The Act of Salvation

The Act of Salvation

  • Submitted By: derekfrsh
  • Date Submitted: 06/22/2009 11:16 PM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 1045
  • Page: 5
  • Views: 286

Salvation. Salvation can be defined as "the act of saving or protecting from harm, risk, loss, destruction, etc./a deliverance from the power and penalty of sin; redpemtion" (Buckley 1). To those who are religious, salvation can mean being saved from the pits of hell and be in the love and care of the Lord. But in a more broad sense, salvation can mean anything, whether freedom from oppression, being saved for any reason, or just finding your peace zone; a sense of completion. To achieve a sense of salvation in one's life, many will do whatever it takes to find that peace at heart, whether it is through the use of drugs, though the interactions with others in your life, or just through the satisfaction of being forgiven and repented. In a world that is filled with hate and sorrow, sometimes any sort of method to achieve peace will be taken. The most commonly used way to find salvation is through the use of drugs. Typically, those individuals who use drugs, find that drugs are an escape of reality; an escape from their responsibilities in the real world. A sense of high that you can not find anywhere else, and that is what makes it so addictive. Like Fuckhead, the main character in Jesus Son by Denis Johnson, he finds his salvation through the use of heroin and speed. "Georgie's pills were making me feel like a great helium filled ballon" (Johnson 76). Here, Fuckhead finds a substitute from heroin through the use of speed, giving him a high like feeling that made his work at the hosptial go by in an instant. He paints the picture that through the use of drugs, not only does he escape the real-world perception, it also makes the real-world fly by to the user. Unlike speed that was swallowed in pill form, Fuckhead injects heroin for a more rapid high, "As soon as the stuff entered my system, I passed out/ Two hours went by without my noticing" (Johnson 41). There was nothing else that ever satisfied Fuckhead, doing drugs was his closest oppurtunity to achieving his...

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