Alcoholism In The Farm, And Balto, By Coraghessan Boyle

1555 Words4 Pages

There is something in this earth that each of us hold dear. For some, it could be friends or family, an old blanket, or perhaps a stuffed animal. For others it could be cigarettes, drugs, or alcohol. The choices that we make not only affect ourselves, but also affect the people we care about. In the short stories “The Farm” by Joy Williams and “Balto” by Coraghessan Boyle, we see the effects that alcohol can have on a person. We can also deduce from these short stories the effects that alcohol can have on a family as well. There are many problems that arise from alcohol abuse. The three main focal points in these two short stories are the deterioration of the family, the breakdown of communication between spouses, and infidelity that happened between the spouses. Raising a family is never easy. However raising a family and being an alcoholic make things even harder. Having an alcohol addiction can be …show more content…

In the story “The Farm” the ending sentences noted, “Sarah looked at him with intent, halted expression, as though he were listening to a dialogue no one present was engaged in. Finally; she said, ‘There are robbers. Everything has changed.’ ”(Williams, 617) It is imperative to explain that in “The Farm” Sarah got behind the wheel of her car while under the influence of alcohol while her sober husband decided to sit in the passenger seat. While Sarah was driving she hit and killed fifteen year old Stevie Bettencourt. Even though no charges were filed due to the fact that her husband lied and said he was driving and that a hallucinogenic was found in the fifteen year olds system, she was never the same. I believe that the quote from the top of the paragraph is Sarah referring to herself. She is calling herself the robber for robbing Stevie of his life. And now since she has robbed this poor boy of a future, everything has changed, she no longer has a future as

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