swallowing the truth: no Cause or Excuse
she wanted only tall smooth bottles whose labels spoke of Proof, and she drank and drank and believed in her heart she would never stop or swallow the truth, but finally she got to where she had to, she says, swallow it, the responsible truth
Context
The scene's recovery thesis and the meeting's answer to itself. Recovery is figured as an act of ingestion that replaces the substance: instead of swallowing chunks, powders, and Proof to keep the truth down, she finally has "to swallow it, the responsible truth" — the switch from anesthesia to acknowledgment is the whole turn. And the narrator's flat verdict is the doctrine perfected: "Here is no Cause or Excuse. It is simply what happened." No explanation is offered or wanted; responsibility without self-pity is what burns the last defense away, and the hall recognizes it instantly.