| The Kool-Aid
Wino An Essay by Ronn Baker After reading "The Kool-Aid Wino" in class with our group I originally thought that the Kool-Aid wino was a negative person because he only seemed to be concerned with pleasing himself I then read the story for the second and third time. I changed my mind about the boy in the story. I think I made my decision in our group without thinking what the boy had to go through each day in his life. I do believe he is a positive person. I try to imagine myself in this situation. He doesn't have a lot of choices. Although he seems to do everything just for his own pleasure, I don't think that is totally true. There is not a whole lot to look forward to each day in his life. They don't mention school in the story because it is August, and he is probably on summer vacation, but how do his classmates treat him? Everyone must know about his rupture because he cannot work in the fields or probably even play sports in school. I can just see his classmates teasing him about not being able to do anything. Try putting yourself in this picture. His family is obviously very poor. His brothers and sisters have to work the fields picking beans for very little money, but somehow he manages to get by, not only taking care of himself, but managing to get money for the Kool-Aid. It seems like this occurs on a regular basis; after all, he is called the Kool-Aid Wino. Wino is slang for a person who habitually becomes drunk on wine. Since you cannot become drunk on Kool-Aid, the reference must be to the word "habitually". Having a habit is not always a bad thing, in fact, sometimes it can be a good thing. He is not smoking or really drinking alcohol, so what's wrong with Kool-Aid? It's just something he does to get through the boredom of the day. An example of his resourcefulness is money. Where does he get the money? From this same friend? The story doesn't tell us. Maybe he earns money from his brothers and sisters in some way. Another example of his positive attitude is that he does seem to help with the dishes even if it is on his own schedule. I can remember once having a standoff with my mother about having to do the dishes. I was probably 12 or 13 years old and I was supposed to do the dishes, but refused for some reason. As I try to think back on it, I had been outside with my friends playing marbles, and they were teasing me about having to do the dishes, so I refused. After getting whipped with a belt, I changed my mind. So it doesn't seem unlikely for him to put it off for as long as possible. All in all I think he has a positive attitude. He could just lie around the house feeling sorry for himself and not help with anything. He does seem to have some structure to his life. I think he's an OK kid. Back
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