Toxic Surroundings In 'Where The Blood Mixes'

The Effects of Toxic Surroundings on Characters in “Where The Blood Mixes” Through the characters Mooch and Floyd in “Where The Blood Mixes”, playwright Kevin Loring illustrates how toxic surroundings of lost relationships and lost cultural connections shape individuals with trauma. For Mooch, being surrounded by a society that abused him and took away his culture leads to addiction, mental health issues and tarnished memories. Likewise, the tremendous loss surrounding Floyd shapes him into an individual who struggles to let people in. “Surroundings” here are the physical and circumstantial conditions around an individual. Firstly, Mooch’s toxic surroundings due to abuse and disconnections with his culture have shaped him into an individual

In summary, Mooch uses alcohol to cope with being surrounded by a place that takes his identity, culture, dignity and traditional way of life. Furthermore, the positive memories Mooch has of his home are tarnished by the overpowering trauma he associates with the river and the bridge. The bridge upon which Mooch was caught before being mentally, physically and sexually abused stands above the river where he has the pleasant memories of fishing with his grandfather and his friend Floyd. Fishing is a meaningful connection to Mooch’s culture; this is evident in a story he shares with Floyd while at the river: “When I was a kid I used to stay with my grandparents in the summers down at Siska, there. I remember this one time fishing for sturgeon with my papa. He used to call me his Shinge.” (37) Unfortunately, Mooch’s positive memories of the river are tainted by his traumatic surroundings. He expresses this while at the bar, “So if someone gets taken by the river and their body gets eaten by a sturgeon, and then someone catches it and eats it... in a way that person gets eaten

you know... over and over again.” (53) In this quotation Mooch is suggesting that the bodies of the dead that perish in the river live on in those that eat the fish. He is referring in particular to his friend Anna, who he witnessed commit suicide in the river. The inescapable surroundings of the river are a constant reminder to Mooch of the losses he has suffered. In conclusion, Mooch’s life is profoundly influenced by the toxic surroundings of his traumatic experiences, as well as the physical presence of the river, which serve as reminders both of his cultural heritage and of the immense losses he has endured. Similarly, the loss and other struggling individuals that surround Floyd in his community shapes him into a closed off and cynical individual who, like Mooch, copes through addiction. In contrast to Mooch, Floyd is represented by the cold blue stream of the river, because Floyd is closed off and struggles to trust others. That is often the case for those who have experienced loss. When Floyd first hears that his daughter Christine wants to meet, he is skeptical: “She probably heard about the settlement money and now she's come to get a piece!”