A Lack of Authority

An essential aspect of the autobiography is the writer’s authority to tell the story. Thomas De Quincey believes that has this authority with his work Confessions of an English Opium-Eater. He writes about his personal experience taking opium in a two part serial. This experience is what De Quincey thinks gives him the authority to talk about opium and its effects on the “opium-eater.” The title of his work, however, shows that De Quincey does not have the credibility to discuss the matters of opium because the title is misleading. Opium is taken either injected or smoked or drank, not eaten. By introducing the work with a deceptive title, De Quincey presents the idea that he does not have the authority to write about the effects of opium, whether he knows it or not, because he himself is deluded about its negative effects.

Confessions of an Opium-Eater begins with a false portrayal of the work: it as an experiment, almost scientific. He deems his account as “not merely interesting, but, in a considerable degree, useful and instructive” (De Quincey 1). He hopes that by recounting his findings to the public, they will be “instructive” in the way the people choose to deal with opium (De Quincey 1). De Quincey does not possess the authority to present his research in the manner, because he is a scholar not a scientist. He subtitles the narrative as “an extract from the life of a scholar” (De Quincey 1). Therefore, it is odd that De Quincey chooses to begin his actual confessions with a scientific tone. Additionally, De Quincey commences his recount of events with the phrase “useful and instructive” and later says that he will present both the positive and negative effects of the drug (De Quincey 1). He, however, points of the uses ...

... middle of paper ...

...begins the narrative in a scientific tone, stating that he will discuss the positive and negative effects of using opium. He, however, does not fully depict the negatives. During periods of danger caused by constantly drinking opium, De Quincey still sees benefits, such as being in a happier state than if he had not starting taking opium. Through pain, he finds bliss. This refusal to acknowledge the harms of opium leads to his inability to portray them as he said he would. De Quincey looses credibility on discussing the effects of opium. His work is neither a confession nor a tale of opium eating. De Quincey has written a book on the benefits of opium, revealing that he is addicted to the drug, though he, the autobiographer, is blind to this fact.

Works Cited

De Quincey, Thomas. Confessions of an English Opium-Eater. New York: Oxford University

Press, 2008.