Wednesday, March 28, 2007

I get the feeling that Ennet House is not really the best way for its tenants to recover from their problems. I guess this might be that I don't completely understand how Ennet House is structured and what their strategy is, but it seems that it doesn't really do anything to help its residents. From my understanding, the residents have jobs, curfews, certain rules about when they are allowed to leave the house, who they are allowed to be with, and are of course always subject to screenings for any trace of substances. However, the characters always seem to be in great danger from being kicked out of the house. They would be kicked out of the house for breaking rules, or the worst case scenario, testing positive for some substance. However, I think that those people that would be kicked out for insubordinate behavior, disregard for rules, or substance abuse, are exactly the people that need the most help recovering. It seems to me kind of like a hospital that throws out a patient that gets mortally injured.
One reason I considered is that the fear of getting kicked out motivates the residents of Ennet House to keep all their toes in line. They are afraid of being kicked out. But then that raises the question of why the residents wish to be in Ennet House in the first place. What do the residents believe will be the benefit to abiding by curfew, facing strict rules, eating Gately's awful meals, and managing the fear of losing something of value to them (their residence at Ennet House)? Maybe its like AA in the sense that if they believe staying at Ennet House will help them, then they can eventually "fake it till they make it". I guess also they are all living together and undergoing a similar experience, so that camaraderie between the residents might help them work through their addictions. But between the camaraderie and the "fake it till they make it" ideal, whats the benefit of Ennet House over simply attending AA?

-LT

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