An Enemy Deep

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An Enemy Deep: Spectacular

Addiction in Hubert SelbysRequiem for a Dream

Abigail L. Bowers

According to Sadie Plant in Writing on Drugs,the addict as an identity emerged in the latenineteenth century as an outsider, a figment[] of

a modern imagination that needed to define itsown normality, drawing the boundaries aroundthe upright, productive, and reproductive mem-bers of twentieth-century society (164). Theaddict, a thing for which desire existed with-out regulation, soon became mythologized inAmerican society as a creature that voraciouslyconsumed but offered little in return. As thenineteenth century concluded and the twentiethbegan, there was little the government could do tostop the influx of this monstrous consumer. In an

attempt to halt the growing number of addicts,the American government enacted several lawsand regulations; these only resulted in muchlarger, and certainly more insidious, threatsemanating from within both official medicalchannels and the increasingly sophisticatedunderworld of street drugs. By the time WorldWar II ended, and American prosperity was at anall-time high, the country was deeply entrenchedin the first of many Wars on Drugs, and addic-tion was no longer limited to repressed middle-

class femalesthe reproductive members ofnineteenth-century societywho were victimsof iatrogenic practices. Instead, a new breed ofaddict was born in the postwar world.

In the preface to the newest edition ofRequiem for a Dream, which was released con-comitantly with Darron Aronofskys cinematic

version in 2000, Hubert Selby writes that, whileevery individual has his or her own preconceivednotion of the American Dream, too many areafraid to pursue it, or to even recognize and acceptits existence. Selby muses,

I believe that to pursue the American Dream is notonly futile but self-destructive because ultimately itdestroys everything and everyone involved with it.By definition it must, because it nurtures every-thing except those things that are most important: in-tegrity, ethics, truth, our very heart and soul. Why?The reason is simple: because Life/life1 is about giving,not getting. (vi)

For Selby, the American Dream represents anarchaic myth, one that may have been prevalentduring the early years of Americas foundationbut has long since disappeared. This illusiveandelusivedream nurtures the idea that, in order tobe happy, we must first achieve success andmoney; however, this is, as Selby advocates, afalse happiness. Requiem for a Dream deals withthe consequences of following an illusion overtruth, and as Aronofsky suggests, no human in the

novel acts as the hero. Instead, the novel is amanifesto on Addictions triumph over the HumanSpirit, an enemy that lives deep in the charactersheads (Aronofsky 1). The commodities Selbys

Abigail L. Bowers currently holds a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of English at Texas A&M University in CollegeStation, Texas, where she works on contemporary narratives of addiction.

240 The Journal of American Culture Volume 33, Number 3 September 2010

The Journal of American Culture, 33:3r 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


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characters tie themselves to become their ownworst enemies, and instead of salving their soulsand allowing them to feel whole, addiction takesover so completely that they can only live for thenext fix.

In Requiem for a Dream, Selby introduces fourcharacters, Harry Goldfarb, his mother Sara, hisgirlfriend Marion, and his best friend Tyrone C.Love, in order to show his hypothesis that Life/life is about giving, not getting. Each of thecharacters searches for their own version of theAmerican Dream in different ways, and thoughthe substances used are varied, the final desiredfeeling is the same: Harry, Sara, Marion, and Ty-rone want to feel whole. For Harry and Tyrone,this means scoring a pound of pure heroin so theycan be rich; however, the two end up using morethan they sell. Harry eventually loses his armfrom a gangrenous infection brought about by hisheroin addiction, and Tyrone ends up on a chaingang in a Georgia prison. Marion prostitutes her-self to feed her heroin addiction and not onlyloses Harry, but more importantly, her sense ofself. Finally, Sara consumes both food and televi-sion in an effort to stave off loneliness but entersthe dangerous world of amphetamine addictioninstead, which leads her to develop schizophreniaand lands her in a mental institution. Selbys novelilluminates contemporary societys desire forwholeness, as well as the search for an identityand a meaningful life, through the mass consump-tion of junk, including chemical means andother addictive compulsions. More particularly, itis no accident that his tale interweaves drug andtelevision consumption, revealing, especiallythrough Sara, a synergistic effect between drugsand images which, though sought for personal

fulfillment, only affords participation in the illu-sion of the spectacle.When Selby first published Requiem for a

Dream in 1978, the United States was still dealingwith the aftermath of the turbulent Vietnam War.In Postmodernism, or The Cultural Logic of LateCapitalism, Frederic Jameson suggests that thesixties gave birth to a media that became a col-lective actor on the historical scene, feared bypoliticians and tolerated by the public, essen-

tially developing into virtually a human being inits own right (347). This virtual human beingbroadcast to the world what was happening inAsia, projecting the struggles of society and thewar onto President Lyndon B. Johnson and thegeneralsauthoritarian figures considered to bepursuing, without rational motive, a war out ofsheerly patriarchal malignancy (Jameson 34748). Christopher Lasch notes that many Ameri-cans desired to forget the sixties and all that wentwith the tumultuous decade: the riots, the newleft, the Kent State University Shooting, andtheir entire collective past (5). In forgetting,though, a new collective character of the Amer-ican was formed, resulting in a representationalparadox that takes away any subjectivity and au-tonomy because the image becomes divorcedfrom the actual object (Jameson 348). The adventof a global media, coupled with the stripping ofthe individual, resulted in a void that could beneither articulated nor understood.

The turbulent sixties and seventies, however,find roots in the early postwar years. At theheight of global power at the end of World War II,Americans were able to experience, for the firsttime, a leisurely and luxurious existence whereitems, desired instead of necessary, could be pur-chased by almost anyone. The postwar years ush-ered in what David Riesman in The LonelyCrowd refers to as a revolution that cut Ameri-cans off from traditional family values that his-torically existed, giving way to a whole range ofsocietal developments associated with a shift froman age of production to an age of consumption(6). In A Consumers Republic, Lizabeth Cohenagrees, noting that the aftermath of World War IIprovided a fundamental shift in Americas politics,

economy, and culture, creating major conse-quences for how Americans began to live, as wellas what they expected from their government (8).Cohen indicates that postwar mass consumptionwas less of a personal indulgence and more a civicresponsibility encouraged by the government inorder to provide full employment and improvedstandards for the rest of the nation (113).2

The political and business leaders of postwarAmerica hoped that a dynamic mass consumption

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economy would deliver prosperity and fulfill so-cietys loftier aspirations, creating what Cohenrefers to as the Consumers Republic. This neweconomy included more social egalitarianism, po-litical freedom, and democratic participation; fur-thermore, in an ideal America, jobs would beplentiful, increasing the act of purchasing and al-lowing citizens to live better than they had beforeWorld War II. Americas social landscape wherethe populace lived and consumed helped reshapethe nations class and racial profile, as well asgender dynamics both in the family and in theworkplace (Cohen 40406). Peter Whybrow, in

American Mania: When More is Not Enough,remarks that the American society in the postwarworld was one embellished by a commerciallycontrived illusion of infinite opportunity (4); inspite of all this, or perhaps because of it, mostAmericans felt increasingly empty and lost. InThe Society of the Spectacle, Guy Debord statesthat the illusion of infinite prosperity and the in-dividuals feeling of aimlessness resulted in thespectacle of the society that only served to createisolation and general separation (12). In short,the mass consumption perpetuated by theAmerican government managed to boost spend-ing and wealth, but also increasingly isolatedcitizens from each other, creating only the illusionof unity.

This consumption of illusion created a generalfeeling of apathy and emptiness in America. As

Jean Baudrillard theorizes in America, the UnitedStates lives in perpetual simulation, in a perpet-ual present of signs (76), which Jameson echoeswhen he notes that the spectacle of America isakin to addiction based wholly on a historicallyoriginal consumers appetite for a world trans-

formed into sheer images of itself such that theculture of the simulacrum comes to life in a so-ciety where exchange value has been generalizedto the point at which the very memory of usevalue is effaced (18). In spite of the ideologicalclashes, two devastating world wars, and a coldwar that pushed the United States into a powerfulglobal leadership position, the twentieth centuryactually, as Gary Cross in An All-Consuming Re-

publicsuggests, did not culminate in the victory

of American political ideas. Rather, the real win-ner of the century was consumerism (1). Essen-tially, the consumption of sheer commodificationas a process took over (Jameson x), resulting in aplace where only illusion is being consumed, since[t]he commodity is this illusion, which is in factreal, and the spectacle is its most general form(Debord 32). The empty and meaningless feelingsthe illusion created ultimately caused Americansto fill this void with junk, resulting in addictionin its most spectacular form. As Selby ultimatelyshows in Requiem for a Dream, this type ofjunk is futile at best, as it in no way creates asense of connection or wholeness on the part ofthe consumer.

When someone feels full, when his or her life isfilled, he or she is able to navigate the world in asatisfied manner. In Powers of Horror, Julia Krist-eva suggests that a lust for swallowing up theother develops into a deathly drive to devourthe other (118). Fullness is often used when dis-cussing food consumption, and in the case ofKristeva, this occurs through the oral-dietary sat-isfaction that involves connection with anotherhuman being. Essentially, the feeling of fullness isin fact the act of being fulfilled in some way.Kristevas idea that swallowing up the other canbe interpreted in such a way that other standsfor any commodity used to attain satisfaction.Because of this, whole identities actually cannotexisthuman beings tend to rely too heavily onoutside influences to achieve this state of being.Wholeness is metaphysical in meaning and indi-cates the act of being complete and satisfied. InSelbys Requiem for a Dream, the desire for thissensation, as well as the ability to be consciouslyaware of the feeling, is sought through junk,

which results in addiction. Addiction acts as away for the junkie to achieve a sense of fullness,though inevitably, the addicts mistake this feelingfor one of wholeness. Wholeness is never attainedbecause the characters in Selbys novel can onlyarticulate the feeling they desire through therhetoric of fullness. While the characters inRequiem act on their desires, they ultimately failbecause they are unaware that the substances theyrely on are just as empty as they are.



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For Harry, Tyrone, and Marion, the feeling ofbeing complete comes through the relationshipsthe characters have, particularly with heroin.Harry and Tyrone, with the financial backingprovided by Marion, score a pound of pure her-oin. Pure heroin would be highly desirable, par-ticularly since much of the dope found on thestreet contains additives that do not wholly dis-solve, including anything from coffee to quinineto glass particles (Ashton 115; Moraes 64). Whilethe three know that the dope they get is excellent,they dont want to get into it too heavy becausethey have seen cats get strung out and they blowtheir whole scene and end up in the slammer(Selby 31).3 It is interesting to note that jail, notdeath, is the fear, and as the characters get deeperinto their addictions, dying actually never occursto them. Instead, Harry, Tyrone, and Marion feelthey are a part of something . . . [to be] lookedforward to with the greatest of joy and anticipa-tion because heroin is symbolic of their life andneeds (Selby 184). For instance, after finding afavorite vein, this feeling of excitement and warmcontentment occurs, and the three s[it] backfeeling whole and invulnerable and safe and a lotof other things, but mostly whole (Selby 184). Asheroin creates in the body a warm, euphoric feel-ing, it also dissipates fear, pain, hunger, frustra-tion, stress, and other normal human anxieties,providing the user with a safe place, [w]rappedup in cotton wool (Ashton 114; Fernandez 57).Harry, Tyrone, and Marion desire this warm, safefeeling, but what they fail to realize is that heroinsteals their autonomy and individuality, creating abarren and meaningless space.

In fact, heroin ingestion actually affects thebody on a cellular level. Heroin mimics the action

of natural chemicals, endorphins, which the brainproduces in response to pain. These endorphinsact on specific opiate receptor sites in the brainand spinal cord, dampening the flow of impulsesin the nerve tracts that carry information to thebrain (Ashton 111). The concentration of theneurotransmitter dopamine increases, the bodyadapts to the repeated ingestion of the drug, andaddiction occurs (West 9597, 125). Because thehuman body is full of these opiate receptors,

when a person ingests heroin, the receptors lo-cated in the brain are responsible for the pain-relieving and pleasurable effects that the drugoffers. When taking over the bodys initial re-sponse to pain by dulling sensation, heroin thenaffects the hypothalamus, the area of the brainresponsible for controlling the bodys hormonalbalance, thus influencing the levels of testosteronein the blood (Ashton 11112). The chemicals inheroin then attach to the cells, altering the bodyshomeostasis and resulting in an increase in toler-ance so that the user needs more to maintainequilibrium. Because of this, there can never beenough heroin to fill the void; in short, Harry,Tyrone, and Marion might pump their veins fullof the drug, but they will never be whole becausethey rely on junk for the feeling.

Heroin provides Harry and his friends with atype of prepackaged identity of a drug user, butinstead of possessing a self that is whole, they in-stead lack the ability to sense any deficiency re-sulting from their addiction in themselves. In aneffort to articulate the concept of identity, Mariontells Harry that one of the problems in America isthe fact that people no longer know who theyare. While people actually think they do knowthemselves, Marion rants, they are really just abunch of

schleppers who have no idea what a search for personaltruth and identity really is, which would be alright ifthey didnt get in your way, but they insist that theyknow everything and that if you dont live their waythen youre not living properly and they want to takeyour space away . . . and they just cant believe that youknow what you are doing and that you have your ownidentity and space and that you are happy and contentwith it. You see, thats the problem right there. If theycould see that then they wouldnt have to feel threat-ened and feel that they have to destroy you before youdestroy them. (Selby 13031)

While Marion appears to be railing againstconsumer culture and being bound up with thejudgment of her peers, as based on David Ries-mans definition of the other-directed personality,she herself is clearly a victim of the invisible handof the market just as much as those she railsagainst. The spectacle in which Marion resides,and in particular her reliance on heroin forher insight, erases what Debord refers to as the



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dividing line between the ideas of self and theworld. The self is always under siege by thepresence/absence of the world and is over-whelmed by the loss of division between truthand fiction. People are condemned to the passiveacceptance of an alien everyday reality andsteered toward a form of madness, resulting inthe consumption of commodities that occurs inorder to communicate because a response is sim-ply not possible (Debord 153). Marion feels thather identity is being threatened by some alienoutsider because she possesses no real identityshe is a conglomeration of images and events dic-tated through the heroin she uses in order to feelwhole. The same can be said for Harry, Tyrone,and Sara, though the latters wholeness stems fromdifferent types of junk entirely.

Saras emptiness and loneliness transpires notonly from being a widow, but also from her non-existent relationship with her son Harry. In fact,the only way Sara and Harry are able to commu-nicate is through the medium of commodities.Harry, in a rare fit of consciousness, elects to re-place Saras battered television set (the one that heconstantly pawns in order to get money to feedhis heroin habit before he hits it big with hispound of pure). Harry describes Sara as a TVjunkie, informing Marion that he wants to re-place her set with a color TV in order to makeher forget about the times I borrowed her set(Selby 128). Harry does not really love hismother, though he does seem to want to makeher happy; some part of him understands that sheis lonely. He tells Marion that his mother is al-ways sitting in her apartment wearing the sameold house dress, you know even if it isnt the same itis, and I dont know what to do . . . Its not impor-

tant. Now that Im set I can take care of her andvisit her once in awhile (Selby 12829). Harrycompletely misses the point, though; while he par-ticipates openly in giving her something to help herreplace the void he believes she must feel, instead oflovewhich he is not capable of givinghe offersprepackaged emotions in the form of televisionprograms. Clearly, Harrys use of dope to fill hisown void causes him to believe that somethingmaterial will make Sara whole, too.

For Sara, television allows an escape from thebanal and tedious routine of every day life, offer-ing moments portrayed, like all spectacular com-modities, at a distance, and as desirable bydefinition. This particular commodity is explic-itly presented as a moment of authentic life whosecyclical return we are supposed to look forwardto (Debord 112). In this way, Harrys gift isnot so far off base. The beginning of the novelshows Sara huddled in a closet while Harry onceagain steals her set; while hiding, she moans toSeymour, her dead husband, reassuring them boththat it wasnt happening. And if it should behappening it would be alright, so dont worrySeymour. This is like a commercial break. Soonthe program will be back on and youll see, theyllmake it nice . . . . In the end its all nice (Selby 4).Saras small world exists almost exclusively in andaround her apartment, where she has only hermemories of Seymour, scant visits from her itin-erant son, and the friendship of the other Jewishladies who dwell in her building. Her truest com-panion is the television set, and she prefers theshows to real life because they always have ahappy ending. She can relax while watching TVbecause she is possessed with the knowledge thateverything will turn out perfectly, even thoughHarry is a little mischief and her life really isnot all that great (Selby 14).

In New Maladies of the Soul, Kristeva states,if drugs do not take over your life, yourwounds are healed with images, and beforeyou can speak about your states of the soul, youdrown them in a world of mass media. Imagesharness anxiety and desire, taking on the illu-sions intensity while alternately suspending themeaning (Kristeva, NM 8). Concurrently, mass

media, including movies, radio, comics, andpopular culture in general influences the post-war America persona, allowing Sara to becomeoverwhelmed and carried away by these images(Kristeva, NM 8; Riesman 21). Television, theillusion of an illusion that punctuates time in thecycle of hour and half-hour programmingpass[es] off as authentic life [what] turns outto be merely a life more authentically specta-cular (Debord 112; Jameson 76). In doing so,



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television reveals itself for what it really is: avideo of another world, ultimately addressed tono one at all, delivering its images indifferently,indifferent to its own messages (Baudrillard 50).For Sara Goldfarb, the images present on hertelevision screen addict and overload (Whybrow243), permitting her to fill the void in her life.While television has no physical side effects,4

Saras reliance on TV leads her to believe in thehappily ever after, and this is exacerbated whenLyle Russell of the McDick Corporation5 calls herand informs her that she has been chosen to ap-pearsometime in the vague futureon a newgame show.

Sara willingly trades in reality for the guise ofillusion. Sigmund Freud in Civilization and ItsDiscontents writes that when happiness is soughtthrough a disconnection with reality, illusion isthe only way to obtain satisfaction, and the linebetween truth and fiction becomes erased (3031).The images Sara clings to provide valid compen-sation for the loss of her loved ones (Kristeva,Black Sun 5, 6), causing her to believe that, onceshe appears on the unnamed game show, her lifewill also have a happy reconciliation. Sara insiststhat people will see her and fall in love with her,and the promise of this television appearancegives her a reason to get up in the morning be-cause, as she admits to Harry, she is lonely and old(Selby 14243). Saras life is no longer somethingto just endure because she ha[s] been given a fu-ture (Selby 66). Not only does she imagine mak-ing Harry proud, but she also believes that, byappearing on television and becoming one of thespectacular images she so desires to be, her lone-liness will disappear, millions will love her, andshe will finally have her happy ending.

Unfortunately, Saras addiction shifts in a dan-gerous direction the more obsessed she gets withthis television appearance. She trades a somewhatharmless addiction to TV for the frighteningworld of drugs without even realizing what she isdoing. Sara enters the world of dieting with goodintentions, but she soon realizes that the rules setforth in various diet books will not work for her.She turns to the world of medicine to help lose theextra pounds, returning from a visit to the doctor

with a packet of pills that makes her feel youngand vibrant. In fact, Sara informs her friends thatshe has found the fountain of youth (Selby 124).In America, the omnipresent cult of the bodycauses Sara to want to be slim; her plump figure isan object of frantic concern because it showsfailure or substandard performance (Baudrillard35). In order to be accepted, and acceptable, andto alleviate this frantic concern, Sara must rely ondrugs. As a result, though, she becomes franticthanks to pills, which keep her so full of energythat she can no longer sit still and dwell in herfavorite pastime of watching TV. Sara replaces thehappy families and resolutions with the purple,red, orange, and green amphetamine pills. Unbe-knownst to Sara, dexedrine is actually a stimulantwith bio-behavioral actions similar to cocaine(Brick and Erickson 83). Diet pills were commonin the 1970s, and doctors often prescribed dex-troamphetaminedexiesto help women loseweight. Unfortunately, these miracle pills cre-ated more problems than they solved, as tolerancedevelops very rapidly to amphetamines, and thepills are, in fact, highly addictive (Brick andErickson 8384). Sara effectively substitutes oneaddiction for another.

These drugs, and the mental stimulation pro-duced, are Saras attempt at feeling whole. Neuro-chemical substances treat anything from insomniato anxiety to depression, and as the body con-quers the invisible territory of the soul, imagesinundate Sara. She finds that [t]he spectacle oflife is a dream (Kristeva, NM 8). This once againechoes Debords assertion that the spectacle over-whelms our everyday lives through a series ofimages, and once Sara replaces television withdrugs, her life takes on a surreal quality. Chronic

use of amphetamines produces a toxic psychosisor schizophrenia characterized by confused,disorganized behavior, stereotypy, paranoia,hallucinations, and delusions (Brick and Erick-son 8485). Sara falls victim to this toxic psycho-sis, imagining herself actually in the television:[s]he saw the announcer, the audience, the prizes,and heard the laughter and applause . . . shecouldnt control herself and she left the screenand came into the room and walked around the



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apartment . . . trying to get back into the set(Selby 162). This schizophrenia is a by-product ofboth the drugs and the spectacle because, asDebord suggests, we are [i]mprisoned in a flatuniverse bounded on all sides by the spectaclesscreen and our consciousness has only figmentinterlocutors which subject it to a one-way dis-course on their commodities (15253). The flattelevision screen comprises Saras equally flatuniverse, and her use of pills traps her inside anaddiction she attempts to escape through anotherform of consumption. Saras dream to be on tele-vision is slowly replaced by the nightmare fromwhich she cannot get out; however, when she seesherself leaving the show, she finds that she cannotget back in. Saras confusion blurs the line be-tween reality and fiction to the point where shemourns the loss of joy she used to feel in watchingTV, but at the same, she fears being watched byothers.

Like many Americans abusing prescriptiondrugs,6 Sara believes her use of pills is legitimatebecause she gets them through a medical doctor.Harry, a denizen of the drug world in his ownright, notices her strange behavior. On a visit toinform her of the impending arrival of her newtelevision, he notices that she continually grindsher teeth and refuses to sit still. He asks Sara if sheis making a croaker for speed, and Sara, who hasno idea that croaker means doctor, tells him herphysician is genuine; the pills only help her loseweight, nothing else. Harry comments that thecroakers no good. Ya gotta stop takin those pills.Youll get strung out (Selby 13940). Of course,Harry sees his own drug usehe uses dexies, too,if the need arises, in addition to his heroin addic-tionas harmless, but the fact that his mother

takes speed in order to give herself the pleasure ofa slimmer body bothers him. For her part, Saragains no enjoyment from using the drugs; they aremerely a means to an end, allowing her the bodyshe so desires. Receiving the prescription from adoctor further validates the drugs legitimacy,causing Sara to believe that her life is finally com-ing together. After all, Harry returns (if only for aminimal visithe never comes back); she losesweight; and soon, she will appear on television,

validating her existence in the spectacle. The am-phetamines help her retain her reason for living:Sara simply wants to matter to someone, anyone.

In the end, the pills prove more trouble thanthey are worth. Despite Harrys warning, Saracontinues on her destructive drug-taking path,eventually developing the schizophrenia that ac-companies both amphetamine addiction and liv-ing in the spectacle. She ignores the warnings ofher well-meaning friends and peripatetic son andsoon begins obsessing over her appearance in theMcDick Corporations obviously fictional televi-sion game show. She lives, as Kristeva proposes, inan accelerated space and time, lacking any realidentity, and turns into a body that simply per-forms (NM 78). Saras addiction, like her love fortelevision, merely serves to mire her in a falseconsciousness that does not accede to self-knowl-edge (Debord 154). Using television to paint apicture in her head of the perfect family, Sarasattempt is thwarted by her real one. She turns todiet pills to achieve the perfect body, and thoughshe does get skinny, she also loses her mind in theprocess. Saras desperation to feel whole andhappy is never met, and the means by which shetries to achieve this feeling fail her in the end.Instead of attaining her eventual goal of earningthe love of millions of television-viewing Amer-icans, Sara Goldfarb ends up in Bellevue MentalHospital, where her only audience is the doctorsand nurses who administer the shock treatmenttherapy prescribed to treat her drug-inducedschizophrenia.

Hubert Selbys Requiem for a Dream chron-icles four individuals searching for the AmericanDream. However, as Baudrillard notes, Americais neither dream nor reality. It is a hyperreality. It

is a hyperreality because it is a utopia which hasbehaved from the very beginning as though itwere already achieved. Everything here is real andpragmatic, and yet it is all the stuff of dreams(28). Harry, Marion, Tyrone, and Sara attempt tolive in this nonexistent utopia, focusing on them-selves and fulfilling their lives through emptymeans. Saras use of the television, for example,indicates a time period before the 1980s whenmass media first encroached on peoples lives



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through advertisements and shows displaying theperfect family, something Sara desperately longsfor and never gets. Cross notes that the 1970s in-timated a definition of self based on goods ratherthan relationships (181); in Requiem for a Dream,these goods come in the form of heroin, televi-sion, and amphetamines. The passion Selbyscharacters place in these objects responds to therise of suburbia and prosperity in the postwarUnited States, the end of the turbulent VietnamWar, and the shattering of the perceived utopia.The wholeness Harry, his friends, and his motherseek through substances causes them to becomevictims of their own desires, and at the end of thenovel, they are alone and even emptier than theywere at the beginning.

Addiction, Selby remarks, is inherently selfish,and while junkies believe that they would neverget that bad, that they would never get strung outand live just for shit (220), in the end, this is whathappens to everyone who is an addict. The spec-tacle present in Requiem for a Dream appears as aplace where commodities run rampant, and whereunification between the characters does not exist.The only way Harry, Marion, Tyrone, and Saraunite is through their reliance on different formsof junk in order to feel what they believe is a senseof wholeness. Instead, the characters mistake be-ing full for being whole, spending a majority ofthe text searching for ways to fill the void inside,resulting in them getting lost in their own addic-tions, unwilling and unable to find a way out ofthe society of the spectacle. Selby details televi-sion, food, surreal images, and empty relation-ships throughout his novel, indicating that theabsolute excess offered by consumer culture inpostwar America signifies the ever-increasing turn

toward emptiness. Selby muses, I suspect therenever will be a requiem for the Dream, simplybecause it will destroy us before we have the op-portunity to mourn its passing (Preface vii). Aslong as Americans continue to seek happiness andwholeness through the use of substances, Selbysbleak prediction for a life lived as a junkie willinevitably prove to be true, and in the end, therecan only be a requiem for something that nevertruly existed in the first place.

Notes

1. Selbys separation of Life and life indicates the differencebetween those who give (Life) and are thus able to attain a sense ofwholeness, as opposed to those who take (life) and merely search forfullness. Selbys epitaph in the novel comes from the Bible, so it isprobably safe to assume that Life and life hearkens to the cap-italization of the usage of God in Christianity. The capitalizationindicates a type of higher being, or, I suppose in the case of Selby, amore enlightened form of (L)iving.

2. Cohen quotes from Family Status Must Improve: It ShouldBuy More for Itself to Better the Living of Others, an article fromthe May 5, 1947 issue of Life magazine where Ted and Jeanne Hem-eke and their three children evolve from a workingmans family tothe new imagined middle class life. The children are fashionablydressed, Ted wears a suit, and Jeanne has shiny new appliances in herkitchen. The article also cites a Twentieth Century Fund projectionfor the economy in 1960, urging a health and decency standard for

everyone, requiring a pleasant roof over its head and all types ofconsumer goods to be included in the household (Cohen 11213).

3. Selby sporadically uses punctuation throughout Requiem for aDream. While this makes his text somewhat difficult to read (and cite),it also creates a schizophrenic reading experience, which is probablywhat Selby (and his conceit) wants. As a result of this, and to avoidproblems with the continuity of the text, I have elected to keep the textas is and not include [sic] after every incorrectly punctuated word.

4. I say this in spite of the fact that many children are told bytheir parents that their eyes will go bad if they keep watching TVall the time. Of course, the argument could be made that a seriousphysical side effect of television is obesity, as is evidenced throughthe term couch potato and the rising obesity among Americans inthe twenty-first century. As for addiction (concurrent with, for ex-ample, heroin addiction), TV does not cause one to become phys-

ically addicted, or go crazy. Sara finds a different way to achieveschizophrenia, and though TV is at the root of her psychosis, it doesnot cause her madness.

5. While the McDick Corporation is Selbys invention, the nameis reminiscent of McDonalds, bringing to mind something generic andprepackaged. The word dick has multiple meanings: it is the abbre-viation of the word dictionary, hence, Fine language, long words. Aman who uses fine words without judgment is said to have swallowedthe dick. Dick also means penis. A dick-ass is a jackass, and adick-head is a stupid person. To take ones dick is to take onesdeclaration, and the vulgar phrase up to dick means up to the properstandard, excellent, proper (Oxford English Dictionary). Any and allof these definitions juxtapose nicely with Selbys coinage of McDick asthe name of a corporation who dicks Sara over and employs peoplewho swallow the dick. Selby also appears to be making an argumentabout the superficiality and generic nature of television shows with his

choice of the name for this particular corporation.

6. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA),this attitude is still prevalent today. In 2008, 15.4 percent of high-school seniors reported using prescription drugs for nonmedicalreasons, including amphetamines, sedatives/barbiturates, tranquil-izers, and opiates other than heroin. Vicodin continues to be abusedat unacceptably high levels (NIDA). According to the 2007 Na-tional Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), From 2002 to2007, the use of prescription pain relievers among young adults(1825) increased from 4.1 to 4.6 percent. Among adults aged 26 andolder, 2.2 percent use prescription-type drugs non-medically. Olderadults (5059) show an irregular increasing trend between 2002 and2007, showing an increase from 3.4 in 2002 to 5.7 in 2007. These



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patterns and trends may partially reflect the aging into these groupsof the baby boom cohort, whose lifetime rates of illicit drug use arehigher than those of older cohorts. Clearly, abuse of doctor pre-scribed medications is still rampant across all age groups.

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Dick. Oxford English Dictionary Online. 2nd ed. Oxford UP, 1989.23 April 2009. hhttp://dictionary.oed.com.lib-ezproxy.tamu.edu:2048/cgi/findword?query_type=word&queryword=dick&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&search_id=PQqL-rT72LJ-3337&result_place=1&ase_id=PQqL-rT72LJ-3337 i

Fernandez, Humberto. Heroin. Center City, MN: Hazelden, 1998.

Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and Its Discontents. Trans. JamesStrachey, 1930. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1961.

Jameson, Frederic. Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of LateCapitalism. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1992.

Kristeva, Julia. Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection . Trans.Leon S. Roudiez. New York: Columbia UP, 1982.

. Black Sun: Depression and Melancholia. Trans. Leon S.Roudiez. New York: Columbia UP, 1989.

. New Maladies of the Soul. Trans. Ross Guberman. New York:Columbia UP, 1995.

Lasch, Christopher. The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in anAge of Diminishing Expectations. New York: W. W. Norton &Co., 1979.

Moraes, Frances. The Heroin Users Handbook. Port Townsend,WA: Loompanics Unlimited, 2001.

Plant, Sadie. Writing on Drugs. New York: Picador, 1999.

Riesman, David. The Lonely Crowd. 1961. New Haven: Yale UP,2001.

Selby Jr., Hubert. Preface to the New Edition. Requiemfor a Dream. 1978. New York: Thunders Mouth Press, 2000.v-vii.

. Requiem for a Dream. 1978. New York: Thunders MouthPress, 2000.

U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. National Instituteof Drug Abuse. Drug Abuse Among Racial/Ethnic Minorities.Bethesda, MD: NIH Publications, 2003. 9 May 2009. hhttp://archives.drugabuse.gov/pdf/minorities03.pdfi

. National Institute of Drug Abuse. NIDA InfoFacts: NationwideTrends. National Institute of Health, 2009. 6 May 2009. 9 May2009. hhttp://www.nida.nih.gov/infofacts/nationtrends.htmli

. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.Office of Applied Studies, Results from the 2008 National Surveyon Drug Use and Health: National Findings. Rockville, MD:Office of Applied Studies, 2008 9 May 2009. hhttp://www.oas.samhsa.gov/nsduh/2k8results.cfmi

West, Robert. Theory of Addiction. Malden, MA: BlackwellPublishing, Addiction Press, 2006.

Whybrow, Timothy. American Mania: When More is Not Enough.New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 2005.

http://dictionary.oed.com.lib-ezproxy.tamu.edu:2048/cgi/findword?query_type=word&queryword=dick&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&search_id=PQqL-rT72LJ-3337&result_place=1&ase_id=PQqL-rT72LJ-3337http://dictionary.oed.com.lib-ezproxy.tamu.edu:2048/cgi/findword?query_type=word&queryword=dick&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&search_id=PQqL-rT72LJ-3337&result_place=1&ase_id=PQqL-rT72LJ-3337http://dictionary.oed.com.lib-ezproxy.tamu.edu:2048/cgi/findword?query_type=word&queryword=dick&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&search_id=PQqL-rT72LJ-3337&result_place=1&ase_id=PQqL-rT72LJ-3337http://dictionary.oed.com.lib-ezproxy.tamu.edu:2048/cgi/findword?query_type=word&queryword=dick&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&search_id=PQqL-rT72LJ-3337&result_place=1&ase_id=PQqL-rT72LJ-3337http://archives.drugabuse.gov/pdf/minorities03.pdfhttp://archives.drugabuse.gov/pdf/minorities03.pdfhttp://www.nida.nih.gov/infofacts/nationtrends.htmlhttp://www.oas.samhsa.gov/nsduh/2k8results.cfmhttp://www.oas.samhsa.gov/nsduh/2k8results.cfmhttp://www.oas.samhsa.gov/nsduh/2k8results.cfmhttp://www.oas.samhsa.gov/nsduh/2k8results.cfmhttp://www.nida.nih.gov/infofacts/nationtrends.htmlhttp://archives.drugabuse.gov/pdf/minorities03.pdfhttp://archives.drugabuse.gov/pdf/minorities03.pdfhttp://dictionary.oed.com.lib-ezproxy.tamu.edu:2048/cgi/findword?query_type=word&queryword=dick&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&search_id=PQqL-rT72LJ-3337&result_place=1&ase_id=PQqL-rT72LJ-3337http://dictionary.oed.com.lib-ezproxy.tamu.edu:2048/cgi/findword?query_type=word&queryword=dick&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&search_id=PQqL-rT72LJ-3337&result_place=1&ase_id=PQqL-rT72LJ-3337http://dictionary.oed.com.lib-ezproxy.tamu.edu:2048/cgi/findword?query_type=word&queryword=dick&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&search_id=PQqL-rT72LJ-3337&result_place=1&ase_id=PQqL-rT72LJ-3337http://dictionary.oed.com.lib-ezproxy.tamu.edu:2048/cgi/findword?query_type=word&queryword=dick&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&search_id=PQqL-rT72LJ-3337&result_place=1&ase_id=PQqL-rT72LJ-3337


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