Raymond Carver Alcoholism

Drinking, A Love Story, Written by Caroline Knapp: Is an insider’s story about fighting the battle of alcoholism and addiction, victoriously winning sobriety. Caroline Knapp fought her addiction for 20 years before becoming sober. “The Drink” as she called it, was her true love. The most beloved form being a good crisp dry white wine, but any form would do. She fell in love with alcohol at a young age and loved everything about it. The smell, the sound of a cork being pulled from a bottle, the cold liquid anesthesia running down the back of her throat after a long day at the office, the routine of drinking, but most of all she loved the way alcohol made her feel.

Carver’s “A Serious Talk” is another short story that perfectly demonstrates the damaging affects of alcohol addiction on both the addict and those who surround them. In the story, a woman named Vera is visited by her ex-husband Burt, who arrives to give

“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

It is easy to blame a child’s upbringing when something goes wrong in their teenage and adult life. However, both Wes Moore’s had a similar childhood yet still ended up with different fates. For example, both of them had absent fathers and were raised by a single parent One of them describes their situation perfectly by telling the other. “Your father wasn’t there because he couldn’t be, my father wasn’t there because he chose not to be “ (Moore 3). A situation where the father is absent is commonly blamed for a misguided life but it is later evident that although there was no father, one of the Wes Moore’s was able to thrive in a positive manner. Since there was a lack of fatherhood, both of them lacked role models, specifically ones that would lead to live positive lives. One Wes Moore chose to retaliate by almost stabbing a neighborhood kid because “it was a pride issue”(Moore 32) and

John Wallace the author of Chapters two and three of Practical Approaches to Alcoholism Psychotherapy indicated that there is no systematic and specific theory of alcoholism. The purpose of chapter two is to “develop a theory of therapy specific to alcoholism, a theory that takes into account the nature of the disease, the characteristics of the client and the time- dependent nature of intelligent therapeutic intervention” (Zimberg et el., Pg 20).

Carver lived most of his life in a world which could not provide the luxury of

Jeannette wanted the readers to comprehend why alcohol is an issue in society and the harm and dangers that comes their way. Leaving Jeannette’s family in total despair because of their father under possession of alcohol. Alcoholism is an issue in society and to this day the issue hasn’t been resolved. Ergo discussing the topic to children as well as teenagers will not resolve the issue but will raise awareness. As well as fiction can teach the young minds that alcoholism is an issue and can encourage them to put a stop to it.

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.

Since the beginning of time people have been using all kinds of substances to make them feel liberated. Alcohol and marijuana are consumed every day in America by teenagers to elderly people; there is no set range on who consumes these drugs. Despite efforts from imposed laws: people feel the need to consume these substances and encage in behaviors out of the ordinary. Drugs and alcohol are used in the story “Cathedral” but also they are used in Raymond Carver’s personal life.

Poe was an amazing writer who had a troubled life and mind. Poe died too young, a brilliant mind was lost in the world of literature that day. Many people believe he died different ways. Some people believe Poe died of alcoholism, and some believe that Poe died of rabies. These are reasons why many believe Poe died of alcoholism.

Stephen King began abusing alcohol when he was sixteen years old. He cites his early childhood unhappiness as the catalyst for his substance abuse. Later, after King had established himself as a number one writer while under the influence of drugs and alcohol, he feared quitting drugs would end his career. With the help and support of his family and friends, King continues to maintain his sobriety by attending AA meetings regularly.

In addition to his distorted sense regarding his relationships, the Narrator views his drinking problem as some alien, outside force. He conveniently blames his alcoholism for his miserable behavior, as if he had nothing to do with it himself. At the

Relationships between people can change lives forever. For instance, a parent and child’s relationship are one of the most important ones because that is where our consciousness about love, trust and assurance comes from. Depending on the relationship, it can either benefit or suffer a child. Since little children always look up to their parents and learn from them. So the actions done by their parents can affect the child’s life later in the years. This scenario can be reflected in the book Into the Wild, the character Chris McCandless. Chris McCandless parent’s outside appearance was wanting Chris to go to school and be successful. Meanwhile, in the inside appearance, especially the dad, was an abusive father. This reflected a double life.

With a unique and brilliant style of writing, Raymond Carver has left a lasting and outstanding impact on the history of short stories. Even though Raymond Carver left a long impact, his life was of the opposite. Like Raymond Carver’s famous award winning stories, his life was short. Raymond Carver was born on May 25th, 1938 in Clatskanie, Oregon, a mill town on the Columbia River. Carver grew up in Yakima, Washington. Carver had three members to his small family, his mother, his father, and brother. Carver’s only had one sibling, his younger brother, James Franklin Carver. Carver’s mother worked as a waitress and a retail clerk while Carver’s father worked as a fisherman and a saw mill worker. Many say that a skilled sawmill worker 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.