The Effects of Drug Abuse The novel beautiful boy, by David Sheff, shows how dangerous taking drugs is and how drug abuse affects the child and the people who care about them. Drug addiction negatively affects not just the person addicted, but, instead, everyone around them. It is a daily struggle with finding help, keeping away from the drug, and sticking to the path of getting better. We see this struggle not just in the novel, but in everyday lives.
In the novel, beautiful boy, Sheff’s son, Nic, starts of as a normal, good kid, but then he starts to take drugs. Sheff wants Nic to go to rehab to get better, but that proves to be a challenge. The constant struggles of trying to keep him in rehab bring out the highs and lows in the family. Knowing that without rehab Nic could live or die at any moment. When Sheff is in an Al-Anon group a woman talks about her daughter “‘I’m happy. I know where she is. I know she’s alive. Last year we were so excited that she was enrolled at Harvard. Now I’m relieved that she’s in jail’” (Sheff 176).By saying this it shows how parents of an addicted
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Her father’s addiction left her with a negative impact. She grew so anxious that even her teacher worried about her. She read an article and realized how similar her case was to the article. She connected with “‘invisible losses’ suffered by children of addicts: loss of love, stability, a caretaker, a carefree childhood” (Levinson 1). The article shows how the children of drug addicted parents all go through similar things. Later, Levinson starts to understand what it is that her father is going through, she writes,”I began to understand that what my father had been grappling with was not a moral failing, but a disease” (1). Levinson realizes how serious her father’s addiction was and how dangerous it
The book I chose to read for this assignment is called “Stay Close: A Mother’s Story of Her Son’s Addiction”. The target audience can be parents, adolescents, recovering addicts, college students and mental health professionals.
The author uses his knowledge of the human brain to emphasize the importance of “Endorphins” when growing up and how the lack of the chemicals “in infancy and early childhood,[creates a greater need] for external sources” (289) such as drugs. Along with his scientific evidence, Mate also uses many of his patients traumatic childhood experiences such as having “dishwashing liquid poured down his throat . . . and was tied to a chair in a dark room to control to his hyperactivity” (289). These patients help create an image for the readers to be able to understand the feelings and the pain addict 's often face in their childhood, that leaves them feeling abandoned and neglected from the rest of the world. Mate even analysis the fact that addict 's can come from home where there is no abuse and the parents try their best to provide a loving and nurturing home. The problem in families like this is often a parent is the one who faced traumatic experience as a child and are not able to transmit the proper love to their child, because they lack the feeling themselves. The author uses the strategy of looking at both the child and the parent experiences to show that the root problem originates from the same outcome, wanting to feel “unconditionally [loved and be] fully accepted even when most ornery”
As well as the long last effect that alcoholic parents have on a child and a loved one. Moreover, McCullers writes his story incorporating the reality of alcoholism to allow people to visualize the effect of addiction and how it a very serious life changing issue that can deteriorate and break apart families. Mucllurs also indirectly emphasizes the sacrifices that parents must do to ensure the happiness and wellbeing of their children and how being disconnected from your social circle can lead to very serious mentally draining issues. As well as how he emphasizes Martins own intentions and how Matin suffers his own dilemma throughout the story for specific
One in every twelve adults suffer from alcoholism in the United States, and it is the most commonly used addictive substance in the world. The World Health Organization has defined alcoholism as “an addiction to the consumption of alcoholic liquor or the mental illness and compulsive behavior resulting from alcohol dependency.” Reiterated themes encompassing Jeannette Walls’ father’s addiction to alcohol are found in her novel, The Glass Castle: a memoir, which displays instances of financial instability and abuse that hurt the Walls children for the rest of their lives. The Walls’, altogether, are emotionally, physically, and mentally affected by Rex’s alcoholism, which leads to consequences on the Walls children.
“My crimey here think the way to go is more drugs. But I know better. I think making money is okay, but not making it just by dealing. You gotta go legit, at least for a minute. You gotta go state fresh, all the way live, if you wanna do anything worthwhile out here. Everybody thinks they can make crazy dollars, but they confused. It aint like that. I’ve seen co-caine bust many a head – they get fucked up and be clocking out after they find out they cannot find the key to understanding that mystery skied. But you know what? But-but0but you know what? They don’t have a clue. Word.” (Williams, 1989)
Nic Sheff wrote a masterpiece that is viewed both as fiction as well as the educational and life changing book. It became one of the most selling books due to its portrayal of the effects of drug addictions. Tweak gives a chronology of events that transpired during the growth of the character, both in a forward and backward manner. Nic in the first pages of the book gives some faint reason as to why he got hooked on drug addiction. It is at this point that we come to learn about his background and family life.
Throughout “Chasing the Scream” many intriguing stories are told from individuals involved in the drug war, those on the outside of the drug war, and stories about those who got abused by the drug war. Addiction has many social causes that address drug use and the different effects that it has on different people. In our previous history we would see a tremendous amount of individuals able to work and live satisfying lives after consuming a drug. After the Harrison Act, drugs were abolished all at once, but it lead to human desperation so instead of improving our society, we are often the reason to the problem. We constantly look at addicts as the bad guys when other individuals are often the reasons and influences to someone’s decision in
“When Dad went crazy, we all had our own ways of shutting down and closing off…” (Walls 115).In Jeannette Walls memoir, The Glass Castle, Walls enlightens the reader on what it’s like to grow up with a parent who is dependent on alcohol, Rex Walls, Jeannette’s father, was an alcoholic. Psychologically, having a parent who abuses alcohol is the worst thing for a child. The psychological state of these children can get of poorer quality as they grow up. Leaving the child with psychiatric disorders in the future and or being an alcoholic as well.
I have first hand seen the childish ways of a drug abusing parent and my overall standpoint is everyone has a weakness, you just need to find a light to bring you out of the dark hole which the monster and sends you down and see what's worth living for. “I believe if you want to write a memoir, you have to tell the entire truth (yes, I understand it will be colored by your personal lenses), and that means truly opening yourself and those around you to public inspection” (Par. 15) said Ellen Hopkins displaying that she takes informing teens as a serious role. A prediction i could infer based upon the parallel relationship between Kristina and her father is if her son is exposed to drugs he will most likely fall in the same path if her she does not tell him the danger of these substances. This novel is a great tool to get the word out there that hard drugs will hurt you, hurt your family and make you a whole new
Drugs is one of the themes in this story that shows the impact of both the user and their loved ones. There is no doubt that heroin destroys lives and families, but it offers a momentary escape from the characters ' oppressive environment and serves as a coping mechanism to help deal with the human suffering that is all around him. Suffering is seen as a contributing factor of his drug addiction and the suffering is linked to the narrator’s daughter loss of Grace. The story opens with the narrator feeling ice in his veins when he read about Sonny’s arrest for possession of heroin. The two brothers are able to patch things up and knowing that his younger brother has an addiction. He still buys him an alcoholic drink at the end of the story because, he has accepted his brother for who he really is.
(2.) Nic Sheff is a chronic slipper when it comes to staying sober. He has gone in and out of rehabs faster than you would think possible. Finding excuses to use drugs again and eventually hit rock bottom seem to be his only skills in life. After what seemed to be an infinite struggle with himself, Nic finally pulls through and stays sober. His book shows these hardships and how he deals with them on the road to recovery. Some of his decisions are well thought-out, and others, not so much. He keeps the story alive by believing in a higher power, his passion for living and his love of others. While sober, he continues to be painfully aware of how much he has hurt others by using, especially his mom. "Sometimes I think she would just prefer it if I was gone completely, so she wouldn't have to deal with me and so her children would be safe. It hurts my feelings, but I don't blame her. I know what I've done." (197, Sheff) Nic's parents feel like they can't trust him after all the lying, cheating and stealing he has done while under the influence of drugs. I wouldn't either, but they find it somewhere in their hearts to forgive him and cautiously let him into their lives in the end. Honestly, I cannot relate to much of this at all. I have never used drugs, been kicked out of my parent's house or prostituted to make money to buy even more drugs. Nic had a terrible childhood filled with screaming fights between his (now-divorced) parents and nights left alone while mine was just fine. He has a bipolar disorder and severe depression while I do not. The amount of differences are uncountable.
Beautiful Boy is a well-written book in a sense that despite the heavy topic, it is easily read. This book is very personal and full of emotional load. This is a story, told by a father of a drug-addicted son, and this story does not differ from many other on the similar topic. Nevertheless, it can be concluded that such stories are the most honest, since stories about substance abuse are very often the same. In my personal opinion, this book is very precious for people who experience or had experienced the same problem as David Sheff, especially when it is read in tandem with Nic Sheff’s Tweak. These two books may give a good insight on the issue of drug abuse, and revel the perceptions of both family and addicted person.
David Sheff’s memoir, Beautiful Boy, revolves around addiction, the people affected by addiction, and the results of addiction. When we think of the word addiction, we usually associate it with drugs or alcohol. By definition, addiction is an unusually great interest in something or a need to do or have something (“Addiction”). All throughout the memoir, we are forced to decide if David Sheff is a worried father who is fearful that his son, Nic Sheff’s, addiction will kill him or if he is addicted to his son’s addiction. Although many parents would be worried that their son is an addict, David Sheff goes above and beyond to become involved in his son’s life and relationship with methamphetamine, making him an addict to his son’s addiction.
In the book, Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through his Son’s Addiction, the narrator, David, talks about his son, Nic, and his struggle of his methamphetamine addiction. Nic began to use pot, booze, and then LSD at the very young age of eleven. He then moved on to a bigger drug: methamphetamine. According to his father, Nic was a sweet, smart, beautiful boy who became a thief, a street person, a liar, and elusive. He was on a quick, downward spiral. David took much of the blame himself and thought if he made certain decisions in the past, Nic would have been a different person than he turned out to be. Nic and his father both knew that in order for Nic to be a better person, he would have to break the cycle of addiction. Nic refused. Nic would often break into his father and step-mother’s house and steal valuable objects and often write out checks to himself. David knew that something serious had to happen for Nic to clean up his act. He claimed he had to be desolate and desperate, but Nic had been banned there had been no change.
Drug addiction is a very big problem in today’s society. Many people have had their lives ruined due to drug addiction. The people that use the drugs don’t even realize that they have an addiction. They continue to use the drug not even realizing that their whole world is crashing down around them. Drug addicts normally lose their family and friends due to drug addiction.