The following post is some reflection regarding the novel Franklin Evans written by Walt Whitman. Many people till this day don’t even know that he wrote this novel. I quizzed some people in the Apple store and to no one knew…

Franklin Evans is

Franklin Evans is certainly a different novel It has an underlying message and it’s delivered in dramatic fashion. We all know the evils of alcoholism today but it can be viewed as even more destructive in the nineteeth century. The epsisodes that Evans are caused due to his love affair with Brandy and the like. After reading the introduction, I had an idea of what the book is about; intemperance. Professor Gold graced us with a primer to intemperance and reminded us of different movements to abolish alcohol. With this sort of historical context in mind, I proceeded to read the novel.

Whitman presents intemperance from a Washingtonian perspective. Each chapter has a dramatic episode where those who drink are possessed and become demons. In the beginning of the novel, there are descriptions of intemperate folks. He judges characters by their eyes and levels of redness in their faces. In speaking about a person,Evans (our main character use to know)

“The truth is, that  habits of drunkeness in the head of the family, are like an evil influence- a great dark cloud, overhanging all, and spreading its gloom around every department of the business of that family, and poisoning their peace etc.”

He clearly dissaproved of drinking saw situations that intemperance lead to the destruction of families, especially in the father. Every character he meets is under examination of consumption of alcohol. He looks for redness in the face and bleary eyes, the byproduct of a few too many drinks many nights.

Despite some resistance from the offset, Colby drags the inexperience Evans to the bar. Evans problems with alcohol began after ” We took our station at the first vacant seats, and called for our drinks. How delicious everything seemed!!”

The next morning. Evans woke up remorseful. He regretted those drinks he had but he’d inevitably would drink again. Evans gets a nice paying job and loses it because of his intemperance. He was to deliver a package for Mr. Lee and failed to so,  intemperance now costs him his job. In each episode, the price he pays for his intemperance escalate. He loses a wife to his intemperance later in the story and in another drunken rage is arrested for attempted theft.  In the novel, Evans starts to blame Colby for introducing him to the thrills of alcohol. Evans made his own decision and didn’t have the fortitude to limit his consumption of the deadly drink. You’d think he would turn around at this point but I will leave that discuss for the next blog post.

On a related note, I stumbled upon a website dedicated to moderation management. Most approaches to vices are pure abstinence but this website takes a realistic approach. You can have a drink or two and not be an alcoholic.