Exploring Symbolic Effects of Intoxicants in Anita Shreve’s Testimony

Abstract

This study critically analyzes intoxicants and their symbolic value with regard to social evil in Anita Shreve’s novel, Testimony (2009). It considers an alcohol as an intoxicant and explains how such social practices cast impact on the meanings in which alcohol is used as a dominant ideology and examines how various social evils caused by the overuse of alcohol under the perspective of Critical theory by using Fairclough’s (2001) Critical Discourse Analysis Model. It investigated symbolic associations of alcohol used as the powerful discourse of social evil. It also examined the various situations where certain linguistic structures analyzed the various interactions linguistically. The paper found out that the use of intoxicants constructs the social evils which further made human life by risking their honor and self-respect. The study will be contributory to the young scholars as well as an addition to the main bulk of knowledge.