“Where I’m Calling From” was one of the many short stories written by Raymond Carver in 1983. Many of Carver’s works have a common theme of alcohol. In “Where I’m Calling From,” the unnamed narrator struggled a lot with alcohol, and he had to be dragged down to the rehabilitation facility by his wife and girlfriend on two different occasions. The story opens with the unnamed narrator sitting on the porch of the rehabilitation facility along with J.P., another alcoholic that was also dragged down to the rehabilitation facility twice, once by his wife, and the other by his father-in-law and brother-in-law. The narrator is separated from his wife, and for some reason distant from his girlfriend. J.P., on the other hand, had everything he wanted, …show more content…
The first stage of alcohol is early and this stage is when there is a general experimentation with alcohol (Champion 239). Joe Penny’s life changed when he started drinking and also when his drinking escalated. J.P got married to Roxy, had children, and while he was married to his wife, he discovered that he wanted to be a chimney sweep. He was happy and everything was good, but for some reason, he picked up a very bad drinking habit. He was in the early stage, and in the early stage, his main focus was on beer and just beer alone, but that escalated quickly. The next stage is the mental obsession stage, and in this stage, the sufferer has repeated drinking patterns and has learned some alcoholic behaviors (Donahue 55). The alcoholic gains a false confidence, or will to power. Some seemingly profound insights and inspirations come to him, and he attributes this to his drinking. The alcohol feels that he can out-punch or out-wit anyone in the bar, seduce any woman, buy rounds after his money is spent, and drink forever. In the story, J.P. was described as the man who always has a glass of gin and tonic in his hands. He would go to work with a thermos bottle of vodka in his lunch pail, and he starts having real fights with his wife, Roxy (Carver 526). Another stage of alcohol is self-alienation. In this stage, he is reflected as a lesser …show more content…
There is no personal detail of the narrator because of his lack of self-awareness. The story is made up in a way that there is no way that the narrator knows that he is alienated from his own story. Also, in the midst of his story telling, he is unaware of all that he reveals about himself (Verley 91; Messer 46). In “Where I’m Calling From,” J.P. tells his own story and the narrator listens and is reminded of some of his own personal adventures. Carver provides a bird’s eye view of life at an alcohol treatment facility. The alcohol treatment facility illustrates two characters who struggle with alcohol, listen to and encourage one another as they struggle to dry out and make a fresh start at a rehabilitation facility (Messer 54-55). Not all of the alcoholics that enters Frank Martin comes out alive or even “cured” of their illness. Jack London for example, was killed because he couldn’t handle alcohol (Carver 526). The narrator admits his sickness and his failure and is constantly reminded throughout the story of his personal adventures. This is a good step to recovery because it shows that the narrator is reaching a very good step in his recovery “ladder.” The setting of the time is the end-of-year holidays and this is a period in the years’ cycle often associated with family, with a reunion, and with reminders of time itself (Robert
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
Raymond Carver's short story “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” leaves the reader feeling as if they have sat down at the table with a bottle of Gin and experienced first hand the effects of alcoholism and depression. In the original version of this story the “Beginners” Carver carefully crafts the many sides of an alcoholic personality developing strong knowable characters. The fundamental personalities are left fairly intact from the original version. It should be noted that the feelings that the reader are left with are due at least partially to the severe editing of the “Beginners” done by his editor and friend Gordon Lish. With this collaboration Carvers personal struggles still shine through but his intent of hope and recover from alcoholism were left mostly on the chopping block. Through many interviews and articles Raymond Carver make clear his personal struggles with alcoholism and how it has had an effect on his writing. INTERVIEWER: Where do your stories come from, then? I'm especially asking about the stories that have something to do with drinking. Carver: “At the very least it's referential. Stories long or short don't just come out of thin air.” (The Paris Review) The inner dialog and downward spiral of an alcoholic is experienced through the interaction between these personalities while discussing the topic of love. JA: I noticed recently you're using cliches in your characterizations, and I wonder if you're just observing, or recording the way a mind works. RC: It's there for a purpose; it's working for me, I think, not against me. Or at least I hope and assume this is the case!
It is a fact of life that Alcoholism will distort the victim’s view of reality. With authors, they put parts of their personality and symptoms of their condition into their characters sometimes, flawed distortions included, with varying degrees
The book opens with the narrator, James, waking up on an airplane. He is bleeding, missing four teeth, and has a broken nose. He doesn't know how he got these injuries or where he is going. They tell him that a concerned friend of his contacted them and that his injuries were the result of a fall down a fire escape. James has no recollection of this. James's parents and brother drive him to a rehabilitation clinic. James has three roommatesLarry, Warren, and John. James believes that it's better if no one gets too close to him, since he views himself as a destructive, damaging force with very little to contribute to anyone's life. He is convinced that believing in AA is just exchanging one addiction for another. He embarks on his journey in rehab, always thinking at anytime that he will be leaving because rehab is not for him'. Not a good start seeing how badly he needs some kind of help.
Drinking: A Love Story (1996) is a memoir by Caroline Knapp where she shares her experience of gradually becoming an alcoholic. She found drinking to be the most important relationship in her life; she loved how it made her feel, how it coped with her fears and worries. She chronicles some of the effort and self-realization required for recovery from this addiction, but her primary focus is on the charm, seductiveness, and destructiveness that she was able to find in two decades as an alcoholic, hopelessly in love with liquor. Her relationship with alcohol started in early teenage years and progressed through young adulthood, until she finally checked herself into a rehabilitation center at the age of thirty-four.
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.
Before this time, Bill and Dr. Bob had each been in contact with the Oxford Group, a mostly nonalcoholic fellowship that emphasized universal spiritual values in daily living(Fingarette 15). During this period, the noted episcopal clergyman, Dr. Samuel Shoemaker, headed the group. Under this spiritual influence, and with the help of an old time friend, Ebby T., Bill had gotten sober and had then maintained his recovery by working with other alcoholics, though none of there had actually recovered (Wekesser 23) . Meanwhile, Dr. Bob’s Oxford Group membership at Akron had not helped him enough to achieve sobriety. When the doctor met Bill, he found himself face to face with a fellow sufferer who had made good (Pitman 62). Bill emphasized that alcoholism was a malady of mind, emotions and body. Though a physician, Dr. Bob had not known alcoholism to be a disease. Due to Bill’s convincing ideas, he soon got sober, never to drink again. The founding spark of A.A. had been struck (Wekesser 26).
As illustrated the model of drug abuse and the theories behind addiction are varied. There is no concrete reason for one person who drinks to become alcohol dependent versus the person who does not. Several factors contribute to why a person begins drinking and why they continue to do so despite reasons to stop. The case history exhibits a client with many risk factors associated with alcohol use and dependence.
Robinson, David. From Drinking to Alcoholism: A Social Commentary. London: John Wiley and Sons, 1976.
Within the memoir, The Glass Castle, the self destructing addiction of alcohol becomes an apparent theme throughout the literature. Alcoholism is a disease that can cause destruction to families and even ruin lives. This is a common occurrence that effect’s many Americans today. Alcoholism is one of the most common problems in families, it doesn’t always interfere with just the person drinking the alcohol. It also affects the people around the influenced person. Rex’s struggle with alcohol is logged through his daughter Jeannettes struggles as she is finding the balance between respecting daughter and a strong individual. It is through her accounts that the reader is able to see the truly damaging effects of this disease.
In this paper I plan to include different aspects of alcoholism. I plan to cover the different approached people have towards it and how it affects people’s daily life. Alcoholics do not realize that their actions not only affect them in a bad way, their body and their mind, but also that they affect the people around them and what a huge impact that has on their loved ones. I will include stories that my friends and relatives have provided me with about their experience with alcohol and alcoholics that they had to deal with and the impact that it had on their lives and their surroundings, as well as factual data and statistics that I have found in my research about this topic. Coming to the U.S. from Poland, where the legal age to purchase and consume alcohol is eighteen, things are quite a lot different. I was twelve when I had moved here and I had older cousins which were of the legal...
Jellinek, E. M. (1960.) The Disease Concept of Alcoholism. New Haven, Conn.: College and University Press.
To understand alcoholism, it must first be understood what this affliction is dependent on. Alcohol is a substance that is made by the fermentation of fruits, grains, or miscellaneous other organic materials. The chemical, alcohol, is a depressant and acts on every cell in the human body. Due to this, the central nervous system, along with the pleasure centers of the brain, are affected resulting in a feeling of euphoria and a sense of well being. After repeated exposure, the brain becomes dependent on this drug to unburden itself whenever it feels the compulsion. Several factors that contribute to alcoholism are the individual’s psychology, genetics, culture, and the individual’s response to physical pain.
There are many times where the narrator describes his actions towards his loved ones while under the influence of alcohol. Since the narrator is trying to draw the attention to his consumption of alcohol, he tries to make sure that his actions trace back to it. In the short story, the narrator says "But my disease grew upon me -- for what disease is like Alcohol !..."(Poe 23) which shows his addiction for alcohol becoming stronger. The narrator's madness seems to be heightened by the alcohol. He begins to chan...
"Because time and amount of drinking are uncontrollable, the alcoholics is likely to engage in such behaviors as [1] breaking family commitments, both major and minor; [2] spending more money than planned; [3] drinking while intoxicated and getting arrested; [4] making inappropriate remarks to friends, family, and co-workers; [5] arguing, fighting and other anti-social actions. The alcoholic would probably neither do such things, nor approve of them in others unless he was drinking" (Johnson 203).