"A Domestic Dilemma"

1373 Words3 Pages

Ever since the Meadows family moved to New York from Alabama, something has been different. Martin would come home every night to the sight of his wife tippling around the house. Martin's wife, Emily had become an alcoholic. It was bad enough that Martin had to hire a house keeper to clean the house and look after their two children, Andy and Marianne. One night Emily had dropped Marianne on the corner of the table. It was not her intension, but she was just not coordinated enough to handle the child. There are many reasons why people start drinking, but Emily's reason was much harder to understand.

Except for infants born to addicted mothers, people are not born addicted to anything. Many people drink and try different drugs. And most people experience some kind of high. But not everybody becomes addicted. Why? And how does it affect the people who love the addicted? When and how can you help? When you can't help, where do you go for help?

Alcoholics: How and Why?

You are watching TV. You are relaxed and comfortable. The program you were watching breaks and a commercial comes on. The commercial is about a new chocolate bar, as you watch you become more aware of how hungry you are and how much you love chocolate. You have just experienced a craving. You stay and begin getting

absorbed into the program you were watching and your craving slowly goes away. Most people are able to control cravings. But when someone is addicted to something, it is not that easy. Instead, the craving for the substance keeps getting stronger and nothing except taking that substance can get rid of the craving.

Addiction does not usually happen overnight, it usually happens gradually over time. Most of the time it begin...

... middle of paper ...

...d sick describe what he's feeling throughout the story. And the only place he felt "secure" was in the children's bedroom, without his wife around. The problem with Martin though was that he didn't

do everything that he should have in able to help her. He picked up after her, covered for her, and felt bad about himself because of her problem. I think that if the story was to be continued that Martin would most likely leave Emily. He would leave her because he doesn't do anything to help her. Things would only stay the same and he wouldn't want to deal with it everyday. Although there is a clue at the end of the book that he did in fact plan on leaving her. "Careful not to awaken Emily he slid into bed. By moonlight he watched his wife for the last time. His hand sought the adjacent flesh and sorrow paralleled desire in the immense complexity of love.

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