Confessions of an English Opium-Eater · Chapter
Appendix explained
De Quincey details his final, grueling attempt to renounce opium, describing the severe physical and psychological symptoms of withdrawal, his gradual reduction from 8,000 drops to near abstinence, and his reflections on the nature of suffe
What happens
De Quincey details his final, grueling attempt to renounce opium, describing the severe physical and psychological symptoms of withdrawal, his gradual reduction from 8,000 drops to near abstinence, and his reflections on the nature of suffering and the body. He explains his motives for recording the experiment—to offer hope to other opium-eaters and to account for his inability to complete a third part of his work.
Themes in this chapter
Addiction and Dependency
De Quincey's detailed account of his struggle to quit opium, including the physical and psychological torment of withdrawal, underscores the theme of dependency.
Suffering and Trauma
The chapter is dominated by descriptions of intense physical pain, sleeplessness, and mental anguish during the withdrawal process.
The Nature of Consciousness
De Quincey reflects on how opium altered his perception of bodily processes and thoughts, and how withdrawal brought a flood of previously frozen ideas.
Characters to notice
- Thomas De Quincey
Describes his own harrowing withdrawal experiment, physical symptoms, and philosophical reflections on the body.
Key passages
“I persevered in my abstinence for ninety hours; i.e., upwards of half a week. Then I took—ask me not how much; say, ye severest, what would ye have done?”
He managed to abstain for ninety hours before relapsing, a moment he presents with dramatic self-justification.
Highlights the difficulty of withdrawal and the author's rhetorical appeal to the reader's sympathy.
“It seems as though all the thoughts which had been frozen up for a decade of years by opium had now, according to the old fable, been thawed at once—such a multitude stream in upon me from all quarters.”
Withdrawal unleashed a torrent of long-suppressed thoughts, overwhelming his mind.
Illustrates the theme of consciousness and the contrast between opium-induced torpor and the vivid mental activity of withdrawal.