In the novel Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri, the character Rahul in the story of "Only Goodness" is an undiagnosed alcoholic. His problems stem from his childhood when his sister, Sudha, gave him his first beer when he visited her in college. That one beer was the start of his addiction which lead him to cutting ties with his family and abandoning his education. Later in life with the help of his girlfriend, Elena, he sought out help and tried to reestablish a relationship with Sudha and turn his life around.
Rahul from a young age started drinking and he and Sudha would play a game where she would go to the liquor store and get alcohol and then hide it with Rahul from their parents. When Rahul got older, Sudha thought "the game" was over and there was no need to play it anymore, but when Rahul got home from college he came into her room and said, "Hey. Where did you hide it?" (Lahiri 131). When Sudha told him that she did not bring any home, he became distant which disturbed Sudha. Rahul was changing and not just because he was getting older; he was changing in the fact that he was starting to drink hard liquor, not just beer anymore, but this change was not brought to attention of anyone but Sudha and since she was the one supplying him she felt responsible. She did nothing about it and went back to school.
However this game turned into a lifestyle for him. He would come home from college after failing the semester and hide out in his room. Sudha noticed his change in attitude and from what she had been told he let his grades slip. Rahul was slowly spiraling out of control and it was only going to get worse from here, but again no one was going to stop him because his parents did not want to think that Rahul was depressed and had a drinking problem and Sudha did not want to address the problem because she felt she was responsible for it. Sudha wanted to talk to Rahul about college and find out why he let things slip, but when she entered his room she noticed the "mug at the side of his bed, wondering how much he'd consumed in the course of the evening" (141). This should have been a flag of concern for Sudha, but she did not want to address the problem.
It was not until things were starting to get worse for Rahul that Sudha finally brought the topic up to her parents. Rahul had just gotten pulled over and arrested because his blood alcohol level was high. When she mentioned to her parents that Rahul might have a drinking problem, they were in total denial, stating that everyone drinks in college, but Sudha contested that kids in college do not drink like that in college. I think her parents were starting to come to terms with Rahul's drinking problem at this moment because it explained his poor grades and his aloof behavior, but they were not going to admit it to anyone because in their eyes their children were "immune from the hardships and injustices they had left behind in India" (144). Rahul was only going to get worse from here and that was what happened. He spiraled out of control to a point were he ruined Sudha's wedding and ran away never to be heard by his parents again.
After time had passed and Rahul had sort of become a figurative brother to Sudha as opposed to a real one, he had reached out to Sudha. He sent her a letter saying he was sorry for ruining her wedding and would like to come and visit her in London to see his nephew. In that letter he also wrote that he now lives with Elena and her daughter and got the help he needed. This news was a relief and came to me that Rahul was trying to be a better person for Elena and a father figure for her daughter, Crystal. When Rahul came to visit Sudha in London, he tried to be the person he felt he never was. He spend all of his time with Sudha's son, Neel, and seemed to have a new outlook on life. Sudha was surprised by her brother's behavior and this to me seemed like Rahul had gone through a revelation where he realized he did not want to be the drunk, who was too self-absorbed to care for anyone especially his sister who had always been there for him.
Rahul definitely was a better person towards the end of this story and I think he did realize he had a problem and got the help he needed because why else would he try to reestablish a connection with Sudha. Rahul had an epiphany and changed his life around and became a better person for himself and his family, but in the end things got to much for him and he had one sip that caused this time for Sudha to cut him off.
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