Kate Braverman's short story Tall Tales From the Mekong Delta

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Recommended: Tall Tales from the Mekong Delta by Kate Braverman

Once an Addict . . . A sudden feeling of ecstasy; all of your senses are changed, transformed, falsely seeming to be true. Everything is really wonderful, powerful, creativity flows freely from your mind. You feel indestructible, confident, and prideful. The sun is jolly and as you inhale the air seems to suck through you effortlessly. Everything is blue, no, not blue with melancholy, this blue is "the blue that knows you and where you live and it's never going to forget" (107). The blue is the façade and excitement an addict gets from drugs. Addicts look for an escape, a better life, and something more gratifying, instantly. In Kate Braverman's short story "Tall Tales From the Mekong Delta," she describes one woman's struggle with drugs and how she eventually turns back to them after being sober for five months. Through examining the manipulative personality and changing appearance of the antagonist Lenny, the narrators longing for escape from the ordinary, and the influence of colors, it is evident that her temptations will get the better of her and destroy all that she tries to maintain when sober. Lenny is the essence of her addiction. When first introduced to Lenny, she describes him with some sort of disgust, he is undesirable to her. "He was short, fat, pale. He had bad teeth. His hair was dirty" (89). She isn't attracted to drugs anymore, they like Lenny, are disgusting. Lenny is there, always, wherever she looks, like a barnacle to a whale. He is a mystery that becomes a temptation, as though she always secretly wants him to be there. He confirms her desire to be there, " ‘Yeah. You're glad to see me. You were hoping I'd be here. And here I am'" (91). Was she just thinking that? He said she was, so maybe she was, ma... ... middle of paper ... ...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).

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