Three Questions to a Writing Junky by William Burroughs - Book Report/Review Example

The third question is concerning whether 'Junky' symbolizes American society's decadence. The key theme seems to revolve around the seeming ordinariness and commonplace nature of the consumption and trade of illegal substances in America during the time of Burroughs. A reason is not explicitly stated in the text, but it can be inferred that Burroughs had the inclination, psychologically and maybe physically, as well as the daring to explore an area of human activity that is fraught with danger and is prohibited by society and the law. 'Junky' in a way symbolizes decadence, but not of the entire American society, but an underground portion of it that seeks to satisfy its craving to get high and to circumvent very rigid societal rules on what man can and cannot do with his own body and his consciousness (Burroughs; Crace; Dickins; Self; Samay).
Concerning the first question on the key theme of the novel, it seems clear from the excerpt that the theme revolves around the matter-of-fact narrative of a drug addict, who goes through adventure after adventure with different kinds of substances, from morphine to marijuana and on to others. The adventure is tied to the personalities that revolve around the shady drug deals and the users of the substances, which the author describes in deadpan and lucid detail. It is a first-person point of view of a junkie, in other words. The following text is representative of the kind of lucidity and matter of fact-ness that is at the heart of the theme of the text (Burroughs; Crace; Dickins): “Morphine hits the back of the legs first, then the back of the neck, a spreading wave of relaxation slackening the muscles away from the bones so that you seem to float without outlines, like lying in warm salt water” (Burroughs).
Concerning the second question, there seems to be no overt reason given in the text for a man like the key character in the novel to descend into the life of a junky in the manner as narrated there, except to say, gleaning from the deadpan manner and the naturalness of the whole process of his induction into that life that Burroughs seemed to have the psychological and physical inclination for that life, that had nothing to do with his objective reality as a Harvard graduate and a man of means from an inheritance. There is no single line that confirms this, but rather the method of the narration signifies it (Burroughs; Dickins; Self): “During the next month I used up the eight syrettes I had not sold. The fear I had experienced after using the first syrette was not noticeable after the third” (Burroughs).
Concerning the third question, it is clear from the excerpt that a portion of American society is used to dealing and using banned substances, as can be gleaned from the colorful personalities and almost mundane regard of the abusers and pushers of the substances that the text mentions. In the decent American society of course these substances are shunned, but one gets from the text that a decadent portion of American society willfully breaks the law to get high, and are comfortable with the whole arrangement (Burroughs; Dickins; Self): “There are a lot of trade secrets in the tea business, and tea heads guard these supposed secrets with imbecilic slyness” (Burroughs).
Burroughs' 'Junky' is a matter-of-fact exploration of the underworld of substance abusers and peddlers, told in a very lucid and exact manner that is also a kind of explosive to the consciousness of outsiders looking in. The theme is this factual and lucid exploration of this world, by a man who is an insider and seemed predisposed to be one from the start. The work is not so much a reflection of the decadence of the whole of American society but a subsection of it, but the fact that the underbelly exists also reflects finally on what American society stands for and what it represses in the course of its being (Burroughs; Crace; Dickins; Self; Samay).