night” by Elie Wiesel, he shares his story of his experience through World War Two. Through his experiences, he experiences both internal and external conflicts. The conflicts he experienced include ideas of dehumanization, loss, and physical changes.

When Victor was a child his parents would drink a lot and would neglect him because they dealt with their pain by drinking. They drank because they were drinking away the problems caused by the generational trauma they and the generation before them had to endure. For example, during the New Year's party, everyone got drunk, even Victor's parents, left Victor by himself. Victor’s father and mother drank more

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

The overview of taverns and drinking and their great impact on daily life is obvious in the evidence and narration Salinger provides. She uses a journal written by Thomas Jefferson to explain how deeply entrenched in their daily lives taverns and drinking were: “Thomas Jefferson noted with alarm that cheap distilled spirits were “spreading through the mass of our citizens,” yet he is credited with inventing the presidential cocktail party”(3). Despite any negativity surrounding drinking, its growth in popularity was unstoppable. She also adds the fact that ‘water was considered an unsafe beverage’, which partially explains the reason for alcohol’s rise to popularity and appearance in the daily lives of early Americans. This increase in drinking also lead to the tavern culture and the need to regulate it, which brings in the lawmaking side.

Based on a research finding, some individuals indicate that when they are sober and others drink around them, it was considered boring (Seaman& Ikegwuonu , 2010, p.21). It is clear that beverages have become an activity as well as apart of socialisation. Its been described as a social facilitator during interaction and when establishing a connection with others. Data explores that peer group activity has lead to a strong connection of peer experience aligned with intoxication Seaman& Ikegwuonu (2010,p.22). This elaborates the effect of drunkenness. (Borsari & Carey 2001, p.392) stated alcohol played a vital role whether its in college , social functions or peer interactions. Alcohol being referred to as an act of rebellion has today been acknowledged as something ‘normal’ in society. (Pettigrew & Donovan, 2003). Alcohol has now been considered as a social fabric that changes ones game. Gender is a general issue where men are known to drink more than females. Why does this occur?. To begin with, the term hegemonic masculinity outlines the dominant form of a heterosexual in the western world (Germov & Poole,2011, p.241). Men are seemed to be

It is a melancholy object to those who often frequent the bars in this great country to see those who do not currently share in their fortunate state of being. They are usually alone, observing those around them with great envy, holding the car keys, but worst of all, sober. It is the inopportune being who is unluckily chosen to be the designated driver for the evening. It is always

The paper talks about the social problems presented in the book The Glass Castle. And choose one problem which is alcoholism as the major one to explored in depth. It included the population affected by alcoholism, the history of alcoholism, and the steps to solve the alcoholism problem. It also contained the influence of alcoholism to individual, family, and community. The agency NCADD in St. Louis area was chosen to be the

Dubliners by James Joyce is a collection of stories centered around Joyce’s intentions to write the moral history of Dublin’s paralysis. Although paralysis seems to be the main theme in Dubliners, another motif comes across in the pages of the stories. As if all of the mental, physical, and emotional problems weren’t enough, many of the characters in Dubliners are alcoholics. Joyce utilizes the character of the drunk in many of the stories in Dubliners; hardly a story skips a mention of a drink. The negative effects of alcohol occur again and again through the collection of stories. For the most part, men are brought down by their addiction to alcohol and their inability to control themselves when they are drunk. In Dubliners, the characters seek their own desires, face obstacles that frustrate them, and ultimately give in to their need to consume alcohol. With Dubliners, James Joyce brings attention to the different issues that consuming alcohol caused in early 20th century Ireland using three particular stories; “Counterparts”, “Grace” and “Ivy Day in the Committee Room”.