Previous
Music
Robert Neville copes with his depression and loneliness by drinking heavily (in real life, Matheson was known to be a heavy drinker, suggesting that there might be some autobiographical touches in I Am Legend’s descriptions of alcoholism and depression). Alcohol could be said to symbolize the depths of Neville’s loneliness as the last man on Earth.
Alcohol Quotes in I Am Legend
The I Am Legend quotes below all refer to the symbol of Alcohol. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 3
Quotes
He thought of the eleven—no, the twelve children that afternoon, and he finished his drink in two swallows.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12
Quotes
The thought of forty more years of living as he was made him shudder.
And yet he hadn't killed himself. True, he hardly treated his body welfare with reverence. He didn't eat properly, drink properly, sleep properly, or do anything properly. His health wasn't going to last indefinitely; he was already cheating the percentages, he suspected.
But using his body carelessly wasn't suicide. He'd never even approached suicide. Why?
There seemed no answer.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire I Am Legend LitChart as a printable PDF.
Alcohol Symbol Timeline in I Am Legend
The timeline below shows where the symbol Alcohol appears in I Am Legend. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
Neville smokes a cigarette, has a drink, and then goes back outside to his “hothouse.” Inside the hothouse, he retrieves a basketful...
(full context)
Chapter 3
It’s nighttime. Neville drinks alcohol and hears the voice of Ben Cortman calling out to him. A little drunk,...
(full context)
Neville continues drinking. As he becomes slowly drunker, he begins to give a mock-lecture about how the vampire...
(full context)
Chapter 5
Safe again, Neville pours himself a whiskey and drinks it quickly. He hears a crash; looking through the peephole in his door,...
(full context)
Chapter 6
...in a garage about a mile from the house. He’s also repaired his generator. Neville drinks less and feels healthier; he also sleeps more soundly.
(full context)
Chapter 7
...determined to continue learning about vampires in order to protect himself and distract himself from drinking.
(full context)
Chapter 10
...the bacteria. As he thinks, he feels a strong temptation to give up and get drunk; however, he forces himself to concentrate.
(full context)
Chapter 11
...can withstand bullets, though he doesn’t know how. Excitedly, Neville realizes that he hasn’t craved alcohol all day. He spends the night eating dinner and listening to records, and he manages...
(full context)
Chapter 12
...garlic, germs, running water, crosses, etc. He tries to work, but finds himself craving a drink. Angry, he drinks directly from a whiskey bottle until he’s very drunk.
(full context)
Neville have continued to drink himself to death, the narrator notes, had it not been for a “miracle”—after a few...
(full context)
Chapter 14
After the death of the dog, Neville resists the temptation to drink heavily. Instead, he returns to work trying to understand the vampires.
(full context)
Chapter 16
...take a sample of Ruth’s blood. Ruth cries out, “Leave me alone!” Neville offers Ruth whiskey in order to calm her down. Suddenly, he realizes that he doesn’t care whether Ruth...
(full context)
Chapter 18
...dresses, and accuses Ruth of trying to leave him; Ruth denies this. Neville pours himself whiskey and drinks all of it right away. He tells Ruth about the night his wife...
(full context)
