Only Drunks Essay
Blinding Anger - Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth
In the play, “Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth” by Drew Hayden Taylor, the story of two sisters, Barb and Janice is told. They had not met each other for the first time until Janice had turned 35 and had returned for her first visit. The two are basically strangers and their relationship consists of nothing but anger. The development in their relationship seems to be impossible with the two who are unable to understand each other. Janice’s anger towards her own life and Barb’s anger towards Janice blinds them from understanding and accepting each other. Janice continuously struggles to find her identity and her frustration turns to anger. Barb is angered by Janice’s leaving from Otter Lake, and her indifferent attitude. Janice is too angry about the scoop-up to understand what Barb expects of her. And Barb is too angry at Janice to understand that Janice also has scars of her own.
Janice possesses anger towards herself and she struggles to find her identity, this interferes with her having an open relationship with Barb. Janice was taken away at a young age by the CAS and was grown in to a ‘white’ adopted family. She grew up with the false belief that her birth parents were unable to maintain a proper home for her. On her first visit back to Otter Lake, she realises that this was not true. After a very short reunion, she could no longer stay and returns to Toronto with overwhelming emotional stress and confusion. Until this visit, Janice had a very clear idea of who she was but now struggles to find her identity. Janice cannot help but think of the past and is angered by her wrong perceptions of Anne, her birth mother. Janice explains to Barb about her situation after running out on Otter Lake: “I know I walked out of here, and I have to live with that fact. You don’t think I realise that she’s gone and that I’ll never know who she was and what could have happened between us?” (101). Janice
In the play, “Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth” by Drew Hayden Taylor, the story of two sisters, Barb and Janice is told. They had not met each other for the first time until Janice had turned 35 and had returned for her first visit. The two are basically strangers and their relationship consists of nothing but anger. The development in their relationship seems to be impossible with the two who are unable to understand each other. Janice’s anger towards her own life and Barb’s anger towards Janice blinds them from understanding and accepting each other. Janice continuously struggles to find her identity and her frustration turns to anger. Barb is angered by Janice’s leaving from Otter Lake, and her indifferent attitude. Janice is too angry about the scoop-up to understand what Barb expects of her. And Barb is too angry at Janice to understand that Janice also has scars of her own.
Janice possesses anger towards herself and she struggles to find her identity, this interferes with her having an open relationship with Barb. Janice was taken away at a young age by the CAS and was grown in to a ‘white’ adopted family. She grew up with the false belief that her birth parents were unable to maintain a proper home for her. On her first visit back to Otter Lake, she realises that this was not true. After a very short reunion, she could no longer stay and returns to Toronto with overwhelming emotional stress and confusion. Until this visit, Janice had a very clear idea of who she was but now struggles to find her identity. Janice cannot help but think of the past and is angered by her wrong perceptions of Anne, her birth mother. Janice explains to Barb about her situation after running out on Otter Lake: “I know I walked out of here, and I have to live with that fact. You don’t think I realise that she’s gone and that I’ll never know who she was and what could have happened between us?” (101). Janice