Winter's bone

Jacob Sanchez
Professor Laura Cline
English 102
March 22, 2012

Winter’s Bone: of Meth and Life

The book Winter’s Bone, by Daniel Woodrell, has many recurring themes, from the difficulty of rural life, to the transience of childhood. However, one recurring theme is the rampant use and production of methamphetamines in the small towns of the rural Ozarks. In this book, many, if not the majority, of the characters are using, cooking, distributing, or any combination of the triumvirate of the methamphetamine life cycle. As can be seen in the text, it is a cultural cycle that is very difficult to break out of, and is highly destructive both to families and to individuals.
Ree, the protagonist of the text, is repeatedly offered, and occasionally partakes of, various forms of illicit intoxicants, from so called “magic mushrooms” (Woodrell, 55) to prescription pills (Woodrell, 145), but never touches crank. It’s never stated outright, but you get the impression that she knows that it will lead her to places she doesn’t want to go. There is significant other picturization in the text of the damage that meth does to the individual, and the paranoia that is inherent in the long term use of the drug. According to Methland, by Nick Reding, the “ultimate effects are psychopathology such as intolerable depression, profound sleep and memory loss, debilitating anxiety, severe hallucinations, and acute, schizophrenic bouts of paranoia.

Summary and response to a critical article

     Nick Reding's book, Methland,  is a microcosmic representation of the meth problem in America today. He covers the problem Oelwin, a small Iowa community, has had over the last few decades with methamphetamine use and production. However, he directly relates his story to the root causes of meth abuse, both socially and economically. He also covers the personal story of Roland Jarvis, 37 year old ex convict, father of 4, crank cook and addict.
     Reding makes more than one valid point about the proliferation of meth as the "all-American" drug. The ability to work long hours without fatigue, and to do seemingly superhuman feats with ease make this drug extremely attractive to those who are required to do such things. In my own experience as an active duty Marine, I saw men who were using meth outstrip my own athletic prowess and ability with seeming ease. I never saw the downside of meth use where I worked. Instead, I saw men who could run with a pack for hours without any signs of physical stress or distress. While I struggled to complete tasks in a fugue state, the meth users were still fresh and functioning at high levels of competence.

http://vitia.org/wordpress/2009/07/27/meth-lab-fusion/

     What was not apparent in military life were the downsides of meth. After all, what is the risk of jail to people who risk dying in training or combat every day? We were expected to function at the upper edge of human potential at all times. However, seeing older meth users, and even people that I went to high school with, has brought home the consequences of methamphetamine use. People that I know from high school look like they are geriatric, due to their use of meth. Rotten teeth, balding, rapid aging beyond hat should be possible, I've seen all of it. I've seen meth turn a beautiful girl, a friend of mine, into an apparently ancient, toothless hag, who is terminally paranoid, and runs from her former friends. I agree with Doctor Hallberg, that meth is a "sociocultural cancer"(Reding, 11).

Works Cited

Reding, Nick. Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town. USA: Bloomsbury Publishing USA. 2010. Print.

winter's bone