In the anonymously written diary, Go Ask Alice, the author describes her experience of being immersed into the world of drugs. The diary begins with Alice moving to another town because of her father's new job. She is just a normal teenage girl facing boy problems and weight issues, still very innocent with very little issues. At a party she attends, she is introduced to LSD for the first time when she is handed a laced drink, this changed her life forever and pushes her into a direction of constantly being under the influence. The author's purpose of expressing the built up emotions and thoughts that a drug addicted teenager would have at that point of her life was well backed up through the use of clear symbolism and thorough use of smilies.
One of the key devices to focus on in this book is the use of symbolism. Not only does it help illustrate what she is experiencing, but it also offers an insight into her mind and how it affects her as a character. Throughout the book Alice has a reoccurring fear of maggots and worms as they come out in her dream and she keeps thinking about them eating the dead bodies. Her first revelation of this fear was when she, "I [she] had a nightmare last night about Gramps' body all filled with maggots and worms, and I [she] thought about what would happen if I [she] should die." Although it is a gross image, as she goes further into the description of maggots and worms eating her there is a clear symbol that is seen. At first, her fear of the maggots focuses around the loneliness of her individual mind. Part of her fear is that she is unaware of what happens to a body underground that is hidden from sight. Alice's loneliness connects to this anxiety, that she fears no one knows what is happening in her mind. Later on when she is in a hospital, she remembers the "dead things and people" that were "pushing" her into a casket, becoming something that seeks to harm Alice. The audience is able to interpret the maggots and worms as instances of destructive impulses in society that Alice has incorporates into low self-esteem as if society is "pushing" her inside the coffin just how it has pushed her into drugs, away from her family, and even further away from reality.
Due to the fact that this book is centered around drugs, Alice often uses similes and metaphors to compare her experiences in a way that the audience will be able to take a look into how she is feeling. Her perception of being under the influence is often described in a positive way, especially when she says, "last night was like reaching heaven". Her comparison to experiencing drugs for the first time to heaven shows that she had a really good time and this contributes to how she becomes hooked into having an addiction. In another situation Alice explains that her and her peers were, "all crying unashamedly and like babies". By describing the way they were crying like babies, it is easy to see the extent of how Alice's emotions were heightened at the moment of when a certain event took place. She is able to make it dramatic and something that the audience can connect to because they have experienced that feeling at some point in their lives.
The author does a good job of achieving her purpose because she is able to utilize the rhetorical devices into an expressive way that helps the audience see into Alice's mind and her emotions. By repeatedly mentioning her fear throughout the book, we are able to see a clearly defined symbol that allows us to look into the deeper side of how drugs have affected Alice. At the same time the author also blatantly states her feelings and experiences through similes and compares them instances that the audience can understand, making it easier to see the main character's expression of emotions.
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