Beautiful Boy: A father’s Journey Though His Son’s Addiction, is a non-fictional story written by David Sheff describing the struggles he and his family go through because of the onset of his son’s, Nic, addiction to methamphetamine. The story starts out when Nic is a young boy living with his mother, Vicki, and father, David in San Francisco. David and Vicki are wonderful parents. They are both active in Nic’s life; they read to him, take him to the San Francisco Zoo, and when he is of age, attends preschool. Nic is happy and smart boy, but his parent’s relationship is struggling. Vicki moves to Los Angeles and remarries, David gets primary custody of Nic and Vicki gets Nic for holidays and summer vacation. David eventually remarries, Karen, …show more content…
He goes to several rehab facilities which he reluctantly returns to after each relapse. David desperately wants his son to be his son again and in some cases forces him to go back to rehab. Each time ends up in relapse. In one instant he breaks into his family’s home and steals money from his younger siblings. After seemingly going through rehab and a half way house successfully, Nic has been sober for a year. He has his own apartment, a job, and bought himself a car, he is now 21 years old. Nic seems to be doing very well and makes frequent calls home until suddenly the phone calls stop. David cannot get ahold of Nic nor can his mother. They fear the worst. After several days with no sign of Nic, they file a missing person’s report. After several weeks, Nic finally returns. He was on a drug binge and goes back to rehab. Nic once again relapses and this time overdoses and almost dies in the hospital. Nic goes back to rehab by his own choice and meets with his counselor, Randy, again. Nic is sober for nearly two years until one night at a party, decided to do meth again with his girlfriend. He said it was a three day thing and that he is still sober, he denies that he still has a problem. Nic goes back to rehab, this time seems different. He is actually feeling remorsefully for all that he has done and cannot believe that this is his life. When the story is over, David explains that Nic has now been sober for a …show more content…
Meth use has serious consequences including dental diseases, cardiovascular impairment, pulmonary diseases, and death. In Nic’s story, we did not lean much about the consequences his body went through because of his chronic addiction. David speaks about how frail his once muscular body has turned into and his sunken in face, but never goes into much more detail than this. Nic does overdose and ends up in the hospital and nearly dies, but this is the only known experience though out his many years of use. Methamphetamine dependence also causes serious cognitive impairments that can still be apparent though time of sobriety. Ever since Nic was a young boy, he was very intelligent. He did very well in school and got accepted to several pristine colleges. Though he dropped out after becoming several addicted to meth, it was not because he was not smart enough but rather the meth was now more important to him than a quality education. David never makes note of how Nic’s cognitive functions change. Nic does not make very wise decisions, but this is because of the impairment caused by the drug. Nic goes through several instances of relapse, in some cases it is because he cannot handle the symptoms of withdrawal. The symptoms of withdrawals have been linked to relapse for drug abuse. These symptoms can include
Donna has quit working as a prostitute and is currently on the road to recovery from years of addiction and abuse. As a child she suffered from years of neglect and sexual abuse from her immediate family members. Donna admits to using drugs when pregnant with her youngest child and suspects that he may have fetal alcohol syndrome as he is unable to control his emotions and has a difficult time in forming social bonds.
Life wasn’t always so bad, or at least that’s what they told me. From what I remember of my child hoods great memories my family speaks so highly of, if there were any at all, are all clouded in my mind by the what I can remember my life being. At times I find myself going thru old pictures of when I was a child and think to myself. Why can't I remember this day? I looked to be a happy healthy baby then my heart turns in a cold way. Growing up to a parent addicted to drugs and alcohol is no way for a child to be raised. I had to grow up at an early age and didn’t truly get to experience life the way a child should. My family tells me Marquise you were so loved by so many people and your Mom tried to do the best she
Nic struggles so much why attempting to satisfy his need for the drug. This is the most important part of the book where I expected to know how drug users handle their addiction. The book narrates that Nic became a nuisance and a big problem both in the society and the family. Drug addiction erodes the morals of the users. Nic Sheff occasionally stole from everyone in the household. He took money from her mother, stole her sister 's diary, raided her brother’s little bank. In result, he was so much hated by her family. Again what increased the level of hatred towards him is his behavior of encouraging others into relapse. He regularly claims that the substances took away his values and morals leaving him caring less for his family. Addiction can be blamed largely for changing Nic Sheff into an immoral monster. However, we cannot quantify whether the family has an obligation of accepting his apology and forgiving him or whether she should be told off
June lost her husband in a car accident, in which he left her with their littler daughter Elizabeth. One of the police officers Kurt helps her and they become friends, she then gets married to him and afterward gets pregnant. Kurt decided that he wants to build an addition to their house and June hires a builder named Shay Bourne. After a while Elizabeth and Kurt are found murdered and Shay is convicted with the murder. The trial starts and all the jury agrees that he is guilty and should be sentenced with death penalty however, one of the jury members was hesitant to sentence him, but the jury manages to convince him.
In the book Nic would hang out with another addict named Gack who would take things apart such as a stereo or Nic taking apart his computer, but not being able to put it back together. I remember speaking about this in class, its called getting “hung up” in which they have repetitive thoughts and do something for hours on end. Throughout the story Nic was constantly hung up, whether it was having sex with Lauren or Zelda for hours as he described or having the same thoughts of how he’s not good enough to be with Zelda, or his family, or even his friend Spencer. He constantly worried about people liking him and didn’t take the time to actually like himself. All the characters throughout this book that were addicts were constantly paranoid, irritable, self-conscious and always suspicious of other people or police. For instance, Zelda went into a psychosis from taking meth and would attack Nic and yell at him thinking that he was hiding drugs. In class we learned that this kind of behavior happens when drugs are taken in high doses all the time. Also, I learned from class that people who are depressed they use stimulants instead of anti-depressants and anyone that is reading this story can definitely tell early on that Nic is depressed. He has a lot of issues with himself, his family, and relationships with people throughout the book. Towards the end of the book when Nic was in the Safe Passage Center rehab in Arizona he felt bugs crawling all over him as he lay in his bed and at first I thought they were real insects crawling on him. Then I remembered from class when we were talking about “Cocaine Bugs” and how an addict will think there are bugs on them but there isn’t anything actually there. Being that Nic was taking a lot of different
Investigating the area, they find Neltz only to escape back to Miami. Before leaving, he mentions that he took a deal from Stoddard. The officers corner him in a Miami warehouse only for Stoddard to kill Neltz as he was about to elaborate more about their deal. Nick leaves in disgust after Stoddard and Khai take some cash before more officers arrived. Later, as a hurricane makes landfall, Dawes sends Nick and Khai back to the crime scene for any evidence incriminating Stoddard. Finding Neltz's recording implicating Stoddard, Nick finds his former partner in a meeting with other dealers but is forced to work with him to rescue Khai from more armed men. The three later meet Dawes, who destroys the evidence implicating Stoddard and revealing that himself and Khai are corrupt. The three betray Nick due to his refusal to go along with their scheme, framing him for laundering Neltz's drug
A Beautiful Boy is based on a true story about a married couple who is devastated based on what their son has done. Their only son was a college student who decides to go on a rampage and shoot everyone at the school including himself. He ends up shooting 12 students and a professor. With his parents worried watching the news they don’t think much of it, they are just worried their son might be in trouble or scared. The parents, Kate and Bill get a visit from a detective, letting them know their son was the one causing the ruckus at school. Kate Carroll the mother, feels like the whole situation that her son caused was her fault. She blames herself for not loving him enough. Kate always thought that they weren’t responsible for his actions,
“Meth, not even once” is a popular phrase that is associated with this drug. This drug has many known horrible effects associated with it, plus many effects more I am sure are going to be discovered over time. I am intending to cover the history, effects, the different categories of meth abuse, and the withdrawal effects of Methamphetamine in this paper, and what to do if you suspect someone you know is using meth.
(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.
Nicholas Sheff grew up in a two -parent household. His parents got divorced when he was about seven years old. His mother moved to Los Angeles and his father moved to San Francesco, they both remarried. Nicholas lives with his father and frequently visits his mother. Nic was in therapy to help his cope with his family issues from a young age. He has two half siblings who adore him and he is fond of them. Nic has a good relationship with his stepmother. She taught him French and spends time with him. Nic started smoking cigarettes, using alcohol and marijuana when he was a teenager in high school. He started experimenting with other drugs and became addicted to methamphetamines. Nic stole money from his half siblings to support his drug habits. His father experimented with drugs when he was a teenager. However he never became a drug addict. Nic’s father was devastated when he found out his son was using drugs, his smart, beautiful and loving son is a drug addict. His father believes that he was depressed and his previous drug habits had something to do with Nicholas
I was shocked at how serious the addiction became. Some people were injecting, smoking, or ingesting methamphetamine more than three times a day. The drug became their life. Ian emphasizes this best when he says, “I didn’t lose anything. I traded it” (Shukla 175). He realized that his craving for methamphetamines took precedent over everything else in his life. I couldn’t comprehend this desire. These participants were stealing, trading family heirlooms, and compromising their deepest beliefs for a temporary high. It’s scary to know that there is a drug out there that can destroy who your soul. Despite the severity of these problems, the consequences don’t stop at the personal
Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction is a best selling book written by a famous journalist David Sheff. After the book was published in 2008, Starbucks Company chose Beautiful Boy to be one of the books that can be bought in its coffee shops. Beautiful Boy is a memoir written by David Sheff, who is a father of a substance-addicted son Nic. This book shows the perspective of a parent who struggles with son’s addiction and wants to bring him back to the family, along with father’s desire to protect family from destructive behavior and influence of drug-addicted son.
Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey through His Son’s Addiction is a memoir written by David Sheff explaining the experience he and his family went through dealing with their drug addicted son.
Abuse can cause countless medical problems to the body. A person who is addicted will continue to stimulate themselves regardless if they are aware of the negative chain reactions. Once addicted, it becomes difficult to stop due to how the body has become dependent. Health will be harmed the more a stimulant is used. Health effects include: cardiovascular disease, strokes, cancer, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, lung disease, mental disease, birth defects. Mental health is what keeps a person in the right mind to make better decisions and have better control in life. Drugs have the ability to change mood and behavior. If drugs have affected the brain already, the desire increases which changes mental health. Some may not realize that they have been affected their health negatively. “A person who abuses drugs may not realize they have a problem until pronounced effects of drug abuse are seen, often physically. While drug abuse effects on the body vary depending on the drug used, all drug abuse negatively impacts one 's health (Addictions Community). Since drugs create many health issues, treatment is not a simple task. Treatments are hard to obtain and addictions often go
The story opens with the boy, whom to this point had ignored his mothers coughs, drops everything to rush to her aid as she “collapsed into a little wicker armchair, holding her side”. (O’Connor 206) As he watched his mother struggle trying to light the fire he told her, “Go back to bed and Ill light the fire”. (206) Now to this point, as the reader, I am unsure of the age of the boy, but I get the impression that he is a young boy. My idea of this boy is that he tries to take on too much throughout the day and eventually it was the demise of the opposite sex that eventually caused the meltdown of the “awesome” little boy. This is certainly something that will happen again to this young lad but he has definitely learned his lesson this time.