Summary Of The Novel Tweaked By Katherine Holubitsky

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The aftermath of a destructive obsession

What happens when the burdens of addiction confront a household; what dilemmas arise inside of a family? The novel Tweaked by Katherine Holubitsky; explores the life of an ordinary teenager whose name is Gordie; and his internal struggles with his Brother Chase’s tyrannical addiction to crystal meth. Furthermore, Chase’s self-harm dreadfully cripples his family, which composes of Gordie, his mother, and father. Although it impacts their personal lives; it also damages the relationships that they have with others outside of the family.

The ramifications that Chase brought to the family is one that fragments the family; more specifically his mother: “mom acts like we’re traitors. She had it all under …show more content…

This quote depicts that not only does his mother love him; but also shows that she still cares enough about him to cry at the news that he is still in strife. This possesses her personal life as she will be continuously thinking about him and his difficulties. Also causing a distant relationship with her …show more content…

This places stresses of his own situation and causes his father to adopt an addiction of his own: “Dad has taken to knocking back a few drink s every night… I notice his eyes become glassy earlier and earlier in the evening as he sits at his desk in the den” (Holubitsky 169). This quote displays that Chase manages to hook him on his own addiction and causes him to fall to the same dispute that he has. This damages his relationships outside of his family through the fact that he now has an addiction and the way that he deals with Chase’s condition is by sitting at his desk every evening alone. Rather than talking about Chase to his son and letting go of his hate he is constantly thinking about Chase alone. This causes an external relationship problem; as he has problems but is not willing to talk about them leading to a distant relationship with his son.

Another way that Chase adds to his father’s suffering is through having to kick out his own son out of the house: “Dad had booted him out of the house after six months ago when the stealing got so bad we had to nail the furniture down” (Holubitsky 6). This quote describes the current viewpoint that his father has; this is important to realize because having to nail down furniture so that your son couldn’t steal it. Not only affects him mentally but also emotionally; further this would affect his personal life as