Alcoholism In Abel's House Made Of Dawn

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As a result of the psychologically devastating effects of his unfortunate past, Abel enters on the dangerous path of alcoholism. Alcohol and Native Americans represent a major and perpetual theme of House Made of Dawn, illustrating the emotional deviance of Abel. This theme is indeed introduced very early in the book. Abel appears indeed too drunk to stand on his legs, his grandfather comes to pick him up at the bus station at his return from the war. Abel’s drunkenness is of importance because he cannot recognize his grandfather. According to Seklem, alcohol “separates him from the grandfather who had raised him, and who is closely associated with Indian rituals” (22). Francisco appears indeed very affected by his grandson’s attitude because …show more content…

At first, alcohol seems to link Abel to his friend, Ben, since as many Native Americans living in L.A., they are used to gather after work and heavily spend their new paycheck in bars. Alcohol indeed helps them to stay happy and forget their Native American culture that lives inside of them. However, alcohol ends up also separating Abel from his friends. After his hurtful altercation with Tosamah, he indeed inexorably falls into the abyss of alcoholism, until Ben and Milly do not recognize him and estrange him fearing his unpredictable and uncontrolled actions. Finally, this is also alcohol that pushes Abel to unreasonably attempts to get revenge on Martinez. Alcohol represents a barometer of Abel’s psychological state: the more Abel is confronted to painful psychological experiences and the more he loses and drowns his dark contemplations into alcohol. Thus, most of Abel’s troubles like his failure to adapt to life in the reservation or in Los Angeles are closely linked to his alcohol …show more content…

First, Momaday describes the albino as a very hideous and horrifying character through Angela’s eyes. “The face was huge and mottled white and pink, and the thick open lips were blue and violet” (39). His hands appeared “bloodless” with “long blue nails”. The apogee of this horrendous description comes when, as part of the traditional game, the albino choses Abel to be the victim, and beats Abel’s body with the rooster until the dismemberment of the bird in a blood bath. In addition to Abel’s humiliation, Abel perceives the albino as an diabolic “snake” (132). So, after being drinking together in a bar with the albino, Abel stabs the albino and kills him, which leads him to be jailed for seven long years and leaves the reservation. Secundly, Tosamah, represents the second “evil” in the eyes of Abel. Momaday portrays Tosamah as “shaggy and awful-looking in the thin, naked light: big lithe as a cat, narrow-eyed, suggesting in the whole of his book and manner both arrogance and agony” (80). According to Alan R. Velie, Tosamah “is ashamed that Abel, a member of the same ethnic group, has made a spectacle of himself. Abel has embarrassed the hell out of Tosamah by fulfilling the white stereotype of the Indian—primitive, violent, superstitious” (59). So, Tosamah never shows any compassion or understanding of Abel,

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