Examples Of Alcoholism In April Raintree

The Cataclysmic Woe of Rotguts Impish Symphony

Alcoholism is the universal scourge that persistently cripples all that drinks its calamitous grog. The novel April Raintree, written by Beatrice Culleton, explores the coping and destructive hold alcohol has on individuals. The author demonstrates how alcohol is able to not only weave into one's life, but force an individual to become reliant on the devil's brew. In addition, the author explores how alcohol is able to alleviate one's pain, however it produces a new form of suffering. The novel excels in illustrating the inherent manipulation alcohol holds over Indigenous people.

Alcoholism succeeds in weaving its alleviating yet self-destructive charms into the lives of the hurt and the vulnerable

The book excels in portraying alcohol's ability to alleviate the trauma afflicted on the characters. Alcohol's coping properties are shown when April states; “That was when my parents would take a lot of medicine and it always changed them. Mom, who was usually quiet and calm, would talk and laugh in a loud obnoxious way, and Dad, who already talked and laughed a lot, and loudly, just got clumsier.” (Culleton, 2) This statement underlines the direct effects alcoholism has on people. Turning individuals once troubled by past experiences into mellow and content. However, the most defining aspect of that statement is the author's choice to refer to alcohol as medicine. Historically during the prohibition era, doctors would prescribe alcohol for their patients as a form of medicine, similar to how it is used in the novel. Alcohol induces the feelings of calmness and confidence within individuals when drunk, alongside how it is also used to cleanse one's thought process of an event. This is made clear when Roger says; “I’d say Cheryl has a very low self-image right now. Drinking helps wipe out that image.” (Culleton, 165) In this case Cheryl’s shame for inadvertently causing April’s rape and the truth of the their parents, results in a downward spiral into alcoholism. This abuse of alcohol, as extreme and undignified as one would think, is likely the only mechanism Cheryl

An excellent example of how alcohol inflicted trauma is when April is raped by three inebriated men and April says, “I smelled the liquor on his breath as he leaned toward me.” (Culleton, 112). The rape had major affects on April’s behaviour towards any form of affection or intimacy for the duration of the novel. April would react erratically and panicked as if attempting to escape her tormentors with ritualistic baths. Episodes of intense scrubbing in an attempt to cleanse herself of the horrors of the abuse. However, the true incident that led to the trauma and eventual suicide of Alice and Cheryl was the death of Anna. In Cheryl’s diaries, the death is recalled by Henry as follows; “But she was a sick baby. They should have kept her in the hospital longer, but, no, they sent her home too early and she died, they blamed your Mama and me. That was their excuse for taking you girls away from us.” (Culleton, 178) Alcohol’s influence on the Raintree family is clear as not only is it revealed how Anna’s death inflicted all the trauma on the family but how alcohol always had a hand in the lives and tragedy of the Raintree family. Anna's death was likely caused by the heavy drinking April's mother had been doing. This is because alcohol has been found to cause detrimental birth defects referred to as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders alongside stillbirth or miscarriage resulting in