Alcohol and Self-Destruction

And Their Children After Them

This flow traces drinking as Patrick’s refuge, social language, and eventual force of isolation and death.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

The Social Drink The Social Drink from "And Their Children After Them". Drinking as Belonging A shared ritual Patrick’s drinking begins within a culture of bistros, workmates, and family gatherings.

The Social Drink from "And Their Children After Them". Drinking as Belonging A shared ritual Patrick’s drinking begins within a culture of bistros, workmates, and family gatherings.

Drinking as Belonging A shared ritual Patrick’s drinking begins within a culture of bistros, workmates, and family gatherings. Alcohol accompanies jokes, arguments, and the routines through which men recognize one another. A habit with two faces The social ritual offers warmth and connection, but gradually becomes necessary rather than occasional. What binds Patrick to others also prepares the conditions for dependence.

Work and Escalation Work and Escalation from "And Their Children After Them". The Drink Becomes Necessary Uncertainty at home Job loss, financial pressure, and marital conflict deepen Patrick’s drinking.

Work and Escalation from "And Their Children After Them". The Drink Becomes Necessary Uncertainty at home Job loss, financial pressure, and marital conflict deepen Patrick’s drinking.

The Drink Becomes Necessary Uncertainty at home Job loss, financial pressure, and marital conflict deepen Patrick’s drinking. He uses alcohol to endure idleness and to feel briefly powerful. The family bears the cost His anger and binges affect Hélène and Anthony, who learn to anticipate his moods. Drinking stops being private and becomes part of the household’s emotional climate.

A Period of Sobriety A Period of Sobriety from "And Their Children After Them". A Difficult Stoppage Withdrawal and endurance Patrick quits drinking for a time, suffering severe physical and emotional symptoms.

A Period of Sobriety from "And Their Children After Them". A Difficult Stoppage Withdrawal and endurance Patrick quits drinking for a time, suffering severe physical and emotional symptoms.

A Difficult Stoppage Withdrawal and endurance Patrick quits drinking for a time, suffering severe physical and emotional symptoms. He saves the money he would have spent and begins to imagine doing something kind for Hélène. Recovery remains incomplete Abstinence changes his daily life but does not restore a sense of purpose. He has to face boredom and social life without the substance that once made them bearable.

The Return to Drinking The Return to Drinking from "And Their Children After Them". Isolation Takes Hold A smaller existence Patrick lives alone, works irregularly, and spends long stretches drinking in his studio.

The Return to Drinking from "And Their Children After Them". Isolation Takes Hold A smaller existence Patrick lives alone, works irregularly, and spends long stretches drinking in his studio.

Isolation Takes Hold A smaller existence Patrick lives alone, works irregularly, and spends long stretches drinking in his studio. His days lose structure and his relationships thin out. Drinking as power During heavy binges he feels invulnerable and capable of anything. That sense of power is inseparable from physical decline and the fear he creates in others.

The Last Celebration The Last Celebration from "And Their Children After Them". The Final Consequence Excess in public Patrick drinks through the Bastille Day celebration, falls, and refuses help.

The Last Celebration from "And Their Children After Them". The Final Consequence Excess in public Patrick drinks through the Bastille Day celebration, falls, and refuses help.

The Final Consequence Excess in public Patrick drinks through the Bastille Day celebration, falls, and refuses help. He then sees Anthony dancing but cannot turn the sight into a conversation. Into the lake Still carrying the effects of drink, Patrick walks into the water and swims away. His fatal disappearance completes a pattern in which alcohol has progressively narrowed his life and choices.

Before the industrial decline

After Patrick loses his job

Around 1994

After the separation, before July 1996

Night of July 14, 1996