Sweet Poison: The Use of Intoxication in Carver's Short Stories Anonymous College

In Freud's Civilization and Its Discontents, humans are described as exhibiting three types of coping mechanisms in order to relieve themselves of the suffering that they experience. One of these mechanisms is intoxication: to intoxicate one's self with various physical substances in order to become inebriated. In Raymond Carver's short stories, intoxication (drinking, in this case) is used not only as a means to cope, but also as a social lubricant that tears down the inhibitions of the characters that use it. As Carver himself was an alcoholic, his stories reflect his perspective on such experience; there is no glamour or romance in the act of drinking in his short fiction. Although intoxication is used for similar purposes by both authors, Carver presents it in a more subtle way, using examples to demonstrate its causes and effects while Freud directly defines it. Carver also uses intoxication to reveal something hidden that would have otherwise remained hidden had the characters not been intoxicated.

In "Why Don't You Dance", the older man is first introduced pouring himself another drink. Although he doesn't directly state it, Carver implies that the man is dealing with the emotional suffering resulting from his loss by...