Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[imchongjun]

Hello, teachers.
Which is more plausible as the interpretation of the following sentence: "The prohibitionist can weather the blackest melancholia by meditating the contortions of other people's abstinence."

Interpretation (1) The prohibitionist can weather the blackest melancholia by imagining other people's agony of not being able to drink.

Interpretation (2) The prohibitionist can weather the blackest melancholia by imagining other people's failure to stop drinking.

Or is there a better interpretation? I appreciate your suggestions. Thank you.

[Anuradha Chepur]

The sentence can be ambiguous.

[CP]

Sounds to me as if it means that the prohibitionist will find some cheer in thinking about the pain endured by the drinker who cannot get anything to drink. The drinker's abstinence means not drinking, and that is what drinkers want to do.

Yours truly, CP

[Anuradha Chepur]

A prohibitionist should be a reformer and not a sadist. He can anticipate the effect of prohibition on drinkers and he can imagine the sadness they would go through. On the other hand he knows reformation can't come about overnight. Reformation is a process involving lapses and failure in abstinence. But he is strong enough to face the sadness (melancholia), like a parent trying to reform a spoilt child. He sympathises with the drinkers, and he is also anxious whether the drinkers would give up drinking. He can be sad either way and he is prepared to face it.