An Ounce of Cure

THE TITLE:

The title “An Ounce of Cure” means that it took an ounce of liquor to cure the narrator’s problem. This saying was changed from it original meaning of it being better to stop potential problems, than fix them later to creating problems that in the end fix other problem. This is because in the story it took getting drunk while babysitting, and being humiliated all over school, for the narrator to get over her problem of being obsessed with Martin Collingwood. This theme of creating problems to fix other problems is explored through this short story by means of having the drunk incident’s consequences make the narrator realize that by going through the motions of her situation, it had overall fixed her initial problem.


THE PLOT:

- The narrator falls in love with Martin Collingwood
- Martin Collingwood leaves the narrator for the actress who plays opposite him in the play
- The narrator becomes obsessed with Martin
- The narrator becomes depressed by her obsession
- The narrator tries to commit suicide by taking aspirins
- The narrator goes to babysit one Saturday night
- The narrator decides to get drunk and drinks two full glasses of scotch
- The narrator then fills the bottles back up with water
- The narrator calls her friend for help
- Her friends come to the house and help her
- The parents whom she is babysitting for come home early
- They drive her home
- She tells her mom the whole story
- They make amends
- She gets bothered around school for “trying to commit suicide over Martin”, until a scandal bigger than hers occurs
- She gets over Martin
- Years later she meets Martin again, after she has married, while she is attending a relatives funeral (he becomes an undertaker)
- She decides to keep her past in the past, and let Martin unbury whatever catastrophes he wishes.

OTHER NAMES:

Blood is thicker than Liquor
This is meant to mean that the narrator’s blood was more long lasting than the liquor. Therefore, things worked themselves out, and the liquor incident eventually diluted itself out of her life.
Hindsight is 2 for 2
Therefore hindsight is perfectly clear, however I changed it for 2 for 2 because she had two drinks, and those two fateful drinks were what eventually solved her problem in the end.