A million little pieces is a great personal memoir of James Frey. It reflects a motif of beauty an inspiration and salvation through self-reliance and addiction as hungry.
The person I am intrigued with is no other than the protagonist and narrator, James Frey, who began drinking and smoking at the very young age that made him hungry and his addiction had spun wildly out of control. He seemed to be difficult and self-centered at first. He rejected to follow the twelve step program as the basis of treatment, violated rules, and began to have a relationship with a female patient named Lilly. Despite, his stubbornness subsided and became determined not to get drunk. Along the process, he became part of a group of friends came from different experiences, walks of life, and surpassed all social and economic barriers. He learned to be self-reliant because only him could save himself from danger and no one else. He learned to accept help from others and did the same thing to them. James put everything on the line even alcohol and drugs to save love and Lily's life. In his reading, the 'Tao Te Ching' inspired him that it's never too late to have new life. In the end of his story, I can absolutely see his willingness to change and James wins over his addiction.
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At the beginning, James doesn't allow others to sense any form of his weaknesses. He preferably let the world see him that he is tough and can take care of himself. The character of James makes me realize that we all have stories to tell about even if it is the war between you and your demons that you had encountered, may encounter or will encounter. I don't want others to see my weaknesses to make his/her own judgment about who I am. But somehow that opinions made you think about who are you in their perspective or point of
Addictions can be a hard thing to deal with it because you have no control over what you are doing, taking or using. I chose to read this particular book because the title grab me too. I was curiosity to know more about her story such as, how was their lives before the addiction? How did she deal with his addiction? And how did her son addiction affect her emotionally, mentally and physically?
First of all, James cares for Isaac during times that can be dangerous. James would hold Isaac’s hand while crossing the street, and feel very sorry to hurt him by accident. “I hold Isaac’s hand as we cross the street”. Also, “‘Aw, Isey,’ I say. ‘I’m sorry. Are you OK?’”. This evidence shows that James cares for Isaac because, he wants him to be safe. Isaac could have been in great danger, walking across the street by himself could lead to a car accident. In addition, if James had never noticed that Isaac fell over and got hurt, he would be left outside with nobody to help. James had helped only Isaac in that situation, and did not mind his friends. This evidence is logical because, only brothers that are caring would help each other, and would not ignore them when they are in need. This also shows why James admires family more than friends.
Drinking: A love story by Caroline Knapp is a memoir of Knapp’s love story with alcohol. The novel is in told is Knapp’s point of view in which she tells the story of her downward spiral of her addictive nature. She describes how the effect alcohol had on her emotions, relationship, and thoughts. The beginning of the book explains how she became an alcoholic which further progresses to how she knew she had a problem. She was first introduced to alcohol by her father, whom she has a good relationship with as he seemed to worry about her feelings because he had related to them.
the story of his journey and struggle to overcome his addiction with the help of the native
...bolism of colors, her growing fondness of "Chameleon Lenny," right up to her first puff of the cigarette, 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 (93). She has seen the sober life and she isn't happy with it. Her cigarette smoking and drinking, although not illegal, will still conform to her downfall. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. At the beginning of the story we see hope for someone who brings cookies to her AA meetings, who sits and drinks coffee while her daughter is at dance practice, but unfortunately in the end, "There is only this infected blue enormity elongating defiantly" (107). Once an addict, always an addict, "When the glass was finished she would pour another. When the bottle was empty, she would buy another" (107).
As a boy, James questions his unique family and color through his confusion of race issues. Later in his life, as an adolescent, his racial perplexity results in James hiding from his emotions, relying only on the anger he felt against the world. It is only when James uncovers the past of his mother does he begin to understand the complexity of himself and form his own identity. As James matures, issues of race in his life become too apparent to ignore. His multiracial family provides no clear explanations on prejudices and racism, and when "[James] asked [Ruth] if she was white, she'd say, No. I'm light skinned and change the subject.
Imagine living in a society where the color of your skin defines who you are. In Harper Lee’s Novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Maycomb County is surrounded in ignorance because people believe that people of a certain color are not as important as everyone else. An individual, Tom Robinson is attacked, and judged by Maycomb’s society because of false rape accusations and the color of his skin. The power of Atticus’s words show society that they were wrong about Tom because the color of his skin does not define who he is and being black does not make him a rapist. The three most important themes in To Kill a Mockingbird are knowledge versus ignorance, individual versus society, and power of words.
In the reality of the postmodern world, where nature is gone and has been replaced by technology, where the world and humankind have become fused with the machine, and the existence of morality and reality are uncertain, it is difficult to find hope for a better existence or motivation to attempt to change one's existence. Addiction then becomes a logical avenue of escape from these bleak circumstances--not affecting reality, but transforming it into something bearable. The addictions that Case turns to allow him to escape from the hard reality of his life th...
“After working with an American patient (Rowland) suffering from chronic alcoholism and achieving no significant progress; Jung told Mr. Rowland that his alcoholic condition was near to hopeless, save only the possibility of a spiritual experience. Jung noted that occasionally such experiences had been known to reform alcoholics where all else had failed. Mr. Rowland took Jung’s comments to heart and returned to the United States and joined a church. Mr. Rowland shared the comments made by Carl Jung with his friends and other alcoholics. One of the alcoholic he told was Ebby Thatcher who was a long time friend of the future co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous Bill Wilson. Therefore the influence of Jung is indirectly found in the formation of Alcoholic Anonymous original 12 step program and then into the 12 step recovery movement (Carl Jung, p.6).”
In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee exhibits the abolishment of moral courage over addiction. Addiction is when one becomes so attached to something, it is as though one could not live without it. It would take a tremendous amount of moral courage to combat
The author of Addiction & Grace: Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions is Dr. Gerald G. May. Dr. May was born in 1940 in Michigan. He went on to become an Air Force Psychiatrist during the Vietnam War. Dr. May went on to be a psychiatrist and spiritual counselor in Maryland. He was also a Senior Fellow in Contemplative Theology and Psychology at the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation in Bethesda. Some of his other work includes, The Dark Night of the Soul, The Awakened Heart and many other books specifically focused on the psychological and theological areas. Dr. May passed in 2005 in Maryland.
This experience helped me to recognize the internal struggle that a substance abuser faces on a continuous basis. In addition, I know that an individual can have a difficult time changing their behavior even when they have a strong desire to change; the smallest thing can cause a person to relapse.
...r but Octavia tells him "You not a bum," she says. "You a man."(p.404) This is significant because it shows he is not seen as a young boy by his mother anymore, he is now seen as a man. We see the influence and change in James by all of the life lessons his mother instills in him, she tells him he needs to not cry, to be strong, and be able to stand alone symbolizes that he must be independent, he must also put others before himself and do things he may not like to do but must do as a necessity to live, such as killing the cardinal birds for supper. Helena also shows James that everything in life you must work for, that is why she tells him to take out the trash cans.
James was an authoritarian parent. He was controlling, in-charge and no one questioned him. He would play the role of the doting father. When his children made mistakes, he made a point to criticize them. He often compared them to other kids that he felt were “more perfect.” When his often unspoken expectations were not met he would yell and scream striking fear into his entire family. “He’s not a warm, fuzzy kind of guy, and he’s not going to inspire feelings of intimacy. But when his system works, he can boast about one thing: His recruits tend to obey” (Dewar).
In every story, there are themes that point out the meaning of the story so it does not leave the reader hanging. So what is a theme? A theme is a fundamental and often universal idea explored in a literary work. In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, there are three main themes, which commonly appear throughout the story. These themes will help tie any lose ends in the story, and help readers to understand the meaning of this story.