Annie .................Australian Alcoholic Addict

OK....... So I have stopped to recap on the novel and to do some work on developing characters. This one is Dick. He is a policeman through and through. As a Detective he does everything by the book. He is quick to be the decisive one. Some feel that he is heartless. Scarred by the Fitzgerald Inquiry he does everything according to the letter of the law and simply will not bend. However his involvement with Nell and his affection for Annie is making his forthrightness uncomfortable for him. Up... Sign in to see full entry.

I have had some of the story lines from the novel assessed and the major criticism is that Annie never feels any emotions! I agree with this point. She is the central character and yet she expresses very little and what she does feel is not captured for the audience to hear or see. Certainly one is not experiencing the alcoholism with her. This portrayal speaks of the nature of Alcoholism itself. The reason many alcoholics drink is to block or blur emotion, and to try to gain confidence... Sign in to see full entry.

Annie’s story began in a sanitarium. She landed herself there as an alcoholic. In this place of desolation she learnt a little something about how hard and nasty life could be. She worked her way out of one ward and then another with a little help from her friends and a new found trust and faith in God. After her release she finds herself on hard times economically and is thus cohabitating with a heroin addict called Trace. “Shucks!” you may say. “That is not a very good place for a recovering... Sign in to see full entry.

She strolled back to her car via Riverside Walkway. As she approached the corner where the old building silhouetted against the night sky a thought came to her. “Wow,” she thought. “He conveyed a lot of emotional material through that little skit. He really talked of struggle, frustration, powerlessness and acceptance. And yet it was fun and engaging even for children. I wonder if that kind of experiential therapy would be a good thing to do once I finished my time in the Watch house?” She was... Sign in to see full entry.

She had left it late to get her order in for tea and the busker was already getting his equipment ready. Luckily she managed to get a small table just above where the Busker called Teddy would be performing. This meant a box office view for a lazy entertained evening. The Greek music was just beginning to pick up pace in the distance and the sound was enriched by laughter and singing, punctuated by the splash of children running and jumping into the water. Teddy was eclectic. His script was... Sign in to see full entry.

Jesse identified deeply with the feelings of claustrophobia, betrayal and abandonment that were evidenced by Annie’s sudden outburst of self-harming behaviour. It would not be helpful for Jesse to repress her deeply felt sympathies now; rather she needed to intentionally process them so that the feelings did not turn surreptitiously into guilt. She talked to the images as she swam. Re-experiencing each one with understanding, compassion and love. As they named their emotion and experienced their... Sign in to see full entry.

Jesse was lucky enough to live in an ideal situation for a woman with a stressful job. When rostered on at the Watch house she lived happily in town and when on her days off she resided in Stradbroke Island with her husband and children. Her husband was a writer and freelance artist who was doing well in his career. She enjoyed being the wife of a well-known and well-respected author and the life they lived on Straddie was almost paradise like. However she also liked it when she stayed in... Sign in to see full entry.

Woman look inside this basket Tell me what you see You’ve been so naughty Pristine women SHOULD have pure behaviour They should do what is right Woman guilty of unwomanly behaviour Creature of the night Step inside your glassy prison Walk inside your cage Technology has created an icy solution In a brand new Archaic Cleansing Age! (Ode To All Women) As Annie began to look around Jesse started to hurry her forward. They walked together and she kept the mantra of love going slowly, definitely and... Sign in to see full entry.

Jesse entered the cage cautiously. Her intention was to create an ‘anchor’ as quickly as she could. Like as though taming an animal she approached the lost, lonely, frightened woman with respect. A quick or careless action could bring about an abreaction from Annie and this was not wanted. Once startled she would either go into fright or flight syndrome. Either of these could have no good conceivable outcome. A backlash could mean a backhander for either one of them and if Annie tried to run her... Sign in to see full entry.

“No wonder isolation tanks used to work so well as punishment.” she said to her partner. He went to joke and sensing the nuance of antipathy let it go. He nodded sternly. “Certainly abandonment and separation have powerful impact.” Annie was now involuntarily glued to this “creature” whose presence had befriended her. Her interaction with it was not voluntary but compulsively participatory. She had been starved of all sensory stimulation for an extended period of time and this brought with it a... Sign in to see full entry.