“What’s in a name?” (Shakespeare 2.2.42) Juliet asks in her famous line, a declaration of her devotion to Romeo which paradoxically emphasizes the importance of names in the Romeo and Juliet in general. Written four centuries later, Water By The Spoonful echoes this sentiment by allowing characters to name themselves online and, therefore, control and dictate their identities. Both Shakespeare and Hudes select names pregnant with meaning as a tool for characterization; however, while Shakespeare picks names the illuminate aspects of his characters’ personalities, the names Hudes’ uses reveal characters greatest inner struggles. The names Shakespeare gives his characters in Romeo and Juliet help his audience to understand not only the character’s
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Hudes elevates the importances of names by allowing characters to assign themselves their own name, their own conception of their identity. These screen names initially seem random, even inconsequential; however, they reveal the personal struggles of each of the addicts. Clayton Wilkie selects the pseudonym “CHUTES&LADDERS”. The game Chutes and Ladders involves maze of chutes and ladders in which characters try to climb to the top on the ladders but often fall back down through the chutes. This name evokes the cycle of addiction--relapse and recovery--that Wilkie has struggled with throughout his life. Wilkie succinctly offers a metaphor for his addiction when he describes almost drowning. He tells the chat room that “I get sucked up under this wave. I gasp, I breathe in and my lungs fill with water. [...] I was sinking to the bottom [...] [but] this lifeguard pulls me out [...] [and] I say to him, [...] ‘Today’s the day I start to live’” (Hudes 14). Drowning works perfectly as a metaphor for addiction because no matter what Wilkie does, the water--the crack--pulls him back under, and the more he struggle, the more water fills his …show more content…
He shares with Orangutan that during one of the times he was in recovery, he went to see his son for “step 9, make amends” (Hudes 49). His son pretended not to know him and “he had five years sober until that day” (Hudes 47). Like the game Chutes & Ladders, Wilkie falls back and forth between relapse and recovery. The cyclical nature of addiction is the reason that he tells Fountainhead that the chat room “is a site for crackheads trying not to be crackheads anymore” (Hudes 31). No matter how many years of sobriety he achieves, Wilkie will always be an addict. Although the purpose of a screen name is ironically to hide his identity, Wilkie’s chosen name reveals his most intimate
Hudes elevates the importances of names by allowing characters to assign themselves their own name, their own conception of their identity. These screen names initially seem random, even inconsequential; however, they reveal the personal struggles of each of the addicts. Clayton Wilkie selects the pseudonym “CHUTES&LADDERS”. The game Chutes and Ladders involves maze of chutes and ladders in which characters try to climb to the top on the ladders but often fall back down through the chutes. This name evokes the cycle of addiction--relapse and recovery--that Wilkie has struggled with throughout his life. Wilkie succinctly offers a metaphor for his addiction when he describes almost drowning. He tells the chat room that “I get sucked up under this wave. I gasp, I breathe in and my lungs fill with water. [...] I was sinking to the bottom [...] [but] this lifeguard pulls me out [...] [and] I say to him, [...] ‘Today’s the day I start to live’” (Hudes 14). Drowning works perfectly as a metaphor for addiction because no matter what Wilkie does, the water--the crack--pulls him back under, and the more he struggle, the more water fills his …show more content…
He shares with Orangutan that during one of the times he was in recovery, he went to see his son for “step 9, make amends” (Hudes 49). His son pretended not to know him and “he had five years sober until that day” (Hudes 47). Like the game Chutes & Ladders, Wilkie falls back and forth between relapse and recovery. The cyclical nature of addiction is the reason that he tells Fountainhead that the chat room “is a site for crackheads trying not to be crackheads anymore” (Hudes 31). No matter how many years of sobriety he achieves, Wilkie will always be an addict. Although the purpose of a screen name is ironically to hide his identity, Wilkie’s chosen name reveals his most intimate