Cole Meyer Addiction Sparknotes

Kaitlyn Rotton

Dr. Debbie Davis

EH 102-08

14 February 2023

Character Analysis: “Addiction” According to the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics, almost 21.4% of Americans 12 and older have used illegal substances or misused prescription drugs within the past year. In Cole Meyer’s short story “Addiction,” the audience follows the journey of an unnamed narrator into a life of substance abuse. Meyer uses this character to show how quickly one can fall into addiction and how devastating its effects can be. During our high school years, we all struggle with peer pressure in some way, shape, or form. This story’s narrator is no different. Early in the essay, it is established that the narrator begins to make his way into the party scene

His academics begin to suffer “We were eighteen and failing calculus, but parallel lines were all we needed.,” The narrator rapidly develops a dependence on drugs to cure boredom or cope with grief. “I did blow when I got bored. I drank whiskey when my dad died.” Drugs are the top priority of our narrator. His life is crumbling apart before his eyes as he has been “jobless for a long time”; consequently, he struggles to pay his roommate his portion of the rent. To him, this doesn’t appear to be much of an issue. According to the narrator, food wasn’t as important as getting high “We didn’t eat at all, but I was fuller than I’ve ever been.” Here, he is referring to how drugs satisfy any hunger the narrator has. The story highlights the narrator’s experience with extreme highs and the lows that come with the excessive use of drugs. There are many instances where the narrator experiences a state of euphoria where he can “feel heaven.” Often the narrator experiences vivid trips that aren’t as enjoyable as the others. Within the story, he describes what one of these trips feels like “When it’s going to be bad, you know it… You pull your legs to your chest and wait for the

I was everywhere. Now I’m alone… wondering when it’s my time.” At this point of the story, all of the exhilarating adventures that comes with drug use are nothing but a memory to our narrator. The narrator portrays the consequences of drug use as something that seems to happen all at once. As stated earlier, he is jobless and has been for a while. His roommate decides to move out and leave the narrator to figure out his life on his own. He describes his apartment as “always dirty,” and he is always low on cash. All of his friends who used to get high with him begin to “drop like fucking flies,” and there is a funeral almost every week that the narrator attends. With his life in shambles, he must turn to the local soup kitchen for assistance because he can’t afford basic necessities like food. Most people in this situation would be nothing but grateful. Still, our narrator feels he is superior to the other “beggars.” While the others are praying over their meal, the only thing he is waiting for is to “hear of voice, waiting to feel an angel in my bloodstream, waiting for that