The Escape From Society: An Analysis of Arto Paasilinna’s The Year of the Hare

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

The theme of this book is that the human capacity to adapt to and find happiness in the most difficult circumstances. Each character in the novel shows this in their way. For instance, their family is randomly taken from their home and forced to

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.

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

Men who when stark sober could “let themselves go”, men who were in dread of convention, were utterly different beings when they drank. For alcohol made most men bold. Most timid men like the feeling of boldness (Anonymous 122). As depicted in both stories, alcohol can be used as a tool to help people break out of their shell and discover traits that they never knew existed.

“The Outsider” by H.P. Lovecraft tell the story of a man’s decent further into loneliness after venturing out into the real world after escaping the castle he has been concealed in his whole life. Lovecraft presents a dark and eerie writing style to manifest certain elements in the story that set the theme. Lovecraft suggests themes of loneliness as well as loss of innocence in the story, “The Outsider”, by employing the use of tone, diction, as well as point of view.

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

In an unknown newspaper, John Warner Barber published a cartoon depicting “The drunkard’s progress, or the direct road to poverty, wretchedness & ruin”, in which he illustrates the timeline of a drunkard’s short life (Doc. 2). Barber illustrates an alcoholic’s ultimate downfall, from the point in which his addiction to alcohol begins, to getting injured and condemning traditional institutions such as religion, to abusing the family and children at home, and to death. Moreover, Barber conveys the realities that every person of the nineteenth century has faced – a family member who has become lost himself in the relief that alcohol gives. When this document was published, millions of men and boys had succumbed to this dangerous indulgence. Since the eighteenth century, when alcohol was initially mass-produced, more and more people have drowned their sorrows – from work or from family problems - and committed countless crimes that resulted in drinking this beverage, including abusing their families and losing much of their money to gambling.

In this book, the author identifies several themes including loneliness, loss of faith, and identity. The theme of loneliness can be seen throughout the book, when Vahan gets close to a particular person, they're viciously ripped away, usually in death. An example of this can be seen in the scene in which Vahan is staying in the stable of Selim Bey's father and a young girl is sent to stay with him. Because he had been alone for so long, Vahan is extremely excited that he has someone to confide in. But the young girl is not willing to trust Vahan as easily as he trusts her, and with good reason. Vahan soon discovers why the girl is really there when several gendarmes come to the stable during the night and rape the young girl, and Vahan is powerless to stop them. At one point, Vahan remarks, "The problem with loneliness is that, unlike other forms of human suffering, it teaches us nothing, leads us nowhere, and generally devalues us in our own eyes and in the eyes of others….It simply comes, sits

The characters’ only desires revolved around acceptance, but they could never achieve it. The constant cycle of rejection drew the characters into madness, and finally, resulted in violence. Rejection continues as a matter not easy to cope with, an obstacle similar to a vast sea of confusion and emotion, which ultimately caused these characters to transform in an immense

60) This allows him to escape the hardships of mountain life on a mental level by imagining that he is taking part in the experiences and situations in the story. After stealing a suitcase full of western novels from their friend four-eyes, the narrator becomes infatuated by book one of Jean-Christophe. As he put it, ¡§To me it was the ultimate book: once you read it, neither your own life nor the world you lived in would ever look the same.¡¨ (Sijie p. 117) The narrator takes the words of Jean-Christophe to heart and is filled with the desire to live through this re-education in order to experience love, sex and a free individual action against the world. In a way, the narrator and Luo envied the characters in the western novels that they read daily. They wanted to escape the reality of the conditions they were living under to experience the same freedoms as their favorite characters, and not be burdened by the controlling power of Mao and his communist ways.

For example, he has a loving family who would always be there to support him. In conclusion, the conflicts in the story, person versus society and person versus self, show the need to be optimistic during tough times.

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

him a question because he does not want to talk. This is an example of

They set out “with milk cans, pea tins, and jam pots”. He was thrilled to pick the blackberries, and eventually get drunk on them. He was not worried about the dangers, “briars scratched and wet grass bleached our boots”. His childish desires pressured him to forget all risks, and do what he craves for - all year long.