The Dangers of Alcohol Addiction

Bohjalian demonstrates the dangers of alcohol addiction through his depictions of both Cassie and her father. Cassie’s father eventually loses his life as a result of his addiction. Cassie almost loses her freedom as a result of her addiction. Both Cassie and her father hurt others when they are drunk, cannot maintain relationships because of their drinking, and put themselves in danger of losing their jobs because of their addiction.

Cassie compares her drinking habits to those of her father’s because she believes that if she does not follow the same patterns he does, it means she is not an alcoholic. For a long while, Cassie had believed she was not an alcoholic because she managed to keep her job at the airline despite her drinking habits. Cassie used keeping her job as a benchmark to determine her degree of...