Beautiful Boy and Tweak Essay

Reading both contrary accounts of the story of a drug snitch exclusivelyows much room for equivalence between the two. In the case of David and Nic Sheffs binds, I was affect at how much similarity there was between the two they agreed on most points and there was no striking discontinuity in their stories. There is, however, a significant difference in the perspectives from which the two are told. Natur aloney, Nic, as the addict watchword, takes on a more(prenominal) self-centered view. In Davids book it is clear that Nics addiction is the one central driving reap in their family bread and butter, especially in Davids daily life. In Nics book, however, his relationship with his father and the rest of his family is only one of the several focal points of the book Nic is also preoccupied with girlfriends, friends, and his sponsor.David Sheffs book is a precise self-reflecting account. He is constantly analyzing the past, the decisions hes made with Nic, and putting it a ll together in a desperate attempt to find answers to his discussions d takefall. He struggles with a constant mental conflict What did I do wrong? His preoccupation with Nic became an addiction in itself, and the obsessive annoy and stress took a tremendous toll, to the point where he suffered from a capacious hemorrhage. Davids view of the progression of Nics addiction reflects the Social learnedness Theories and Psychoanalytical explanations of American drug use. At first, David views the onset of Nics addiction as a cause of some childhood lifestyle factors he lived through (such as the divorce).Later on, however, David realizes that there are thousands of teenagers who are reeled into the pitch-dark world of drugs and do not necessarily come from traumatic backgrounds that these two things are not always directly linked. They are simply built by others, usually drug-using friends, regardless of how they were raised. Ronald Akers built on this idea of operative conditioni ng by pointing out that drug-using behavior is reinforced socially more than physiologically. This is exactly what happened to Nic as he surrounded himself more and more with friends and girlfriends who bring on his addiction. As evident as it may have seemed, it took David a epoch to shift his reduce from reflecting on the past to what was quickly making Nics situation worse.Nic, on the other hand, is not actually psychoanalytic virtually his addiction.David has hope for his son, while Nic has very little hope for himself. While relative his story, David is trying to discover and unveil what led to all of this misery in his family. He longs to find answers and causations for all of it. Nic, on the other hand, doesnt focus on the why. Although he has moments where he confesses he never thought he would turn out this way, he doesnt spend much magazine dwelling on what led him to his addiction. Instead, Nic just tells his story and focuses on the very near future. This is typica l of an addicts mentality. Each day is so unsure and unstable that they cant manage to plan more than one or two days ahead. The indistincter he sinks into his addiction, the more surprised he is to find that he wakes up alive each day. or else than fight it, Nic accepts the fact that he is a hardcore addict and that his life will never be the same. It took his father a much womb-to-tomb clock to realize this and fully accept it. I was genuinely ball over at how honest Nic is throughout the whole book while carnal knowledge his story. He admits that his parents are forcing him to go into a treatment center and that he has fucked everything up beyond repair. Most addicts make themselves seem like the victim and leave out a lot of information about their gravely habits. Nic openly shares everything, even his darkest moments of intoxication and suicidal depression. He looks for ways to bind the high demands of his druggie lifestyle and makes the necessary amends, even if it mea ns stealing from his own family while they are desperately trying to help him.Nics selfishness, however, turns into feelings of deep guilt toward the end on the book when he is on the lane to recovery and with his two parents. When his mind clears up, he realizes how badly he has bust everyone apart, especially his mom and dad. These emotional realizations are part of his recovery. David, however, experiences the exact reversal. At the early stages of his sons addiction, he dedicated all his time and energy to the matter, to the point where he forgot about his own health and happiness. As Nics addiction progressed, David shifted focus to himself and stopped obsessing over everything that had to do with his sons addiction. Davids road to recovery meant almost the exact opposite of Nics dedicating more time and energy to himself rather than taking others into originalconsideration.David Sheff tells his familys story from the very early happy days and takes his readers all the way through Nics descent into his darkest moments, while Tweak begins with Nic already deep into his addiction. Nic Sheffs Tweak is the dark counterpoint to Beautiful Boy. The elderly writers grief-filled memoir glows dimly like a opposed planet of despair, while the sons account of the same events ruin like an angry Mars.