VII- All That Drinking

I have to say that I am confused on what the purpose of all this drinking and therefore drunkenness going on in this novel already. I know that it is frowned upon now and that there are laws to keep the drunk from driving and from even going certain places. It makes me wonder if it was a celebration: eat, drink, and be merry for we won the war, or, whether it is a way for these hurting people to become different and not hurt as much. I believe it is most likely the second, but I could be wrong as the book progresses. So far we have met people with some pretty heavy problems. Francis is in danger of losing a man she has given up two and a half years for. Brett is quite a mess form loving Jake, but marrying another man, not being able to marry Jake, and sleeping around. And Jake, Jake is likely the most stable of them, but is still hurting from not being with Brett and his mystery wound. Cohn also has a lot of problems, but interestingly enough I have not seen him drunk yet. In conclusion, while I think being drunk is an insanely stupid thing to do especially on such a regular basis, I think it is from the character's desire to wash aware their problems.