Addicted Boy If cocaine were legal, what would the little packages be called? Sweet N' High! Unfortunately, this is an example of what is commonly known as a “crack joke.” Drugs are increasingly being misused and abused. Yet, today’s youth in its ignorance takes drugs as a light matter. It is a different story altogether from someone who has actually used drugs. In Beautiful Boy, journalist David Sheff recounts his own and his son, Nic’s journey of drug abuse. Sheff’s memoir is a haunting experience filled with tears, brawls, and ample amounts of crystal meth. In Beautiful Boy, Sheff, while applying a casual and conversational style, effectively uses rhetoric to share his experience with an addicted teen. Beautiful Boy had an …show more content…
The reason being was that Sheff’s voice constantly changed. When he discussed statistics, he became impersonal as if he was a reporter. When he reminisced on Nic’s childhood, the tone would drastically shift to chatty. His anecdotes about his background, his thoughts, and his feelings all made him sound reflective. For example, he said, “I have held back my tears. But now I knew it was time to let them go” (290). With all these different voices, he was able to appeal to many people. Beautiful Boy was a powerful story that used different aspects of rhetoric to help establish connections with the audience. Sheff used pathos effectively to the point that his audience cannot help, but constantly relate to his situation. Like many parents, Sheff blamed himself for Nic’s mistakes. He cannot help but question his upbringing and decisions. He says, “Did I spoil me? Was I too lenient? If only his mother and I stayed together” (145). He also says, “If only I had never used drugs” (145). Not only does Sheff battle against his son, he also fought against remorse. It is in parenthood where he sees repercussions for his previous actions. If he had not experimented with drugs, he could at least be a decent example for Nic. Beautiful Boy also used ethos as a way for the audience to get an insight on who Sheff actually is. He is first, above all, a father. Sheff loves and cares for Nic. He said he was “enraptured by his child when he was born. I willingly forsake sleep”
Most criminological research focuses on communities, where some assume and think that small towns are quite safe and crime-free environments. Meanwhile, using methamphetamine has become surrounded in rural parts of the country. In her book Methamphetamine: A Love Story, Rashi K. Shukla focused and enlightened on the understudied of poverty and drug abuse. Through her journey, she proves emotionally how meth has become the spotlight to the lives of some residents. In the process of uncovering how and why she participated in their drug using careers, Shukla tells how the lifestyle surrounding meth use becomes as addicting as the drug itself and highlights the unsustainability of meth addiction and the struggles
“Just Say No!” A statement that takes us deep into yet another decade in the history of the United States which was excited by controversies, social issues, and drug abuse. The topic of this statement is fueled by the growing abuse of cocaine in the mid 1980s. I shall discuss the effects of the crack cocaine epidemic of the mid 1980s from a cultural and social stand point because on that decade this country moved to the rhythms and the pace of this uncanny drug. Cocaine took its told on American society by in the 1980s; it ravaged with every social group, race, class, etc. It reigned over the United States without any prejudices. Crack cocaine was the way into urban society, because of its affordability in contrast to the powdered
The relationship between the two fathers and the two sons is a very important theme in this book. Because of their different backgrounds, Reb Saunders and David Malters approached raising a child from two totally different perspectives.
Crack users range from the Wall Street stockbroker to a homeless person living in Central Park, but by and large this evil drug called crack had its biggest impact on New York’s inner city minority population. A New York doctor, Dr. Mark Gold who is the person who set up and helps run the not for profit organization called 800-COCAINE, a hotline set up to help addicts and perspective users answer questions about the drug and also offers counseling and drug intervention services; suggested that his findings showed that, “occasional users of crack quickly increased, the amount and frequency of crack use until total dependency was achieved.” Men and women who were once law abiding citizens and honest people were now robbing and stealing to pay for the drug, and many who once enjoyed good health were now suffering from a variety of physical and mental aliments springing from their cocaine abuse. Crack brings along with its amazing high, some ominous dangers. Dr. Robert Maslansky is the director of New York City’s Bellevue Hospital
In the 1960s, drug culture was popularized through music and mass media, in our current society we still find this relevant. Although we are more knowledgeable about drugs and alcohol, “an estimated 208 million people internationally consume illegal drugs.” The question is why do we conform to a society that is dependent on such substances? Perhaps drug culture is still present due to the references we witness on a daily basis. Witnessing this has resulted in drugs being a constant norm in society, the recently published novel, The Other Wes Moore; addresses drug culture.
Well, here it is, babe. A surprise letter, written in horrid handwriting, now in your hands. Boy do I not like my handwriting, especially now when my girlfriend will be reading it, But like you said, you have a slacker as a boyfriend so dont expect this mess to change any time soon (I kid, babe). Now, I didn’t write to you to complain about my writing. This past week was hard. i saw you struggle with depression and it hurt. It hurt watching you cry. So, with somewhat renewed enthusiasm to make you smile, here are a few reasons I think you are strong.
Methamphetamine: A Love Story is a book documenting the lives of various people who were immersed in the culture of using, selling, and manufacturing methamphetamine. Through interviews with over 30 individuals, Rashi Shukla brings to light the drastic effects that manifested when this drug took over their lives. Shukla aims to “illuminate this dark world,” (Shukla 2016, p. 11), and to provide insight as to why methamphetamine becomes more than just a drug to those involved with it.
What is rhetoric? Rhetoric is “the art or skill of speaking or writing formally and effectively especially as a way to persuade or influence people" (“Rhetoric”). The three rhetorical strategies are: ethos- appeal to credibility, logos- appeal to logic, and pathos- appeal to emotion. The key to knowing if a speech is effective or not, is by looking at its intended audience. By identifying how each of these three strategies are used for its intended audience; one can determine if the speech is effective. Since the targeted audience is comprised of teenagers and their parents; the film’s use of ethos, pathos, and logos creates an effective argument throughout the film, Boys Beware.
In Claire’s Sterk’s book, “Fast Lives: women who used crack cocaine”, she uses information from observation, conversations, interviews and group discussions to explain how using crack affects active users. She also shows how they started using, how they survived, how they developed and maintained relationships with friends and family, and how they were mothers and drug users at the same time. In addition, Sterk started Project FAST, the Female Atlanta Study to identify the impact of drug use patterns on lives of active female users. In this study, most of the women’s stories are similar but yet different in many ways to each other. While curiosity and peer pressure caused these women to experiment with drugs, others were
misunderstood antihero who is confused about life, but not about how he feels about it. He is rebellious about society and does not want to accept things as they are, but most importantly, he is not afraid of saying so. The reader likes him because of his honesty and defiance against what is established in society. He expresses thoughts people rarely allow themselves to admit: that they despise authority, that most people are hypocrites, and that life many times can be disappointing. Most people do what they are supposed to do when they are supposed to do it, but they are never truly sure of how they feel about things and why they are doing them. Holden, on the other hand, always does what he is not supposed to do, but he is saved by one powerful
In another well-crafted exposé, Eric Schlosser delves into drugs, cheap labor, and sex in the American black market in the book Reefer Madness. Written and researched in a style similar to his bestseller Fast Food Nation, Schlosser provides a unique insight into these controversial industries.
Richard Linklater’s Boyhood leaves the audience questioning, asking, and wanting more. The entirety of the film is a recollection of memories and experiences throughout the course of Mason’s childhood. Overall Boyhood is like an unsolved puzzle with missing pieces that aren’t enough to solve the puzzle. The entire movie is questionable and has so many gaps in-between each memory that there really is no plot. Since there isn’t a plot it makes you question if it is really about boyhood, about family, maybe Mason’s childhood, or girlhood. Certain questions begin to formulate like, why doesn’t Linklater use the typical format of storytelling during Mason’s childhood? How come we never know what happened between Oliva and Mason Sr? Why doesn’t
He raised in a upper income family that was able to afford for him to go to a accredited prestigious boy’s academy. Being from a higher income family it was expected he would do something productive in his life and career. He was expected to pass his classes and go to college and then from there he pursue a career and thrive in his adulthood. Also as an adolescent in his late teens he was also expected to emerge from his childish behavior such as and adapt the role as a man. He even admitted in chapter two that he even acts childish, “Boy!" I said. I also say "Boy!" quite a lot. Partly because I have a lousy vocabulary and partly because I act quite young for my age sometimes. I was sixteen then, and I'm seventeen now, and sometimes I act like I'm about thirteen. It's really ironical, because I'm six foot two and a half and I have gray hair”. Also society expected him to act as man should act such as taking control of his future and take action to get where he need to go in
However, at the end of the story this stereotype is completely contrasted following the passing of the mother. When the boy, who is now a grown man and father, returns home to his newborn daughter it is he who displays a nurturing and affectionate relationship between a father and his daughter. This role reversal developed by Munsch effectively casts aside the stereotype that women are better suited to raise a child, and demonstrates that affection and the ability to nurture are not qualities that are able to be defined by a persons gender. Munsch instead shows how these qualities are learned by a person and are displayed as they mature with age. Munsch effectively represents this progression though maturity when showing, the love the boy has for his mother is not absent during his childhood, but simply something he does not display as well as he does when he becomes an adult.
About a boy, written in 1998 by Nick Hornby explores the themes of mental health, 1990's culture and family through the friendship of two characters; Will, a thirty-six-year-old bachelor and Marcus, A 12-year-old outcast. In about a boy, the author has used a range of aesthetic devices that shape character representation. An Aesthetic device is an element that authors intentionally use to create intellectual/emotional responses in their novel. This analytical essay will explore how Nick Hornby has used irony, point of view and stream of consciousness to shape character representation.