David, Princess Belle Marie R.

Prof. Isa Lorenzo

Eng 1 | X4-A
July 20, 2015
Drink Your Troubles Away

David |1

It was one of those midsummer Sundays when everyone sits around saying, I drank too much
last night You might have heard it whispered by the parishioners leaving church, heard it from
the lips of the priest himself, struggling with his cassock in the vestiarium, [] heard it from the
wildlife preserve where the leader of the Audubon group was suffering from a terrible hangover
(Cheever 603). What is it with drinking alcohol? Why do people love drinking although they
know that it will only give them a headache the morning after? What is alcohol? Is it just a
beverage? Or a very addictive drug? Or worse, has it become a poison to people?
Throughout the story, alcohol is defined as a beverage, as a drug, as well as a poison.
Alcoholic beverages are used as depressants to calm stress and as symbolic components in
religious rituals. They are also served in social gatherings like they are served in every party in
the story just like any other beverage. Since alcohol is accepted in our society, it is hardly
thought of as a drug. One dictionary definition of a drug is, A chemical substance given with the
intention of preventing or curing disease or otherwise enhancing the physical or mental welfare
of men or animal Another is, A habit-forming medicinal substance; a narcotic (Ewing 7).
Clearly, an alcohol is a narcotic, a drug. We can see Neddy and his friends addiction to the drug
throughout the story. They were talking about how much they drank the other night yet they still
gathered at the Westerhazys to drink again. Also, Cheever mentioned in the story how much He
needed a drink (609) and Neddy could not stop asking for a drink as his journey continues. He
had become an alcoholic. In addition, alcohol is defined as a poison in the story, literally and
figuratively. The long-term effects of alcohol abuse are many, putting your health in serious
jeopardy and endangering your life (The Effects of Alcohol on the Body). In the latter part of
the story, it is told that his strength had gone. It is a proof that as his desire for alcohol grows

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stronger, he is becoming weaker. Alcohol poisoned not only Neddy but also his life. Although the
reason is not stated in the story, I believe that the reason why Neddys life become the complete
opposite of what his life was is his addiction to alcohol. He was slowly eaten by his addiction.
Alcohol killed Neddys life.
In the previous paragraph, I described Neddy as an alcoholic. But how do you know if
someone has become an alcoholic? There are people who drink occasionally, people who dont
drink at all, and some whom thinks their day will not be complete without drinking a glass or
two of alcohol. One dictionary definition of alcoholic is, a person who drinks alcohol to excess
habitually Another is, addicted to alcohol, alcohol-dependent. Clearly, Neddy is dependent to
alcohol. He believes that drinking will make things better and a drink would pick him up, carry
him through the last of his journey, refresh his feeling that it was original and valorous to swim
across the country (Cheever 609).
As described in John Ewings book, Drinking to Your Health, our society has become the
I-need-a-drink society in which drinking is all around us even if we never go into places
where drinks are served (29). Some of the social factors that encourage people to drink are peer
pressure, advertisements, the idea that drinking is a forbidden behavior, and culture. Peer
pressure is a major factor of alcohol use. Popularity is a really big thing for teenagers. To be
popular, you need to be liked or accepted by other people and To be liked or accepted involves
early use of alcohol (Fort, 88). In effect, teenagers make up a large percent among people who
drink. However, the law prohibits alcohol dealers to sell them to people under eighteen years old.
Any law that restricts sex, drug, or gambling behavior by defining it as forbidden [] or illegal
makes the activity far more interesting and attractive. As the saying goes, masarap ang bawal.
Another factor that urges people to drink are the rampant advertisements. Nowadays, it is

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impossible for us to watch television without seeing a commercial about a certain brand of
alcohol or even browse your Facebook feed without seeing those advertisements at the right side
of the screen. Advertisements make you want to try that certain product because the
advertisement itself interests you. Alcohol advertisements usually have themes like sexual
pleasure or conquest, youthfulness, and general happiness or comfort (Fort 90). So in effect,
the vast majority of the population [encountering these alcohol advertisements assumes] that
they needed alcohol to get through the day, be popular, appear youthful, and be sexy (Fort 90).
Lastly, culture can greatly affect one into consuming alcohol. Drinking alcohol is most of the
times associated with higher social class, more education, and being a real man. Among different
factors, it is evident that people use drinking alcohol to define themselves as the person they
want to be. They use alcohol as a mask.
Besides the many social factors, psychological factors greatly influence people to drink
and become alcoholics. Confidence, relax their nerves to reduce stress or tense, being able to
overcome feelings or depression, and to be able to escape and forget all the problems they are
going through are only some of the effects people think drinking alcohol can give them. You
have watched television for thousands of hours and you have become totally saturated with the
message that for every problem there is a concrete solution (Ewing 87). Some, including Neddy,
think that drinking alcohol is the solution to all their problems. Neddy wanting to escape is an
irony. Neddy is living in a life that everyone dreams to have. He has his four beautiful
children, (Cheever 603) a wife, a mistress, friends, a house, and invitation to parties. His life
was not confining and the he took in this observation could not be explained by its suggestion of
escape (Cheever 603). In Steeles experiment, it is proven that alcohol can resolve doubts,
anxieties, and conflicts within the subject under the influence of alcohol most especially when he

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is doing a distracting activity by making it difficult to allocate attention to thoughts about the
conflict (196). In the story, swimming across country has become his distraction to block
unpleasant facts that in effect, damaged his sense of truth (Cheever 607).
In the same way, 12.2% of American youth aged 15-20 years old are diagnosed to have
alcohol dependence disorder (Winters 8). The developing brains tendency toward impulse
control problems, coupled with the adolescents heightened sensitivity to the social benefits of
intoxication and lower sensitivity to the negative effects of alcohol, may contribute to the
decision to use drugs (Winters 10). It has been proven that teenagers not dependent to alcohol
can remember more verbal and non-verbal information than alcohol dependent teenagers.
Alcohol impairs whatever you are doing (Ewing 88). In effect, if teenagers go to school under
the influence of alcohol, they are impairing their capacity to learn.
Also, alcohol can greatly affect relationship within the family. Marital violence is often
spawned by alcoholism (Ewing 127). Wives under this situation cannot leave their husbands
because of their children and they are financially dependent to her husband. However, it is a
different story between Neddy and his family. Lucinda does not let her be locked with their
alcoholic marriage. She left Neddy and brought their children with her. Being an alcoholic can
also affect ones workplace. In Neddys case, we can see that his social class starts to change as
his journey continues. Before his journey, he has a lot of dinner and party invitations but in the
latter part of the story, he has been referred as a gate crasher. In the end of the story, Neddy is
alone and broke.
In conclusion, alcohol is a self-medicated solution to escape ones reality that when
abused, will only aggravate existing problems. One might think alcohol as a poison but others
might not agree. Drinking it may cause you to feel good but it might also be the cause of losing

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everything you have. It is up to you how you will consume alcohol. Remember, only you can
push the self-destruct button of your life.

Works Cited
Cheever, John. The Swimmer. The Brigadier and the Golf Widow. Ed. The New Yorker. New
York: Harper & Row, 1964. 603-612. Print.
Ewing, John. Drinking to Your Health. Virginia: Reston Publishing, 1981. Print.
Fort, Joel. ALCOHOL: Our Biggest Drug Problem. USA: McGraw-Hill, 1973. Print.
Steele, Claude M., and Robert A. Josephs. Drinking Your Troubles Away II: An Attention
Allocation Model of Alcohols Effect on Psychological Stress. Journal of Abnormal
Psychology. 97. 2 (1988): 196-205. PDF File.
The Effects of Alcohol on the Body. Healthline. Healthline Networks, 30 June 2014. Web. 8
July 2015.
Winters, Ken. Adolescent Brain Development and Drug Abuse. MetroFoundation.org. Metro
Foundation, June 2008. Web. 18 July 2015.