Cigarettes and Chocolate...milk

I’ve noticed throughout the book a kind of addiction or peddling in substances; sometimes far more overt than other times. Grady, for instance, is obviously always either smoking a joint or guzzling some Jack Daniels or popping prescription pills, but there are also less noticeable cases. Crabtree, for one, brings very few items of clothing on his trip, but is sure to pack quite a stash of substances with him (hence the prescription pills and Jack Daniels Grady gets into). James Leer initially refuses to take part in the consumption of these substances, because he does not want to let go of his emotions, but then indulges. A lot. Other examples are that many characters in the book smoke cigarettes. Sara “patted at the breast pocket of her jumpsuit, looking for cigarettes, then lowered her hand to her lap. She did not permit herself to smoke in the greenhouse” (155). There is some kind of unconscious need to do these things like smoke and drink…. I think it might have something to do with comfort. Or just habit, which provides a kind of comfort I think.

Another example, although kind of an odd one, that seems to adhere to the habit/comfort theory, is Irene (Emily’s mom). “With one automatic hand she reached into a pocket of her smock, brought out a chick wrapped in flashing yellow foil, peeled it, and neatly severed its chocolate head” (174). And again when…. “She reached into her pocked withdrew another chocolate chick, unwrapped it, and cruelly bit off its head, once again returning the remainder uneaten to her pocket. She must have had a whole pile of mangled little bodies in there” (177). This time, though, the substance is not a drug. Yet, chocolate is known to release endorphins which provide a rush similar, maybe, to a drag on joint or a puff of a cigarette or a swig of whiskey. So maybe it’s about looking to substances to artificially (and more easily) provide an improved mood/feeling?

Like when Emily has to interact with Grady for the first time since she (in essence) said she was leaving him and she is sitting at the table next to him obviously very uncomfortable, Grady says she “looked like she was wishing for a cigarette” (211). In this case, it seems a little more like a desire for escape rather than comfort, but it could easily be a little of both.

At any rate, the book is full of people altering their states of mind (marijuana and alcohol) and indulging in more appropriate/acceptable substances (cigarettes and chocolate). Maybe another example of escape is how Tony sometimes dresses up as a transvestite while his brothers are very manly and have gun collections, etc. That might be stretching it, but I just can’t seem to decide what Chabon is saying about all this.