Chapter 9, Global Disasters 1926 Summary and Analysis

After returning from Stamford, things do not improve for Dorothy. She swallows scotch at an alarming speed and is uncharacteristically foul-tempered. It takes nothing to unleash her rage. She speaks more and more about wishing she were dead, and when friends try to tell her all of the things she has to live for, she refuses to listen. At a party, she is introduced to psychotherapist Alvan Barach, and she begins making regular appointments for his couch. It is his professional opinion that the matter needing the most immediate attention is her drinking. He is met with total resistance to this notion. Privately, she has to admit that drinking does not produce the high that it used to, and she has to work at it now. Thus, quantities become greater and greater. Dr. Barach is urging her...