The Demon Effect Addiction will always take more than what one is willing to give. It takes everything away until there is nothing left except for a person’s identity, but that will not last. Art and literature are catalysts used to warn against the dangers of addiction on a person’s productivity, identity and even family. Addiction itself changes priorities, identities and destroys relationships.
Even the slightest bit of addiction carries the ability to change a person’s priorities. It influences one to neglect responsibilities and even his or her own health. In Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market,” Lizzie revealed that “She (Jeanie) pined and pined away; sought them by night and day … dwindled and grew grey then fell with the first snow,” it depicts that Jeanie disregarded her health in pursuit of her cravings. Jeanie’s death was a direct result of her decision to make her drug come first before her health. Another example is when “She (Laura) no more swept the house… brought water from the brook: But sat down listless in the chimney-nook”. Laura no longer saw the
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In Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray” Dorian used opium dens as an escape from his problems. Dorian used the opium den as a place where “(he) could buy oblivion… where memory of old sin could be destroyed by the madness of sins that were new” (Wilde, 209). By being under the influence of opium Dorian Gray loses the ability to feel remorse and this will certainly result in even more wrongdoings thus repeating the need for more opium and the cycle of addiction continues. Dorian’s addiction to pleasure has also taken a toll on himself, it has changed his personality and turned him from an innocent teen into “a man whom no pure-minded girl should be allowed to know” (Wilde, 170). Dorian’s personality change made him a person that no one wants to be associated with and this was directly caused by his addiction to