Regardless of social class, many of the novel’s characters find some maladaptive coping strategy to escape the wretchedness of their lives. The two main deckhands on Harry’s boat, Eddy and Albert, use alcohol to avoid the harsh realities of their world: Eddy’s alcohol use keeps him in a permanent state of happiness where he does not have to face his destitution, and Albert’s keeps him away from home so he does not have to face the disappointment in his family’s eyes. In addition, the group of war veterans prefer the liquid solace to facing a government that has abandoned them.

On the other end of the social spectrum, many of the “Haves,” with all their decadence and glamour, live in quiet desperation. Richard and Helen Gordon operate under a pretense of happiness while both pursue extramarital affairs—she with Professor MacWalsey, he with Helene Bradley. When Helen denounces her husband and reflects on their unhappy marriage, her observations apply just as well to the spiritually bankrupt world the characters would like to escape: To Helen, their marital conflicts symbolize amorality, sterility, and deception. The relationship leaves her broken and hopeless. She calls love a “just another dirty lie” (185).