He shows an honest representation of how poverty can lead to drug use. Many characters are used to demonstrate how poverty and drug use are directly correlated with one another; one character in particular is Uncle Doughty. He was an older white man who when he was younger had many opportunities for himself, but when his life started to fail he opened himself up to substance abuse. .
For instance, this can be seen in the novella when Uncle Doughty is talking to Michael Adonis, "Look at me. I used be something in my days. God bless my soul, I used to be something- (La Guma, 25). With this conversation La Guma shows that when Uncle Doughty's luck started to change, so did his attitude. He ended up in the District Six; his life to him had gone completely down hill. He was upset not only with his lack of accomplishments but with himself for letting this happen. Unfortunately, he was never able to reach the peak his younger years held ever again. This was due to the fact that he turned to alcohol. It can be seen that he is trying forget his pain by drinking when he says: "I used to be an actor. God bless my soul, I toured England and Australia with Dame Clara Bright. A great lady. A great actress she was. He began to weep, the tears spilling over the sagging rims of his eyes and he reached for the bottle again-' (La Guma 25). Alcohol had ruined Uncle Doughty's life. .
He had performed in theaters of Great Britain, South Africa, and Australia, and had served in two wars. Now he was deserted, abandoned ruin, destroyed by alcohol and something neither he nor Michael Adonis understood, waiting for death, trapped at the bottom of an old tenement, after the sweep of human affairs had passed over him and left him broken and helpless as wreckage disintegrating on a hostile beach (23). .
He was living in poverty, a white man in a mostly minority neighborhood. He had no one to help him, so he relied on the one thing that would always be there for him, alcohol.