Alcohol, the vehicle of epiphany

Recollecting upon the digital stories our core class constructed earlier this semester, I stumbled upon an epiphany realized by the narrator. Feeling as death was her only solution to escape the harsh reality of South Africa, the narrator, due to the consumption of alcohol, recognizes that her problem is not a "matter of life and death" (123), but instead the death of Florence's boy. Although the narrator is not a regular alcohol consumer, when the brandy was described to her a medicine, she took a sip. Although her gums "burned" (123), "something began to lift inside [her]: a curtain, a cloud" (123). After two sips, she sees the enlightening effects alcohol allows, and realizes why Mr. Vercueil drinks. Her consumption of alcohol allows her to shed "the veil of grayness" (123), and realize the truth. She is able to discover that her frail and desperate emotional state is a result of her viewing Florence's son dead, instead of fearing death. Alcohol soothes her anxious mind, and allows her thoughts to be settled and focused. Although she eventually consumes in excess, the alcohol appeals to her emotional senses as Bheki's death was up close and personal to her, and she had in the past only experienced blacks dying somewhere else.