Tales From The Mekong Delta

Everything turns a beautiful blue. Sights, sounds, touch, and mind-sets are changed. Creativity flows freely from your mind to the hand to the pen and to the paper. This blue is "the blue that knows you and where you live and it's never going to forget"(107). The blue is the fix and excitement an addict gets from drugs. Addicts look for an escape. They feel that if they just have that hit they will enjoy life and its experiences to a fuller extent. In Kate Braverman's short story "Tall Tales From the Mekong Delta," she describes one woman's struggle with drugs and how she eventually turns back to them after being sober for so many years. Through examining the changing appearance of Lenny, her longing for escape from every day life, and the use of blue and green, it is evident that her temptations will get the better of her and destroy all that she tries to maintain when sober.

Lenny is the symbol for her addiction. When first introduced to Lenny, she describes him with some sort of disgust. "He was short, fat, pale. He had bad teeth. His hair was dirty"(89). This shows how she isn't interested in drugs anymore. He then tries harder and harder to seek her out and talk to her. Then, the temptation is introduced. ‘"You want to get in over your head. You want to see what's on the other side. I'll show you. I'll take you there. It'll be the ride of your life"'(91). But the more persistent he is and the more he is always around, the more she is gradually attracted to him, and in turn the drugs that she has tried to quit. "His face seemed younger and tanner than she had remembered"(93). He starts showing up to the meeting in a small car, then on a motorcycle. Then he arrives in a red Ferrari. As time passes, he...

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... way home, but forget about the dirty needle and get AIDS. She will be too caught up in the joys of drugs that she will not notice everything she worked so hard for to come crashing down.

With her longing for something more than what she gets on an everyday basis, her growing fondness of Lenny right up to her first drink and drug use, and the symbolism of the blue and green, it is evident that she will not be able to overcome her temptations and be drawn back into the world of drugs and alcohol, only more intense this time. She has already started doing drugs, drinking, and smoking again. She has seen the sober life for way too long and she isn't happy with it. Her cigarette smoking and drinking, although not illegal, will still conform do her downfall. "When the glass was finished she would pour another. When the bottle was empty, she would buy another"(107).