Let's face it: A lot of college students go wild their freshman year, and that wildness often involves booze. And in Fangirl, when Wren and her roommate Courtney discover tequila, it becomes their way of asserting their maturity, of letting others know they're not high school kids anymore. But between Wren ending up in the hospital with alcohol poisoning and Levi kissing another girl at a party after a few too many beers, Cath fails to see the positive side of getting socially lubricated.
Sure, drinking might make it easier to be around other people, but Cath prefers authentic connections to inebriated ones, even if the former is harder to come by.
Questions About Drugs and Alcohol
- Would Levi have kissed another girl at a party if he hadn't been drinking?
- Will Wren stop drinking just because her dad makes her come home on weekends?
- Does Wren have a drinking problem, or is she just irresponsible?
- Do Wren and Courtney push each other to drink? Are they also pushing each other into disordered eating?
Chew on This
Cath suffers from the kind of social anxiety that people often drink to lessen, but she can't start drinking—she has to stay sober so she can be Wren's surrogate parent.
It isn't drinking that drives Levi to kiss that other girl—it's something else, and he just offers drinking as an easy excuse.