And, in a manner stereotypical of alcoholics, the narrator transforms the process of becoming a drunken lout from one in which he is the perpetrator into one in which he is the victim. In his account, the inability to stop drinking is due not to his own failure of character, but rather due to the existence of a sentient Fiend who even has a name: Intemperance. The narrator will go on to present numerous rationalisations for his behaviour, never taking responsibility for what he has done. This might be seen in Poe's life, where his dropping out of college was due to his gambling, which technically, his step father did not have to deal with.