Alcohol Ruins Lives as Shown by Raymond Carver’s Short...

Alcohol Ruins Lives: As Shown By Raymond Carver’s Short Stories What We Talk About When We Talk About Love is a collection of short stories by Raymond Carver. Named â€Å"One of the true contemporary masters,† by Robert Towers of The New York Times Review of Books, Carver creates fiction that opens the reader’s eyes to a seldom spoken of, but all too real, part of American life. Alcoholism, and its ability to destroy families and escalate domestic disputes into violence, was a common theme throughout Carver’s short stories. Though there are many equally powerful themes in all of the stories, alcoholism is the driving force behind most of the misfortune in â€Å"Gazebo† and â€Å"A Serious Talk.† â€Å"Gazebo† opens with a married couple whose relationship†¦show more content†¦With this in mind, it is clear that it can be all too easy to fall into the same sort of alcoholic cycle as Duane and Holly, and that without help, addicts like them may never escape the clutches of alcoholism. To elaborate on what can be done to help people with the disease of alcoholism from a pharmaceutical standpoint, Becker writes: The relationship between withdrawal, stress, and relapse also has implications for the treatment of alcoholic patients. Interestingly, animals with a history of alcohol dependence are more sensitive to certain medications that impact relapse ­like behavior than animals without such a history, suggesting that it may be possible to develop medications that specifically target excessive, uncontrollable alcohol consumption. (â€Å"Alcohol Dependence†) With the possibility of drugs capable of suppressing the urge to consume alcohol in addicts, many people who normally would not be helped by a simple 12 step program, could use such drugs in combination with standard treatment in the future to help combat their addiction. Carver’s â€Å"A Serious Talk† is another short story that perfectly demonstrates the damaging affects of alcohol addiction on both the addict and those who surround them. In the story, a woman named Vera is visited by her ex-husband Burt, who arrives to give