Substance Abuse In James Baldwin's Another Country

James Baldwin’s exquisitely complicated novel Another Country refuses to limit itself to any one protagonist, perspective, or setting for an extended amount of time. Following the turbulent lives of a group of friends in the late-1950’s, this multifaceted narrative approach permits the exploration of an expansive variety of themes. The diverse cast of characters necessitates the exploration of gender, sexuality, race, and class. In contrast to these dissimilarities, substance abuse stands out as the ubiquitous character flaw in the novel. Overwhelmed by feelings of existential dread or painful relational strife, nearly every character eventually indulges in a melange of alcohol and drugs. This abuse provides both an emotional crutch and a

Cass remains both limited and liberated by her status as a wealthy white woman. Trapped in a deeply unhappy marriage, Cass lives a life of emotional repression and dissatisfaction. However, under the influence of alcohol, the self-imposed bounds of propriety loosen. Aware of this, “[Cass] sipped her drink again, saying, irrelevantly, “I wish I could get drunk.” Then she giggled, her proud face suddenly breaking. “‘I wish I could get drunk and go out and pick up a truck driver or a taxi driver or anybody who’d touch me and make me feel like a woman again’” (271). Notably, this expression of authentic distress occurs while Cass drinks. Cass’s indecorous admission “‘I wish I could get drunk’” is painful in its simplicity; she wants to be free from her own inhibitions. This would necessitate the adoption of a radically different persona swayed by whim and desire. The reference to “her proud face suddenly breaking” is both a literal and a figurative cracking of a constructed facade. Ingrained in Cass’s desire “‘’to go out and pick up a truck driver or a taxi driver or anybody who’d touch me and make me feel like a woman again’” is a need to feel genuine, unfiltered emotion. The implication is that alcohol facilitates the expression of such emotion. The perpetually guarded Ida, drowning under the weight of being a

Regularly combining excess amounts of alcohol and marijuana, Vivaldo chases after brief euphoria, physical relaxation, and distortion of perception. The archetype of a sensitive artist, Vivaldo often struggles with finding meaning and fulfillment in the world. Observing from the vantage point of his apartment window the familiar scene of a prostitute and her client making their way inside, Vivaldo ponders, “[h]ow could they endure it? Well, he had been there. How had he endured it? Whiskey and Marijuana had helped…” (129). This very literal transactional relationship is emblematic of the type of human interaction that Another Country is rife with. When Vivaldo dolefully asks“[h]ow could they endure it?” he is not referring exclusively to the couple below. The pronoun “they” allows for this question to include the entirety of New York City and even humanity. The two figures below Vivaldo, and Vivaldo himself as he acknowledges “he had been there”, are the product of their surrounds. Namely, a society in which the logic of capitalism pervades even interpersonal relationships, devaluing genuine human connection. An environment conducive to great personal and communal misery is the result. Vivaldo copes with this by actually altering his perception of reality through substance abuse. He admits bluntly of marijuana, “[e]ither it did not derange his