Temptation In 'The Drunkard By Frank O' Connor

The Drunkard
Temptation is the desire to do something; everyday people face a great temptation. Most people might not even realize that they are being tempted, because it is easy to be tricked into something when it is unexpected. The Drunkard was first published on July 3, 1948. During this time period there was a lot of temptations especially with alcohol. In “The Drunkard” Frank O’Connor portrays over temptation throughout the whole story, in the story the father of the narrator gets tempted to drink, and he cannot control himself from stopping drinking. Also during this story his son the narrator gets tempted to drink his dad’s beer because he is thirsty and there is nothing else around for him to drink. He ends up drinking the whole …show more content…
If someone thinks about it too hard they will probably end up making the wrong decision and then they will regret what they did later; at least they hope they will. When his father is tempted by alcohol he cannot control himself, and his whole family knows it too. “ By the time he had taken the first he already realized that he had made a fool of himself, took a second to forget it and a third to forget that he couldn’t forget, and the last come reeling drunk”(344 print, primary). He doesn’t care that he made a fool of himself so he just keeps on drinking to forget that he did. He was tempted to and he did not make the right decision he just keeped on drinking. Everyone in the town knows about him because he is so drunk all the time that they already know its him. “From this on it was “The Drunkard’s Progress,” as in the moral prints”(344 print, primary). Poor thing doesn’t know when to stop drinking and everyone in the town knows it. The town makes fun of him for being this way and his whole family has to deal with it. Temptation is all around and everyone gets tempted to do the wrong thing every once in a while. “I found if I stood on tiptoe I could reach Father’s glass, and the idea occurred to me that it would be interesting to know what the contents were like”(347 print, primary). He got tempted to drink his father’s drink because he was thirsty. He was tempted to do something …show more content…
“It was a terrible disappointment. I was astonished that he could even drink such stuff”(347 print, primary). He had just tried his father’s beer and as soon as he did he did not like it and he regretted trying it. He should have realized right there that he should not drink anymore of it. Being tempted is a big deal with him because he is tempted by something that is not good to be tempted by. After he tries the beer he is like why do people drink this it is nasty. This really should have made him not want to drink anymore, but he is a little kid and was thirsty so it did not matter what he drank at this point. “It looked as if he had never tried lemonade”(347 print, primary). He is making fun of his father for choosing to drink beer. It is not good to drink beer especially around your children, then they will most likely grow up to be just like you. When you do something wrong after being tempted you either look to someone or you get depressed. He was tempted by the drink and then he drank it so he got depressed afterwards because he new that he had done something wrong. “‘Merciful God’ whimpered Father, raising his eyes to heaven and clapping his hands silently as he only did when distraught”(348 print, primary). His father realizes what he has done; he disappointed his wife for