| The Kool-Aid Wino An Essay by Marilyn Kerans The Kool-Aid wino is a negative character. He has made his illness a crutch and uses that crutch as an excuse for his laziness as well as to manipulate people and gain sympathy from them. His attitude is bitter and he makes no attempt to improve his quanty of fife. His main focus in life is a material object which has no real value or benefit. The Kool-Aid Wino is unable to work outside of his home because of his rupture, however, that does not make him helpless. We find him lying in bed, still dressed when he could be helping with the small children who were in need of diaper changes. He is capable of making himself something to eat; therefore, he could help feed and change the smaller children and clean up around the house. He is able to fill and carry a gallon jug of water and walked to the store to purchase the Kool-Aid. Therefore, he is not helpless. He has manipulated his friend into furnishing him money to buy his precious Kool-Aid. The store keeper knows what the purchase will be without an exchange of words, which is a clear indication the wino is a regular and has duped others out of money to purchase his Kool-Aid. His friend feels sympathy for him because the Kool-Aid wino comes from a poor family and has a rupture. Because of this sympathy, he is supportive and awed by the ritual the wino carries out with his Kool-Aid. He calls the wino his friend, although the author is the only character in this story who does any giving or caring, which are the characteristics of friendship. Perhaps the wino feels helpless in his situation which has affected his atfitude. The wino's attitude on life in general is bitter. He refuses to get undressed before going to bed and insinuates that the general population are stupid for doing so. The wino states that "you're not fooling anyone by taking your clothes off when you go to bed." This represents a direct opposition at the normal behavior of others. The wino has chosen to wallow in his helpless situation instead of doing small things, which are within his capabilities to improve his outlook on life. It is as if he wants to be different than the normal and wishes to call attention to the fact that he is. The difference he displays sends the message of outright laziness and being unclean. Clothes that have been worn during the day usually have a degree of uncleaness to them. Perhaps the wino has no other clothing. That does not prevent him from removing the dirty clothes before going to bed. After being reminded by his mother to help out with some chores, he completely treats her request as something of no value and goes on with his Kool-Aid ritual. Perhaps the wino's mother is the kind of person who expects to have chores done immediately. However, his mother also works outside of the home at manual labor. Because the wino has no other job, it is not too much to expect of him to complete the given chores in a timely mmmer. If the wino were a kind and caring person he would share his Kool-Aid with those in his family who have nothing. Instead, he contributes nothing to help out the family situation and hoards his precious Kool-Aid for himself. Perhaps he could contribute the five cents given to him by friends to his family to help lighten the load of those who are working so hard while he does nothing. The only object in his life that has any meaning or purpose is the Kool-Aid. Mixed much weaker than it should be and without any sugar added, he has made it into his main purpose in life. The author said the wino "illuminated" himself by creating this Kool-Aid reality. Perhap this illumination is more of an escape into a fantasy world in which the Kool-Aid represents a higher and greater object and momentarily he can focus on a better world than the one in which he lives. His focus on the material Kool-Aid is so great he has made the mixing and storing of the Kool-aid somewhat of a lengthy ritual. His Kool-Aid is his great escape from reality. This escape is a poor substitution for aspirations and working to make your dreams come true. The Kool-Aid
wino is an example of a negative force in society.
Although there are things he could do for himself, as
well as for his family, to improve their quality of life,
he focuses on something that has great material value
only to him. The Kool-Aid wino is self-centered and lazy
and by wallowing in self-pity has missed the chance to
have meaning in his life. Back
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