Information epoch, the epoch of technological advancement had solved many barest necessities of world. The civilised universe has forgotten of many catastrophes faced by ancient people when they struggled to last. In general, all our primary demands are easy satisfied, we do non care what to eat as we ever have something to eat ; we do non endure from hungriness or thirst, or incurable diseases, or any enemies. And if earlier we were contending with firedrakes, now we have nil to contend with and therefore we find ourselves lost and have to contrive jobs ourselves. And experiential desperation becomes our enemy, and we look for a Jesus. God is dead, as Nietzsche has proclaimed, and the manner out we choose is to contrive new Gods. A human being demands to believe in something, needs to depend on something and to set the incrimination on something or person for his or her bad lucks in life. And the faith many of us choose is drug or substance or any other sort of dependence. This pick is dictated by the really Torahs of consumerism our society is droping in, and this subject has become the basis for the two controversial novels, Requiem for a Dream by Hubert Selby Jr. and A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. Very frequently the grounds of drug dependence are found in the fortunes, in the environment and influence of other people. All these causes truly do lend to the debasement of any nut, but really they turn out to be non decisive in any instance. No affair where the one starts and where the one ends, it is after all his or her ain pick to go an nut and al the duty for this pick must be put wholly on his or her ain shoulders.
Like in any faith, the drug you take is the God you choose to idolize. It is your moral pick and no 1 can do you belief if you do n’t desire to yourself. In the bulk of instances that is merely a wish of suicide lifting from the feeling of incrimination or merely the misfit in life that must be punished in some manner and at the same clip we all enjoy sometimes the feeling of being out of control. You may deny it, you may even non be witting adequate to take it, but it is truly so. While the narrative told by Selby is about the manner down to the stone underside ( “ sing the about intolerable agony, the debasement and limbo, that is the monetary value of dreams among the powerless ” ( Selby 16 ) , the narrative of James Frey is on the contrary concerning successful manner back to normal life from the stone underside. And in the Frey ‘s novel we meet the thought of self-responsibility taking the supporter to the triumph over his dependence: “ The lone manner I ‘m traveling to acquire better is if I accept duty for the determination to either be an Addict or non be an Addict. That ‘s the manner it has to be for me ” ( Frey 357 ) . Finally the God he chose was world. “ Go place, be happy, unrecorded sober and free, live the life you imagine yourself life, ” he says to himself ( 250 ) .
The affair is, people are frequently weak and hence they fall under the influence of other people they do non desire to defy and fortunes they do non desire to command. In A Million of Little Pieces Lilly may be justified by familial sensitivity as her female parent had a heroin wont and that ‘s why the miss had to work as a cocotte to gain money for drugs she shortly got addicted to every bit good. In Requiem for a Dream Harry is influenced by his best friend Tyrone C. Love, while the latter does n’t cognize other life at all as the street has been his place and the barbarous Torahs of such life have infected his blood. Harry ‘s girlfriend Marion, meanwhile, has a good beginning, she is fond of pulling and has caring slivers, but all her behaviour turns out to be a entire protest against their control and absolutism: “ They demand excessively much, ” she says ( Selby 33 ) , and for her that is an account. But the illustration of James Frey proves that nil can warrant your ain pick. “ It is no unwellness. It is a failing, ” he admits ( Frey 111 ) and provinces: “ Peoples do n’t desire to accept the duty for their ain failing, so they place the incrimination on something that they ‘re non responsible for, like disease or genetic sciences ” ( 301 ) . He learns that his gramps was an alcoholic, and that in childhood he had an uncured infection, but he refuses to take these supplications, and admits that after all the one to fault is himself. As opposed to Harry who chose a inactive place, James decided to take his batch into his ain custodies and did win.
So, both duty and penalty should be put on the 1 who fell, and merely when he or she takes control, the one no more needs a God to be with him or her. To take life face to face is the soundest determination one should press to. Frey found the reply through the book Tao Te Ching, others could merely travel and work ( Sara was non every bit old as to be retired, she could still be engaged in making something utile for the society or at least happen some avocation ; Marion had a endowment she could develop ; Lilly could trust on James and follow his manner as it was done by his friend Leonard who used to reiterate “ keep on ” and “ We have to keep on to what we have left. Fight for it ” ( Frey 369 ) ) . The difference between the characters of two books is besides seen in their behaviour towards beloved misss: while James chooses Lilly over the drugs, Harry betrays his love and even pushes Marion to harlotry: “ He didnt like the thought of Marion ballin this fellow. Fuck it, whats the large trade. He certainly as snake pit wasnt the first cat she of all time balled. If she had to turn a few fast ones to- No! No! She aint no fuckin Hooker. Shes merely acquiring some shit adult male. And anyhow, what the screws incorrect with a biddy ballin some cat? Thats her concern. Shes free. ” ( Selby 188 ) .
What is more, all the points stated above can mention non merely to drugs but to any sort of dependence. In Requiem for a Dream Sara Goldfarb is every bit sick as her boy, because she can non conceive of her life without telecasting and the TV-set becomes her God. When she is informed of invitation to the plan, she is more than happy and sees the will of proviso in this event, and her ideas are supported by the betrayer: “ Well, Mrs. Goldfarb, I ca n’t state you why you are so lucky, I guess it ‘s merely that God has a particular topographic point in his bosom for you ” ( Selby 21 ) . She needs to convey an offering to her God, and the one she chooses is her organic structure: she wants to free her weight to fulfill the audience, to fulfill the hungriness of Television itself. But nutrient turns out to be her following dependence, the God she ca n’t assist without, and she falls into disfavour. The diet pills prescribed by physician become the cruelest of her Gods, and it penalizes her every bit badly as one can merely conceive of as she ends up in infirmary with electric daze therapy. The dependence to nutrient is brilliantly depicted in the Frey ‘s novel excessively: when the supporter is deprived of cleft, he tries to make full the emptiness with nutrient and can hardly command himself. In the terminal of the book he sees others eating like animals and decides: “ I will defy my impulse to eat everything I see, to eat myself into a coma, to eat so that I no longer experience anything, to eat until I ‘m beyond experiencing anything ” ( Frey 451 ) . And he realizes that plan proposed at the Rehabilitation Center is “ replacing of one dependence with another dependence. Replacement of a chemical for a God and a Meeting ” ( 70 ) . Each dependence, each faith terminal up in the same topographic point, and self-righteousness is the lone steps you can travel up.
All in all, the two narratives, Requiem for a Dream by Hubert Selby Jr. and A Million Little Pieces by James Frey, the first relation of the tragic manner to debasement and the latter relation of the winning manner to redemption, both give a broad image of drug dependence from different points of position. These books have much in common, in secret plan every bit good as in manner, as both of them give unmerciful descriptions of nut ‘s feelings and inside informations of life and acquiring a drowse and seeking to last and at the same clip both written in a mode of watercourse of witting to do the impact even more profound than it could be without that consequence. Compared and contrasted, these two in-depth surveies show that no affair whether these are drugs, Sweets, societal grasp or love, each topic of our dependence is an unreal God we create for ourselves to idolize and to hold sense in life and to put the incrimination at person else ‘s door. “ If an person is fat but wants to be thin, it is non a familial disease. If person is stupid, but wants to be smart, it is non a familial disease. If a rummy is a rummy, but does n’t desire to be a rummy any longer, it is non a familial disease. Addiction is a determination ” ( Frey 199 ) .It is so that the duty for this pick is ours and no 1 else ‘s, irrespective of all the unfavourable fortunes and influences of people environing us. Life is complicated and intricate for many people, but non all of them end up as nuts, and it proves that it ‘s merely your failing that leads you to this problem, your deficiency of desire to hold another manner of life, to contend and to acquire a triumph, and on the whole to take the entire duty for every your determination, every title and every error.
