The Body Essay

1628 Words4 Pages

A parent’s alcohol addiction has a negative effect on themselves and their child as it results in mental, emotional, and physical abuse within the family. In The Body, Chris Chambers’ father is a raging alcoholic who does not care about anybody. Mr. Chambers will stay at home with Chris and Chris’ siblings and beats them and his wife: “Chris was marked up every two weeks or so, bruises on his cheeks and neck or one eye swelled up” (306). Mr. Chambers does not care about how young or helpless his children or Mrs. Chambers is. Chris and his siblings will be bruised anywhere on their bodies which the public sees but he does not care what people think of him or his children. For there is no respect that he gives to himself or to his children because …show more content…

In Dolores Claiborne, Joe St. George is an alcoholic and seems to always present himself intoxicated in the film. Joe’s alcoholism controls his life in such a way that any difficulty in life becomes easy by drinking: “That won 't be hard” (King). Dolores arrives home from Vera Donovan’s, where she works as a maid, with alcohol. Dolores does not want to fight with Joe on this particular evening and is able to win him over by the representation of alcohol. He also refers to whatever he finds difficult to handle in life, he can overcome it because he drinks to the point where nothing makes sense. Dolores to him is also difficult to handle because he has found her unattractive. Joe admits that him and Dolores are only married because he was attracted to Dolores when drinking. Since Joe suffers being married to Dolores, looking at other females are a way for him to enjoy. However, there is a history of sexual abuse between Joe and his daughter, Selena: “Remember how I showed you?” (King). When Joe and Selena are on the ferry, he forces her to pleasure him after getting Selena hot chocolate. The quote is significant because it presents that Joe has made Selena engage in sexual activity before this incident. Joe is isolated living in Tall Island, Maine, which causes him to not engage in any sexual activity with other women since Joe and Dolores exist in poverty. Selena is the only female around that Joe finds attracted to since Selena reminds Joe of Mrs. St. George, his

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