Drugs And Addiction In Denis Johnson's 'Jesus Son'

Jesus’ Son
People sometimes say that drugs and alcohol make for the best stories. While the saying often refers to a fun night out, drugs and alcohol can just as easily tell stories about desperation, despair, and, tragically, death. What starts out as a good time, can turn into a disaster in a blink of an eye and without a warning. Sadly, the user is too stoned to notice and the downward spiral begins.
In his book Jesus’ Son, published by Picador in 1992, Denis Johnson tells the story about a man named Fuckhead who struggles with his addiction to heroin and with life in general. As a means to avoid reality, Fuckhead uses heroin as his drug of choice, but he also pops pills and drinks alcohol in order to escape and dream away. He loses touch

The relationship with Michelle is a passionate, yet violent and miserable one. They’re both too caught up in drugs, unable to take care of themselves, let alone each other. Their young love is overshadowed by fights and ultimately destroyed by the abortion of their child.
In “Emergency”, Fuckhead introduces us to Georgie, the orderly at the hospital. Even though Georgie uses the drug cabinet for his personal use as well, he seems to have it under control. When Georgie hits a rabbit with his car, he saves its baby bunnies and lets Fuckhead in charge to keep them warm. Much to his despair, Fuckhead forgets about them, accidentally crushing them. The difference between the two becomes obvious when Georgie says “I save lives” (Johnson 72). While Fuckhead is surrounded by death, Georgie saves a man’s life by removing a hunting knife from his eye and rescuing the baby bunnies.
Fuckhead starts to turn around towards the end of the book. He’s trying very hard to get a grip on his life, going to detox and attending AA meetings on a regular basis. For the first time in years, he’s clean and holding a steady job at a nursing home. While he’s trying to figure out how to live a normal life, he compares himself to the patients, some of whom are visibly a

There is no apparent connection, and it takes a while to get the idea that Johnson chose this organization deliberately. It is almost a reflection of Fuckhead’s confusion, self-destroying lifestyle, and the pain and agony he feels. The author sets a dark and depressing tone, occasionally lightening the reader’s mood with comical inserts. In “Two Man”, for instance, Fuckhead tells about a man named Stan, who runs into a stop sign while chasing after a car (Johnson 22). In “Emergency”, he meets a man whose wife put a knife through one of his eyes, because he peeped at another woman (Johnson 70). While these are painful and even gruesome situations, Johnson manages to tell them in a satirical