The Effects Of Alcoholism In The Glass Castle

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"When ever dad pulled out what mom called 'the hard stuff', she got frantic, because after working on the bottle for awhile, dad turned into an angry-eyed stranger who threw around furniture and threatened to beat up mom or anyone else who got in his way" (Walls 23). In the memoir The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls shocks readers by telling them about her bizarre childhood, and the events that shaped her life dealing with an alcoholic father. Alcohol has been around for hundreds of years, however, within the last century there has been a dramatic increase in the popularity of alcohol consumption. Despite popular belief, alcoholism is not a new thing. In fact, it dates back all the way to the time of the early Egyptians; this is when beer was first introduced (Dillon and Rough 1)”. Although, in the beginning Beer was usually brewed at home, by the women of the house and consumed at home only. (Holt 3). As time went on, the consumption of alcohol became more predominate. Mead, hard cider and sprites were all introduced in the 16th century and were distributed and consumed locally (1). Taverns and alehouses were frequented by popular classes and respectable folk often drank in private clubs (Holt 3). However, the creation of restaurant coffeehouses in the late 18th and 19th century made more public places to imbibe (Holt 3). Since these places were open to the common folk and not just people of high standing, consumption of alcohol began to increase. As time continued to progress alcohol became more and more complex. It became so bad that the prohibition of alcohol was enforced by the eighteenth amendment to the US Constitution in 1919 (Dillon and Rugh xii). However the prohibition was repealed in the 1933. Even though the amendment to constitution didn’t pan out the way the government had hoped, they didn’t stop trying to do something about the issue at hand. They created the minimal drinking age laws. In July, 1984 legislation forced states to make the minimal drinking age 21 by threatening to cut off federal highway funds from states that did not comply by certain dates; all states in the district of Colombia complied with legislation by 1988 (page 216). In today’s society the laws on substance abuse continue to change too keep up with our ever changing of views on alcoholism. Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant and can also be called a sedative hypnotic or referred to as a ‘downer’ (Fisher and Harrison 15). It’s called this because it interferes with motor control such as judgment and reflexes (Dillon and Rugh xi). A person who becomes an alcoholic will experience many different short term as well as long term effects from alcohol, not only pertaining to physical but also many other mental and social effects as well. Some acute (short term) effects on the body include vomiting and behaviors such as staggering and slurred speech are most
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