Drinking Coffee Elsewhere Analysis

The story “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere,” by ZZ Packer tells a story about an African American lady called Dina, who was born in a low income family, facing challenges from her families, friendship, neighborhood and personal identity. Dina was a Yale student, and she was a talented girl who had earned academic success. Story began at the day of orientation, and Dina refused to play the Trust game, also, telling that she would like to be a revolver if she had to be an object. She was requested to meet Dr. Raeburn, the psychiatrist. Through the conversation with Dr. Raeburn, we know about Dina’s relationship with her parents, especially her Dad. The story also tells us the friendship between Dina and Heidi. Heidi was a student from Yale also. They …show more content…
She was not the only person that suffered from her problems, also her friends and someone who cares about her. While the story “Cathedral” is an enlightening and influential story that shows a person who used to very jealous, insecurity and isolate himself from the world, finally become a better person because he was influenced by a disable man. Overall, with respect to insecurity, isolation, and antisocial with the two main characters from these two stories, it seems that “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere” and “Cathedral” has similarity about personal experience and living environment have deeply impact towards human’s mental development and the quality of social …show more content…
For example, when Dina was in the second game of orientation, it was her turn to say what inanimate object she wanted to be, and her response was a revolver. There is two reasons for her response. A revolver is a weapon which can be used for defense. First, Dina was living in Baltimore, which was a poor and danger neighborhood. She needed to protect herself from being chased or hurt by other kids, and that was one of the reason why she became an offensive person. Second, Dina felt unsafe among the white environment, and she could not find her place in the white world. So when the dean asked if Dina wanted to wipe out all of mankind, and Dina relied she meant it, which shows Dina has antisocial attitude with people. For example, after Dina received her first C in record, she became a priority for the dean. Then there was some unannounced checkup happened every other day which annoyed her. In order to express her unwillingness of their visits and to startle the counselor, Dina made a point of being naked, and sit in front of the door. Her behavior is abnormal, because it is not a usually way to solve a problem. Instead of telling the counselor to offer her some privacies by knocking the door, she choose to insult both of herself and the counselor by being naked. Even though she had achieved her purpose, no one was a winner. Through the above