The Kool-Aid Wino An Essay by Nelsy Toledo    The Kool-Aid wino story is about a child that is very different from his siblings and friends. Unfortunately, because of a rupture he was physically limited and was unable to perform the normal outside chores that his siblings did daily. His family was of very low income and small change seemed to be valued. His family did not have enough money to pay for an operation which shows how poor they were. This shows that this story was during the early or mid 90's. This child had his own escape which was making Kool-Aid a certain way, like a ritual. He was given the nickname the Kool-Aid wino.    He managed his daily life with this health problem which caused him to be the odd ball in his family. He had a habit of sleeping with his clothing on for he believed that it was a waste of time taking his clothing off when he would once again be wearing them the next day. Here in this section its obvious that this child lacked clothing and probably wore the same clothing everyday.    In the story, the Kool-Aid wino's friend visited him bringing a nickel to be able to buy Kool-Aid at the store to be able to do the famous " ritual." On the trip to store, the author describes how there were pheasants in the fields. The pheasants were noted to be very fat from summer that they didn't even bother to fly away when the boys were walking near them. This part is saying that it was probably during season of autumn that this ritual was planning to be done.    After purchasing the package of grape Kool-Aid, the boys arrived at the Kool-Aid wino's home and the ceremony immediately began. This ritual was done exactly the same manner everytime it was done. The Kool-Aid wino took a lot of pride in doing this ceremony which was preparing the Kool-Aid drink in a jar. It's noted that even though this child was limited in doing things, his mother still makes him do some chores around the home, for his mother interrupted this ceremony and asking when was he going to do the dishes. Though it is obvious this ritual was far more important for this child that he barely acknowledges his mother.    After getting the needed supply for the ceremony, the jar and water, both boys head out to an abandoned chicken house in the back. Though, this chicken house seemed like a hideout for the kool-aid wino for there were old comic books scattered on the floor. In this ceremony, it is noted how this child would do a whole gallon of Kool-Aid which was making twice as much of this drink possibly to make this ritual Kool-Aid to last a long period, plus he never added sugar to the Kool-Aid. This lack of sugar could be another obvious note that he lived in a poor environment and sugar may had be hard to acquire.    By what I was able to learn in this story, this is of a child that due to his physical impairment he is the little black duck in his family. He is not able to perform normal duties like his siblings are able to and he could possibly be the joke among his siblings as well. This Kool-Aid ceremony is very special to him and he shares this only with his good friend. Also it's noted that he also escapes his problem or problems by reading comic books. It's this child's way of escaping reality and giving him strength to continue his difficult daily life.                                                      Back to Student Essays         MCC Home | Comm/Humanities Home | Philosophy Home | Faculty Pages | On-line Courses | Courses |         Student Essays | Area Philosophy Departments | Philosophy Resources | Philosophy of Technology |         Philosophy of Education | Philosophy and Multiculturalism | Philosophy and Learning College | Web         Authoring Resources | Libraries |                      Metropolitan Community College                                   Omaha, Nebraska                                                  Last revision: February 20, 1999              Send comments or additional sites to Frank Edler fedler@mccneb.edu