During the nineteenth century alcohol consumption in the United States had reached an all-time high. Eighteenth century advancements in technology and agriculture made the distillation of spirits easier and cheaper. Furthermore, the abuses of the industrial revolution provided reasons for workers to overindulge in drink as a means of easing their pains (Prohibition). It became quite evident that drink was becoming a problem of the nation. Richard Hamm, author of “Prohibition and Temperance” in The Princeton Encyclopedia of American, stated that during this period, “temperance advocates blamed all manner of social disorder on the consumption of drink.” The advocates argued that “alcohol … directly caused poverty, disease, crime, political corruption,
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They themselves were plagued with ideas that limited their outreach and their success. While society imposed social norms that limited the temperance movements scope to working class men. The church’s religious influence on the temperance movement, geared its ideas to influence religious revival in drunkards. In temperance literature, the men who testify in temperance meetings often described their drunk state of being as events of demonic possession. In Six Nights with the Washingtonians the first speaker talks about an encounter between him and his wife. He describes sitting with her at the tea table and remaining quiet as she made her remarks. One would assume that the speaker felt shame in his drunkenness and was too prideful to assume responsibility for his transgression. However, the speaker describes himself as “possessed of an evil spirit” (Crowley 35). Similarly, in The Black Cat, the narrator goes on melodramatic tangents, in which he describes being possessed by the “fury of a demon” (Poe). Which ultimately result in him violently attacking his wife and cat. Poe takes the concept of demon rum and complements it in parodying temperance literature. The idea that inebriation is tied to the spiritual world is very biased and difficult to find consensus. Even in religious circles ideas vary; the idea that all people are bound to the same school of thought again limits the audience to which these narratives appeal to. Poe dramatizes the use of religious language in order parody temperance literatures appeals to religious social
They themselves were plagued with ideas that limited their outreach and their success. While society imposed social norms that limited the temperance movements scope to working class men. The church’s religious influence on the temperance movement, geared its ideas to influence religious revival in drunkards. In temperance literature, the men who testify in temperance meetings often described their drunk state of being as events of demonic possession. In Six Nights with the Washingtonians the first speaker talks about an encounter between him and his wife. He describes sitting with her at the tea table and remaining quiet as she made her remarks. One would assume that the speaker felt shame in his drunkenness and was too prideful to assume responsibility for his transgression. However, the speaker describes himself as “possessed of an evil spirit” (Crowley 35). Similarly, in The Black Cat, the narrator goes on melodramatic tangents, in which he describes being possessed by the “fury of a demon” (Poe). Which ultimately result in him violently attacking his wife and cat. Poe takes the concept of demon rum and complements it in parodying temperance literature. The idea that inebriation is tied to the spiritual world is very biased and difficult to find consensus. Even in religious circles ideas vary; the idea that all people are bound to the same school of thought again limits the audience to which these narratives appeal to. Poe dramatizes the use of religious language in order parody temperance literatures appeals to religious social