Micheal Dorris "The Broken Chord"
...cumbs to peer pressure. Dorris dreamed of obtaining the "perfect son" as he patiently awaited the completion of the adoption process and the arrival a nd birth of his new son. Unfortunately, the "perfect son" he fantasized about was born with many mental and physical problems. Because Adam's birth mother consumed alcohol during pregnancy, Adam became a victim of fetal alcohol syndrome. At birth, the stench of alcohol in the delivery room was, as Dorris calls it "stinks like the scene of a three-dayy party." Consequently, both of Adam's parents died from drinking. In addition, Adam endured many mental and pnysical handicaps throughout his life. Mentally, Adam behaved in a child-like manner. For example, even as Adam was aprroaching adultholld, he treasured and kept a picture of himself seated on Santa Claus's lap in his photo album. Physically, he was subjected to seuzures and had to take medicine for the rest of his life. As a result, he was laid off from his job and simiar to a child's mental capacity, he was unfazed by any signicant loss. Peer pressure aLso a vital factor in Adam's life. On his 21st birthday, Adam wanted drink alcohol despite his father's resisitance. Even though Adam's parents died form alcoholism, Adam refused to take his own death seriously. Drinking alcohol on his birthday was more important to him than his own life. "Death was no t...