Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Beautiful Boy, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Addiction, Ruin, and Redemption
Responsibility and Blame
Parenthood and Control
Support vs. Enabling
The Disease Model, Stigma, and Treatment
Summary
Analysis
David stays on the West Coast, monitoring Nic’s recovery from afar. He conducts more research on meth addiction and asks experts what they would do if a family member were addicted. They are divided on whether inpatient recovery programs (like Ohlhoff) or outpatient recovery programs (like Hazelden) are more likely to work. Outpatient programs integrate recovery work into an addict’s life, but there are more opportunities to slip.
One of the most difficult aspects of dealing with addiction is the lack of treatment options and the lack of research into how effective each option really is. This fuels David’s later argument that more funding is needed for better research and better treatment of the disease.
Themes
The goal, experts say, is to keep addicts in treatment long enough to retrain their brains when confronting situations that would lead to relapse. Some programs are designed to teach addicts to stop themselves at the “choice point,” the point at which they decide to use drugs. It also helps identify triggers (the “people, places and things”) associated with drugs that can start a cycle of craving and using.
The therapies used in these treatments add to the idea that even though addicts may not be to blame for their addiction, they still bear the responsibility for maintaining their recovery and choosing not to use drugs.
Themes
Researchers are also investigating medications that can counteract symptoms and ease addictions. But top researchers in the field admit that with a lack of funding, it is difficult to feel optimistic about the success of the drugs. Some believe that antidepressants might help addicts because depression is prominent in the early stages of withdrawal, but preliminary tests show that those drugs have little effect. Most agree that behavioral and cognitive therapies are better ways to treat the illness.
Again, David lays the groundwork for his argument that a much bigger funding effort is needed in order to treat addiction. He bolsters that idea with these sentiments from researchers, who know that progress in medications is tied to how the government views addiction and attempts to solve the problem.
Themes
In December, Hazelden’s inpatient program closes its doors. Nic chooses to move to LA to live near Vicki in Herbert House. He works with a new AA sponsor named Randy, who has been sober for more than 15 years; the two of them go on long bike rides together. On the phone, Nic seems like “the old Nic.” David is glad that Nic seems to have found a program that suits him. Nic also finds a technician job at another drug and alcohol program, helping to assist counselors and drive patients to appointments.
Like Don, the teacher who helped Nic during high school, Randy is another individual who serves as a key supporter of Nic’s recovery. The help that Randy provides reinforces the idea that no one can deal with addiction alone. Only through finding this program, a community of people like Randy, and a job is Nic able to really commit to his recovery.
Themes
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In July, Nic turns 21. David visits Nic in Los Angeles and is glad to see that he appears “whole again.” Karen has been wary of seeing Nic and wary of Nic hurting Jasper and Daisy again. They wonder how they’ll know when they can fully trust him. Still, at the end of the summer, David, Karen, Jasper, and Daisy visit Nic in LA; they all start to feel more comfortable together again.
Nic’s birthday reminds readers how much Nic has already gone through even in his short life. It highlights the idea that addicts often experience many bouts of relapses and recoveries because of the incurable nature of the disease.
Themes
Nic calls frequently, reporting things that seem like small steps but to him are huge. He has a bank account and is saving money, and he buys a car and moves into an apartment. Still, some days are difficult: Nic has mood swings and craves drugs. But he says that calling Randy really helps. Nic celebrates a year of sobriety in September.
This is the longest time that Nic has spent in recovery so far, and David recounts the different ways in which Nic is pulling his life together and becoming independent from drugs once more. The fact that these small rites of passage are huge steps for Nic also proves how destructive and debilitating addiction can be.
Themes
Nic starts a new romance with a girl, Z., but one day he calls to say that she has broken off the relationship. He calls Randy, and the two go on a bike ride together for three hours. Afterward, Nic is elated, feeling that he’s going to be all right. But a month later, Nic stops returning David’s calls. David isn’t sure why he is so upset, but he feels his intuition saying that something is wrong. He wonders if he is simply being paranoid.
Once again, David names Randy as a central figure in making sure that Nic stays in recovery. Even the simple support of being there during a breakup and going on a bike ride together makes the difference between Nic relapsing and not.
Themes
David calls Vicki, asking her to check on Nic in his apartment. She reports that his roommate hasn’t seen him, and his bed hasn’t been slept in. A coworker of Nic’s says that he has not shown up in two days. David calls the police and hospitals, while Vicki files a missing person report. David tries to keep it together, wary of saying anything to Jasper and Daisy before they know exactly what’s wrong.
Even with all the progress that Nic has made, David continues to show how the path is never easy. The repetition of these incidents, and the ways in which each one is new but also very familiar, emphasize how this is a lifelong illness. And as much as David might want to, he cannot make Nic’s choices for him.
Themes
David continues to try to reach Nic’s cell phone, and he calls the customer assistance for Nic’s cell phone company to see if there have been any recent calls. The woman says that it’s against regulations to tell him, but she empathizes with David. She reports that Nic’s phone is accessing a cell tower in Sacramento. Two hours later, the operator calls back to report that Nic’s cell phone is now in Reno. Later, she calls again to say that it’s in Billings, Montana. David wracks his brain for explanations, even wondering if Nic has been kidnapped. The hours feel endless.
Even though Nic clearly does not want to be reached, David can’t help but continue to try and grasp the situation in whatever way he can. He tries desperately to find out where Nic is, but in doing so, he only fuels his panic even further. This hints at David’s later realization that when Nic is relapsing, David needs to let go to a degree so that he can live his own life, and not be constantly filled with anxiety.
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