Month: March 2021
Gender Swapping: Swap the Character, Swap the Role
- Queer Theory
- History in Context: Gender Swapping in Progress
- Social Norm or Societal Storm? Shakespeare’s Clarity and His Gender Confusion
- Twelfth Night and Its Significance
- Perception of Gender Compatibility
- Surrounding Characters and Their Outstanding Implications
- Aggressive or Graceful? Olivia’s Dynamic Personality
- Trouble in Gender Paradise
- Works Cited
Most, if not all, schools have experienced a day filled with a politically charged social movement, fighting against the norm and clashing with conformity: Opposite Day. This day seems like a humorous, spirit filled event, yet the overwhelming number of students participating in cross-dressing demonstrates otherwise. Boys and girls (or should I say males and females) perform the opposite of their socially instilled gender. This temporary gender performativity is primarily expressed through clothing, yet gender performance itself is not limited to appearance and can play a deeper emotional role in both real life and literature. The difference between gender performance and gender performativity exists within the Judith Butler’s explanation of the Queer Theory, outlining the superficial aspect of gender performativity while emphasizing the deeper emotional connection to gender performance.
Judith Butler, the founder of the theory, describes gender performance as a repeated action, ingrained in our gender identity and our roles as people. Butler distinctly claims that gender performativity reflects the idea of leaving an impression on others, more than within ourselves, claiming that “for something to be performative means that it produces a series of effects” (Butler). Temporary clothing changes and behavioral tweaks imply gender performativity, influencing others and reflecting their ideals more than the performer (Butler). However, a grasp on the social implications of gender performativity requires an understanding of the Queer Theory and its analysis of characters’ fixed identities.
Queer Theory
Queer theory essentially introduces the ambiguity of feminine and masculine, implying that they can be one in the same and fuse together. To create this sense of ambiguity and uncertainty of such social constructs, the literary piece must establish “binary oppositions” that are indefinitely intertwined (“Gender Studies”). Identity is performed and created when performance is repeated, allowing for interchanging yet consistent identities within literature (Butler). However, how can someone switch genders and what does this mean for their performance?
Gender swapping, the temporary switch of the way in which characters perform gender, occurs frequently to portray ideas from Queer Theory. A character often gender swaps due to societal pressures, such as financial or criminal struggles, influencing their character personality and effecting the gender performance of other characters (Stigler). The uncomfortability in characters’ repeated gender performances causes their initiative to gender swap. This gender swap often times creates a slight internal change in literary figures, disfiguring their emotions and their adaptation to society. Gender swapping ignites gender performance and confidence in other characters, foiling side characters’ hyperfemininity or hypermasculinity (Stigler). An example of this concept is Queen Elizabeth, who withheld many leadership positions and asserted her ruling almost as powerfully as men during that time. Her performance of the typical masculine, powerful leader emphasized the lack of male presence in her life. The absence of a king, a leading male character, stood out more with Queen Elizabeth’s dominating aura and her duality in gender performance (Mueller). Though Queen Elizabeth does not physically gender swap, her shift is more emotional and social.
History in Context: Gender Swapping in Progress
Interestingly enough, Queen Elizabeth closely connects to Shakespeare’s progressive gender beliefs in history. Her power reigned during Shakespeare’s lifetime and Shakespeare would have recognized her historical significance (Stigler). William Shakespeare was once a young student, studying world history (or our modern day version of Western European history), opening his very own Holinshed Volumes 1 and 2 textbook (“Holinshed Chronicles”). Although Holinshed Volumes 1 and 2 centers around the history of Ireland, Scotland, and England, the book frequently mentions Queen Elizabeth and revolves around her accomplishments. This should signal the level of notability of her influence over Shakespeare, who studied history from the very book that praises her (Stigler).
According to American Shakespeare Center, Shakespeare illustrates traces of influence from Queen Elizabeth’s female leadership. Queen Elizabeth “ruled England for over forty years” yet she “spent much of her life pressured by her councilors to find a man to share her throne” (“Gender and Behavior in TWELFTH NIGHT.”). Despite her ability of fulfilling the throne’s responsibilities, society did not approve of female leadership and did not believe in Queen Elizabeth’s potential to rule. While society placed women in “proper” places, Shakespeare challenged the definition of a woman’s role by utilizing his main female characters in Two Gentlemen of Verona and As You Like It, creating a similar ambiguity that Queen Elizabeth introduced (“Gender and Behavior in TWELFTH NIGHT.”). This could explain Shakespeare’s use of “humorous” gender swapping on female characters in several of his plays.
While Queen Elizabeth is a perfect example for emotional and social gender swapping, Joan of Arc displays a much more physical gender swap. Joan of Arc, a female that started out as an underdog, utilized gender swapping to lead an army and religious claims to “get men to listen to her,” fighting for France during the Hundred Year War (Eschner). Her physical gender swap helped her “traditionally male” leadership flourish, causing her great success in the military. Her external change emphasized her internal personality.
Relative to literature, authors appreciate Joan of Arc as a character, including her in many works during the Elizabethan era. During Shakespeare’s lifetime, Ditie de Jehanne D’Arc, poetry by Christine de Pizan, mentions Joan of Arc as the main character, indicating the historical importance of females in literature during the 16th century. Christine de Pizan, known as the “Medieval Defender of Women,” retells Joan of Arc’s story in an emotionally packed and uplifting tale in Ditie de Jehanne D’Arc (“Christine De Pizan”). Joan of Arc’s popularity with other Elizabethan era authors represents her importance in gender bending history.
Shakespeare also jumped on her bandwagon, creating a “Joan of Arc” character in one of his plays, Henry VI Part I. His direct insertion of this historical figure reveals Shakespeare’s knowledge and recognition of Joan of Arc’s accomplishments, praising her in some sense and glorifying her gender swap in one of his plays (Weisl). William Shakespeare recreates historical figures in his plays, one of which represents the “Joan of Arc” archetype, such as the Merchant of Venice, where a woman gender swaps to help another man (Stigler). Similarly, Twelfth Night includes Viola, a female that gender swaps to aid another male in wooing his love, Olivia. William Shakespeare juggles with the idea that gender is fluid, causing gender confusion within his plays and his society.
Social Norm or Societal Storm? Shakespeare’s Clarity and His Gender Confusion
The Elizabethan era consisted of the suppression of women’s voices and the lack of freedom of speech for women. Society specifically targeted women in urban areas and treated them as the lowest class of women. Only men gained jobs with adequate benefits in urban areas and only actors starred in plays, even in Shakespeare’s plays (Wilber). It was very common for women in urban areas to gender swap during the Elizabethan era, allowing them to take jobs that men reaped benefits from.
Society rejected the concept of gender swapping despite its popularity. Playwrights enjoyed testing the limit of gender confusion in their plays, reflecting upon their audience and forcing them to contemplate the duality of gender. William Shakespeare was particularly interested in this concept, hiring male actors to play female roles that gender swap to male characters. English government banned cross-dressing at the time, exempting actors for entertainment purposes (Stigler). In this light, Shakespeare seems progressive and ahead of his time.
However, gender swapping, as previously stated, often occurred due to stressful or more significant causes. Gender swapping provided freedom of speech for women to speak up and encouraged social liberation from the norm. A shift in gender for women meant a social shift in their internal being (Wilber). An external gender swap can enhance internal gender performance. For example, Viola, the main female gender swapping character in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, experiences an internal gender swap that evokes a more internal gender performance of “traditionally male” leadership and independence (Wilber). Could Viola be another Joan of Arc archetype or is her change more emotional, like Queen Elizabeth? She is both.
Twelfth Night and Its Significance
Stigler mentions the constant use of gender swapping in Shakespeare’s plays and remarks an interesting pattern of Shakespeare’s use of gender confusion. Many scholars question and theorize about Shakespeare’s intent focus on gender swapping, searching for implied reasons behind his fascination with it. However, Twelfth Night seems to catch the eye of many authors and texts, indicating their interest in Viola’s social rising.
William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night details a main protagonist, Viola, who loses both her brothers (or so she thinks) and pretends to be Cesario (her brother), beginning her gender swapping journey. Viola performs Cesario because she must work and lead her own life with no present males, gaining a job as a pager for Duke Orison. Cesario develops a crush on Orison while paging his love notes to Olivia, a wealthy and popular maiden that develops love interest in Cesario. Cesario tries to convince Olivia to pursue Orison while kindly rejecting her, all while maintaining a close friendship with Orison and standing behind him as his pal. The love triangle intensifies the gender performativity and identity of surrounding characters, especially Orison and Olivia, yet in opposing ways.
Particularly in this play, Shakespeare plays with gender confusion in relationships and friendships. Viola expresses the duality of her gender by claiming she is both “all the brothers” and “the sisters” of her household, causing the audience to question which one she identifies with and introducing the idea of gender fluidity. However, Viola attracts Olivia with her duality and her fluid gender. The duality of Viola’s gender performativity “produces a series of side effects” on Olivia, just like Judith Butler’s statement when explaining the Queer Theory.
Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night includes the importance of gender swapping in various relationships, exploring the idea that a socially rejected relationship might just be the most compatible. Unlike other Shakespeare productions, Twelfth Night plays with the idea of gender compatibility, contributing more to the reflection of gender. This goes back to Judith Butler’s concept of gender performativity and its influence on people’s impressions more than the actual performer. Viola’s gender swap influences the surrounding characters, specifically Orison, Olivia, and Sebastian.
Perception of Gender Compatibility
Since gender performativity bases gender off impressions people reflect, gender swapping often requires another character to form a relationship with in order to create such reflection of behavior. The Rose Theatre experiment recreated Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and unlike the original production with all male actors, the theatre experimented with all actresses (Whipday). In the original production (and throughout history), the audience preferred the relationship between Orison and Viola rather than Viola and Olivia. However, in the experiment by the Rose Theatre with all female actresses, the audience favored the relationship between Viola and Olivia (Whipday). The male gender swapping created a sense of importance to the male characters, yet the female gender swapping emphasized the female characters’ significance. Since the sex and implied gender of the actors influenced the compatibility of relationships in Twelfth Night, the gender performance of surrounding characters influences the way in which lead characters detail their lives.
Surrounding Characters and Their Outstanding Implications
If gender performativity from gender swapping leaves an impression on surrounding witness and the gender performance of surrounding characters influences lead characters’ actions, then the gender swapping of lead characters influences the gender performance of side characters. Minor characters in Shakespeare’s works can be just as telling as the main characters in terms of sexual relations and the focus of gender (Schalkwyk).
For example, in Romeo and Juliet, the side character, Mercutio, is very telling for Romeo’s gender performance. Mercutio shields the truth for his love for Romeo by creating a brother-like friendship. Mercutio’s love for Romeo fuels his loyalty to provide happiness for Romeo, yet Mercutio’s love is a source of Romeo’s happiness. The duality of gender-shared love causes Romeo and Juliet to not seem like an outstanding match (Schalkwyk). Romeo, around Mercutio, acts like a damsel in distress, yet around Juliet, acts like a brave protector (Schalkwyk). Mercutio’s masculine gender performativity around Romeo projects into Romeo’s gender performativity, yet Juliet’s hyper-feminine performativity creates a different performance from Romeo. The side characters’ identities in many Shakespearean plays often indicate the reality of the main character’s gender identity.
If the gender performance of surrounding characters influence gender performativity, including swapping, then is the significance of Viola’s gender swapping the result of Olivia’s gender performance?
Despite the historical connections drawn by previous texts and the recognized significance of gender swapping to social status in Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” the importance of surrounding characters in terms of the main characters’ gender swapping is overlooked. Olivia’s independent and forward personality, her connection to historical female characters, the social implications of her performance, and her significance to relations contributes to the internal effects of Viola’s gender swapping. Olivia, the poor soul that falls for Cesario, gender performs, impacting the significance of Viola’s gender swapping.
Olivia: A Hidden Gem
As a first glance into the plot, the Duke and his surrounding peasants describe Lady Olivia as the most beautiful lady on the earth, full of feminine beauty and delicate energy. However, further into the story, Olivia appears as a very forward and sarcastically stubborn persona. Olivia’s character consists of a defiant personality, protective nature, and strong social grasp on surrounding characters.
From Rice University, Thad Jenkins Logan describes Olivia to reason her actions by “doing precisely what she wants to do” in both “the end of the play, as at the beginning” (Logan). Based on her actions, Logan claims that Olivia’s “headstrong” personality creates a “more active approach” to her life, taking a lead on her life (Logan). This defiant identity reflects a more “masculine” role in the fifteenth century, portraying an underlying gender performance through persona.
With this headstrong characteristic, Olivia demonstrates a forward nature, representing her leadership trait. Throughout most of the play, Olivia continually perseus Cesario (or Viola) and insists on reaching an emotional agreement of their love (even though Viola does not feel the same). Her persistent chasing illustrates her forward and confident being, similar to that of a male at the time. Her internal performance of male gender stereotypes symbolize Viola’s lack of performance and temporary performativity when put in these situations.
A common interpretation of male power during the 15th century was the extent of social control one had on surrounding people. Lady Olivia, a countess, holds a high social status, yet not high enough to reach a duke. At the time, society considered Olivia’s constant rejection of Orison and her blunt refusal to marriage to be rude. However, her social grasp on the surrounding people excuses her actions, maintaining their love and appreciation for her. In more modern terms, Olivia’s aggressive nature masks the way in which she walks all over Orison (a male of higher status).
Aggressive or Graceful? Olivia’s Dynamic Personality
Lady Olivia’s relation to gender performing female characters highlights her own gender performance. Previously, Sloan Pace connected Viola and Joan of Arc in terms of their gender swapping nature. However, Logan mentions how “Olivia and Viola are ultimately as interchangeable as their names suggest” (Logan). Olivia and Viola reflect on one another, representing a similar message with different means. Similar to how Joan of Arc chooses to gender swap to utilize her inner aggressive persona in battle, Olivia gender performs to reveal her aggressive (and stereotypically “masculine” angry) confrontation with Cesario.
However, Olivia does not physically gender swap nor externally gender perform. Her actions represent an inner gender performance, taking a traditionally masculine approach to her life. Lady Olivia utilizes the leadership available with her social standing and takes her life into her own hands. Primarily, the countess refuses to marry without reason or love, similar to Queen Elizabeth’s decision, and leads her life in isolation for seven years. Logan explains Olivia’s initiative to “arrange rendezvous as she chooses” with her “position of power” (Logan). Like Queen Elizabeth, Lady Olivia uses the full capacity of power available to her to lead her own life. Taking advantage of position of power, Olivia independently makes decisions, much like Queen Elizabeth with her royal decisions. In this light, Olivia’s gender swap is more internal than external.
Trouble in Gender Paradise
As previously mentioned, the relationships between various genders provides insight to the identities of the gender performing characters. With the relationships between Orison and Viola, Shakespeare establishes the heightened compatibility between different genders, steering the audience away from basic heterosexual relationships and commonly paired genders. Logan describes how the love “played out in the stage-world” distracts the audience from “conventional modalities of love” (Logan). With the gender performance of the characters, Shakespeare leads us to to contemplate beyond the norm and analyze a deeper relation in the pairings.
On the other end, Viola’s gender swapping could reflect Olivia’s gender performance. Schalkwyk explores how Viola’s lack of masculine defense triggers Olivia’s protective and forward nature. Similar to how Olivia’s rejection to Orison causes his persistent nature, Viola’s soft rejection leads to Olivia’s consistent pursuit (Schalkwyk). If this type of reaction is true, how does Olivia’s gender performance impact Viola’s gender swap and its significance?
Olivia’s Mirror: Viola’s Reflection
In Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Lady Olivia’s gender performance influences the portrayal of Viola’s societal independence, revealing her true “manhood.” Gender performativity is reflective, depending on the reaction of surrounding people. The countess’ gender performance impacts the internal effects of Viola’s gender swap. Logan details how Sebastian’s feminine personality thrives with Antonio’s or Olivia’s hyper masculine identities (Logan). However, since Viola is both all the daughters and all the sons of her household, could her feminine persona react to Olivia’s hypermasculine being?
The answer is yes. Because of the presence of the stereotypical compatibility of women and men and their common pairings, Viola’s gender duality seems compatibility with Olivia’s gender performance, as seen by the study explained by Whipday. For example, after the sword fight between Sir Toby (a side character) and Sebastian (whom Olivia believes is Cesario/Viola), Olivia rushes in and saves Sebastian, protecting “Cesario” from danger and providing emotional support in her home (Shakespeare). Since Olivia gender performs to protect and care for Viola more than Orison does, Viola’s inner femininity peaks out even when gender swapping, depicting gender ambiguity.
Additionally, Viola’s traditionally feminine hesitation leads Olivia to masculinely pursue her as Cesario. Viola’s duality of gender attracts Olivia’s aggressive interest in her. Viola shyly and politely refuses Olivia’s feelings, similar to that of a lady’s stereotypical role during that time. For example, Viola admits her inferiority to Olivia and claims that she “pities” Olivia yet provides her “obedience” (Shakespeare). Olivia interprets Viola’s shyness to be strange for a man, thus believing in their potential love. Viola’s gender confusion leads to Olivia’s further interest in her.
Lastly, Olivia’s play on power inspires Viola’s step back from power, demonstrating her friendly rejections (as previously mentioned above). Olivia’s social grasp on her surrounding characters further develops Viola’s lack of social confidence and hold on others. For example, Viola constantly assures Olivia that it is not her “place” to speak on Olivia’s love for another (Shakespeare). Viola’s mix of both social inferiority (from lack of this control) and superiority (from being a “man”) contributes to Olivia’s heightened interest, adding to her entertainment from social power.
In the wide scheme of opposite day, Olivia does not participate in the exterior swapping of gender-influenced clothing, yet she embraces her inner gender ambiguity. As high school buddies, Olivia would encourage Viola to put on her brother’s suit and tie, urging her to contemplate her own external and internal ambiguity.
Works Cited
- Butler, Judith. “Judith Butler: Your Behavior Creates Your Gender.” YouTube, Big Think, 6 June 2011.
- “Christine De Pizan – Le Diti© De Jehanne D'Arc.” Joan of Arc (Jeanne D'Arc) 1412 – 1431, Jeanne D'arc History, 29 Oct. 2018.
- Eschner, Kat. “Remembering Joan of Arc, The Gender-Bending Woman Warrior Who Changed History.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 9 Jan. 2017.
- “Gender and Behavior in TWELFTH NIGHT.” American Shakespeare Center, American Shakespeare Center, 30 Sept. 2016.
- “Holinshed's Chronicles, 1577.” The British Library, The British Library, 23 Nov. 2015.
- Logan, Thad Jenkins. ""Twelfth Night: The Limits of Festivity."" Studies in English Literature 22 (1982): 223-238.
- Mueller, Janel. ""Virtue and virtuality: gender in the self-representations of Queen Elizabeth I."" Form and Reform in Renaissance England: Essays in Honor of Barbara Kiefer Lewalski (2001): 220-46.
- “Gender Studies and Queer Theory // Purdue Writing Lab.” Purdue Writing Lab, Owl at Purdue.
- Schalkwyk, David. “Love and Service in ‘Twelfth Night’ and the Sonnets.” Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 56, no. 1, 2005, pp. 76–100. JSTOR.
- Sloan-Pace, E. (2012). Articulating Agency: Women in Shakespeare's History Plays. UC Santa Cruz. ProQuest ID: SloanPace_ucsc_0036E_10161. Merritt ID: ark:/13030/m5nk3hqw.
- Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. Twelfth Night. Boston ; New York :Houghton Mifflin, 1928. Print.
- Stigler, Brittany. “Gender Swaps in Shakespeare Plays | THIRTEEN - New York Public Media.” THIRTEEN, PBS.
- Thomas, Miranda Fay. “A Queer Reading of Twelfth Night.” The British Library, The British Library, 12 Feb. 2016.
- Weisl, Angela Jane. ""How to be a Man, Though Female: Changing Sex in Medieval Romance."" Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality. Vol. 45. No. 2. Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship, 2009.
- Whipday, Emma. “‘How Much I Lack of a Man’: Twelfth Night: A Gender Experiment at the Rose Theatre, Bankside.” Litro Magazine Stories Transport You, Litro, 8 Oct. 2015.
- Wilber, Jennifer. “Gender Roles and Gender Relations in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.” Owlcation, Owlcation, 9 Feb. 2019.
Cite this page
Gender Swapping: Swap the Character, Swap the Role. (2021, Mar 20).
Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2021/03/page/17/
Opioid Epidemic Drug Dependency
Many patients become addicted to the pain and continue to misuse these drugs because even the smallest discomfort is not bearable. The article goes further to point out that “51.9% of people entering treatment for opioid use disorder in 2015 started with prescription drugs” (para. 10). Barbara (2018) explains that “patients have the expectation that doctors can prescribe drugs that will make recovery from surgery pain-free” which highlights an obstacle in the attempt to stop the opioid epidemic. She goes further on to explain how one of the main reasons that there is a resistance on the removal from all anaesthetics because patient satisfaction affects the hospital. A bad rating can turn to loss for the hospital but the doctors do not want to continue to turn their patients into addicts.
Quinn (2017) states that in this opioid epidemic drug dependency is not the problem but the legal industry is. 75% of the people who are treated for heroin addiction took their first opioid through their prescription- legally. As a result, States have implemented prescription drug abuse databases to help track the number of painkillers prescribed by doctors across states. This has led addicts no other option but to turn towards the streets and obtain illegal drugs like carFentanil and fentanyl which are 50 times stronger than heroin. The opioid epidemic not only takes 91 American lives per day but it also comes at an expensive price. 41 states have banded together to force drug manufacturers to change their tactics and to pay for the money these states have lost fighting this epidemic. In these lawsuits drug companies are being sued on the note that in no way shape or form they provide details telling patients how addictive these drugs can actually be. The states and the government have united together in court to drain the pharmaceutical companies of their profits or to fight long enough battles that these companies go bankrupt. They attempt to make an example of some drug companies in an effort to keep combating his opioid epidemic or enough to make them change their tactics.
Many patients and are becoming addicted to they’re prescribed opioids building a dependence. Methadone is considered one of the weakest Opiuo aids but is the schedule to Opiuo aid which has caused a lot of controversy on how one opioid can be used to get off another opioid. Others claim that it is an exchange of addiction. Many of the people who turn into street drugs choose to self administer doses to help relieve the pain orTo reach that euphoric effects that they know they will receive. There is medicine such as Norlakes which can be used to save someone if they are overdosing if caught in a certain time interval however many claimed that this will just continue to influence abusers to continue their addiction.
Quantitative Survey
Crystal Meth addiction is a problem in the country however one of the cities that suffers the most from Methamphetamine addiction. Fresno is between two highways which serves Fresno as a pit stop and one of the easiest places to deliver Meth. Vice also points out that the The law isn’t punishing drug distributors and it’s just leaving them off with a ticket. This feels the opioid epidemic in Fresno highlighting the crime statistics are not as low a they seem. Video also highlights how a stronger drug policy is not as efficient as lawmakers hope it to be. There must be opportunities for people to be reinstated into communities. This will cause an adverse effect which people will turn to even dirtier drugs which may be cheaper but the consumers will not know what they are laced with.
Cite this page
Opioid Epidemic Drug Dependency. (2021, Mar 20).
Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2021/03/page/17/
The Opioid Crisis in America
Abstract
The opioid crisis that we have plaguing America today began over 30 years ago. There are countless reasons why. Many people that are prescribed opioids to deal with their pain become addicted. Which leads to misuse and death. Governing agencies started to evaluate hospitals and doctors their control of their patients’ pain. Leading to doctors prescribing more opioids. Making individuals grow dependences for these drugs. When this happened, patients started looking for more opioids buying them from illegal providers or doctors willing to prescribe more. Illegal, unregulated sources of opioids laced with dangerous drugs such as fentanyl are now also a factor that is increasing the death rate of opioid overdoses. Opioid misuse impacts all ages, sexes, ethic and socioeconomic backgrounds, and especially those in rural settings. The only way this epidemic plaguing America can be stopped is with the engagement and action of all Health care providers, the pharmaceutical industry, and Federal state government agencies.
Keywords: CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services), FDA (Food and Drug Administration), HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems), IOM (Institute of Medicine)
Opioids are a class of drugs that includes the illegal drug heroin as well as other powerful pain relievers. These pain relievers include codeine, morphine, fentanyl and many others. In 2016 more than 42,000 people died from overdoses involving opioids. Drug overdose is now the leading cause of accidental deaths in the United States and opioid addiction is the cause behind this epidemic. In this report we will be talking about addiction, the individual and social impacts of opioid abuse, how to manage pain with and without opioids and the medical and non-medical use of opioids.
How The Crisis Started
The opioid epidemic that is plaguing America today started with 3 waves beginning in 1991 when deaths involving opioids began to rise after a large increase in the number of opioid and opioid combination medications for pain. The reason for this increase of prescriptions was because of the reassurances given to prescribers by Big Pharmaceutical companies and medical societies claiming that there was very little risk to addiction. The second wave began around 2010 with a rapid increase of deaths from heroin overdoses. Deaths due to heroin related overdoses increased by 286% from 2002 to 2013, and approximately 80% heroin users admitted to abusing prescription opioids before using heroin. The 3rd and most recent wave of the Opioid crisis began in 2013 when deaths related to synthetic opioid related deaths due to drugs such as fentanyl began to rise. The increase in fentanyl deaths was because of illicitly manufactured fentanyl. The Annual Service Report of drug related risks and outcomes from the Atlanta Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of August, 2017 showed that in 2016 a total of 214,881,622 opioid prescriptions were dispensed by retail pharmacies which averages to 66.5 prescription for every 100 person.
How Opioids Work
The way that opioids work is by attaching themselves to proteins called opioid receptors on nerve cells in the brain, spinal cord, gut and other parts of the body. This blocks pain messages sent from the body through the spinal cord to the brain. Opioids while being a very effective option of relieving pain, have a very high risk of addiction. Especially when used to relieve chronic pain over long periods of time. The more opioids you use, the more your body grows a tolerance for them. Which leads to individuals needing even more opioids to relieve their pain. This is a very common way people become addicted to opioids from simply needing more of them to relieve their pain. In order to understand why people become so hooked to opioids. Addiction is a disease that affects your brain and behavior. Misusing these drugs can lead to pleasurable effects that make you want to keep using these drugs.
Symptoms of Addiction.
Opioids cause many different symptoms and there are signs people can look out for. Some of the side effects of opioid use can include fatigue, constipation, breathlessness, a sense of elation, bronchospasms, chest pains, and death. Death by opioid abuse is usually caused when an individual is using more than one substance. When you are addicted to opioids and attempt to stop using them. Individuals can feel many different symptoms and side effects of withdrawal. These side effects can include a psychological and physical craving for the drug, stomach pain, nausea, stomach pains, cold sweats, chills, vomiting, diarrhea, agitation, anxiety, muscle tensions, trouble sleeping and enlarged or dilated pupils. A study shows that adults ages 18 and over in the U.S. the rate of opioid misuse or abuse is estimated at around 37%. While gender differences have been cited showing that men will misuse opioids almost twice as much more than women do, these rates differ based on the different type of drug
Cite this page
The Opioid Crisis in America. (2021, Mar 20).
Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2021/03/page/17/
America’s Drug Overdose Epidemic
The opioid epidemic is one of the most rapidly-spreading crisis’ the nation has been faced with since the 1980’s HIV/AIDS epidemic. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, on average, 130 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose. Overdose rates have increased from 16,849 in 1999 to 70,237 in 2017 (National Institute on Drug Abuse). Even short-term use of opioids can lead to addiction. To put an end to this ongoing crisis, the government should take more aggressive measures such as stricter opioid prescribing laws, funding and embracing prevention, and helping those who have already fallen victim to the epidemic. This essay will discuss the opioid crisis in the United States by analyzing the impact of the crisis on the people of United States of America and further provide recommendations on the actions the government of USA can take to deal with the growing crisis of opioid overdose. However, to understand the proposals on the steps that the government and the public can take against the opioid crisis, it is essential to first understand the impact of the crisis on the people of the USA.
The most significant effect of the opioid crisis in the United States is the rising number of deaths related to opioid overdose. It is estimated that about 115 Americans die daily due to opioids overdose cases. An additional 1,000 Americas are treated at hospital emergency Units every day due to cases related to opioid overdose. In 2016, about 42,000 Americans lost their lives from opioid overdose cases, and about 40 % of the deaths resulted from a prescription overdose of opioids. The fact that circumstances of death resulting from opioids overdose have risen to overcome the total number of death by car accidents and gun violence has elevated the status of the crisis to a national health crisis. The problem has caught the attention of the white house, and the president released a statement declaring the epidemic a national health crisis. According to the president, “the opioid crisis has replaced the American Dream with the nightmare of Addiction” (Trump 00: 58).
The impact of opioid addiction and overdose epidemic goes beyond health effects that are mostly deaths. besides, opioid addiction costs the United States about $ 78.5 billion in economic burden. These estimates are according to reports y the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The economic burden caused by opioid addictions and overdose “include the cost of treatment of opioid addiction, healthcare costs, and cost of criminal justice involvement” (Opioid Overdose Crisis). However, beyond the impact of the crisis on the people of the USA is a critical question that remains in the minds of those who continue to hear the news of the opioid epidemic in the country. The same question will continue to be a matter of interest in future researches and to the children of this generation.
Several factors have contributed to the rise of the opioid crisis to the current status of a national health epidemic. According to a research by Vadivelu et al (2018) in the Current Pain and Headache Report, factors such as “inappropriate prescription, lack of proper understanding about the potential long-term effects of certain drug prescriptions and abuse of opioids” (Vadivelu et al 19) have been the biggest contributors to the rise in opium addiction and overdose. Opioid abuse has never been a problem in the United States until recently. Cases of celebrity deaths resulting from misuse or overdose of opioids were the first to heat headlines raising the red flag on the prevalence of the problem in the USA.
The genesis of the issue of opioid overdose traces back to the late 1990s. Pharmaceutical companies managed to assure the American Medical Community that the active pain-relieving medications were necessary for the American people. Additionally, they assured the medical community that the drugs would not cause addictions among patients. Before the medical community found reasons to believe that the opioids could be highly addictive, these drugs were flying off the shelves, and their abuse was a factor that was already prevalent in the American community. By 2017, opioid addiction had become a national health epidemic, and the government had no choice left but to declare it a national health crisis (NIDA 247).
To put an end to the opioid crisis, the White House must embrace prevention. According to The Conversation, research has proven that prevention is effective at enhancing human functioning and reducing psychological and physical distress. Expanding preventive services will reduce the costs of substance abuse and mental health care. Implementing a nation-wide media campaign can help address to the public about the dangers of addiction and abusing opioids. Campaigning will ensure that communities stay drug-free. In 1996, a “Tobacco Free Kids” campaign launched, and throughout the years has sky-rocketed. According to their 2017 annual report, adult smoking in the U.S decreased from 42 percent to 15 percent. Since 1996, the campaign has cut adult smoking by 39 percent, and youth smoking by over 70 percent. The progress that the Tobacco-Free campaign made over the years shows that with the right campaigning and effort, we can see the same drop in the opioid epidemic.
The promotion of stricter opioid prescribing laws nation-wide is also a very significant step that the government of the USA can take towards ending the opioid crisis. However, this approach requires a multi-agency approach that includes the different departments of the government concerned with the problem, private institutions such as pharmaceutical companies involved in the manufacturing of opioid drugs, and Anti-drug addiction humanitarian groups. Luckily, all stakeholders in the United States currently acknowledge the scope of the problem and have been involved in various programs that seek to boost the government’s efforts in seeking for solutions and an end to the epidemic. While the government searches for the appropriate legislation that may ensure stricter opioid prescription policies, organizations such as the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) has in the past decade been involved in “extensive research and initiatives that seek to improve the risk-benefit balance of opioids” (Alexander 12-8-1217).
FDA has proposed several initiatives that can help end the crisis such as strengthening the warning on the drug labels to create more awareness among users of the adverse effects of the misuse of drugs. This essay recommends the use of the word “death” in the warning message that the institution proposes that should be written on the drug labels. Additionally, the FDA proposes that the government should ensure the mandatory expansion of prescriber education programs and ensure that patients are barred from automatically refilling their prescription drugs without the help of their prescribers. Additionally, the FDA proposes issuing of guidelines to the pharmaceutical industries about the development of abuse-deterrent formulas on opioid products. These policies will tighten the opioid prescription laws and help in ending the crisis.
According to German Lopez (2017), in an article in the Vox, much of what has been done in the United States is only focused on reducing the flow of the opioids drugs in the market, and the initiative has failed terribly. The failure is owed to the fact that the reducing the number of drugs in the market does not reduce the rate of addiction in the market and is not a policy-based approach to solving the problem, but instead a method or reducing the problem and will only lead to lesser deaths, yet not solve the problem. Additionally, the author argues that President Trump’s declaration of the opioid crisis as a national health crisis does not effectively solve the problem., In essence, the author tries to dive the point that creating awareness is not finding solutions.
Lopez also argues that the administrations move to cut spending on drug addiction treatments provided by Obamacare shows lack of commitment towards ending the opioids addiction and overdose crisis. The author further adds that “the most significant bills passed by Congress over the crisis only approximated $ 1 billion allocations, which fall short of the billions of dollars’ proposal by research studies” (Lopez 54).
Lopez further argues that there is a conflict of interests between the two sides involved in the communication and formulation of policies that seek to end the rate of opium addiction. While one side of the group has focused on ending the flow of the opioid drugs, the other has insisted that the solution lies in the expansion of opioid drugs treatment. However, the author presents an expert opinion on the matter that shows that both sets of action are necessary if the country is to end the rate epidemic. Lopez presents the argument of an expert in the communication concerning the opioid epidemic. According to Keith Humphrey, a drug policy expert at Stanford University, the parties involved in the policy formulation should understand that “the opioid crisis, in fact, a story of two crises explained as the dual problem of “stock” and “flow”, and that policymakers need to look at both when seeking solutions (Lopez 54).
Conclusion
the opioid crisis is a solvable problem. However, seeking solutions to the emerging crisis requires the joint effort of all stakeholders in the US. The government of the United States has the biggest role to play in the development of locations that can end the epidemic, and not reduce or control it. The decision by White House to declare the issue a national health concern should be enough reason for Congress and the other budget allocating institutions to declare allocation of more money into the program. However, allocation of money without formulation of right policies that are aimed at stopping the crisis is only a waste of national resources. Therefore, as the government continues to allocate money as required towards the study and development of solutions to the epidemic of opioid deaths, it should also engage all stakeholders in the formulation of policies that will ensure that the allocation is not wasted.
Works Cited
- "Opioid Overdose Crisis." National Institute on drug abuse (2019): https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/opioids/opioid-overdose-crisis.
- Alexander, Tatyana Lyapustina & G. Caleb. "The prescription opioid addiction and abuse epidemic: how it happened and what we can do about it." The Pharmaceutical Journal (2015): 1208-1217. https://www.pharmaceutical-journal.com/opinion/comment/the-prescription-opioid-addiction-and-abuse-epidemic-how-it-happened-and-what-we-can-do-about-it/20068579.article?firstPass=false.
- Lopez, German. "How to stop the deadliest drug overdose crisis in American history." Vox (2017): 54. https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/8/1/15746780/opioid-epidemic-end.
- President Trump Delivers Remarks on Opioid Addiction. Perf. Donald Trump. 2019. 14 April2019..
- Vadivelu, Nalini, et al. "The opioid crisis: a comprehensive overview." Current pain and headache report 22.3 (2018): 16.
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America's Drug Overdose Epidemic. (2021, Mar 20).
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A Symbolic Interpretation of “To Build a Fire”
In every piece of literature, there are characters, situations, or objects that society can relate to. They appear in most pieces and are easily recognizable. These are called archetypes. Using an archetypical approach when analyzing a piece of literature can help you figure out a central theme entwined into a story.
London wrote the short story To Build a Fire about survival and exploring the elements. In this story, a man, who remains unnamed, is determined to hike through the forests that line the river of the Yukon Trail in British Columbia, Canada. The man is described as being someone with no sense of imagination. It is described in the story as a lack of common sense but it really translates to a lack of emotion for inconvenience. Because of this, he does not see the danger of the journey he is about to go on. He even ignores a warning from an elderly man who said he should not go into the forest alone in sub-zero temperatures. He accidentally falls through some ice making his lower half soaked. It begins to freeze immediately and he cannot feel his fingers or toes. He tries to light a fire but all the matches light at once and the fall on the snow. He realizes that he is going to die. He tries to strangle the dog for heat and shelter until he is found, but he is too weak. The dog runs off and leaves him as he drifts into a final sleep.
Situational archetypes are part of what creates the theme of this story. The first that is established is The Journey. The Journey is a self-established trip that the character takes in order to find something or someone. In this case, the man on his way to find shelter and the other travelers. Having The Journey as an archetype could contribute to the theme in the way that it is about overcoming something, or having a struggle. The next situational archetype is The Fall. This is displayed quite literally in this story but it also is accurate to the situational archetype. When the man falls into the water, he goes from a higher to lower state of being. He is very confident in his ability to detach himself from the extreme temperatures before the fall into the water, and then after, he begins to doubt his abilities and his sureness of life. This archetype also contributes to the theme in the sense that one event can take you from a mindset of confidence to being unsure and scared. The last situational archetype is The Unhealable Wound. In this instance, it is his frozen hands and feet. He continuously tries to get blood to flow to his toes and fingers by hitting his hands against his chest and running as fast as possible. This Unhealable Wound is what causes him to drop the matches thus preventing his final attempt at life. This helps us uncover the theme even more by revealing that one unhealable wound or one traumatic incident could be your final straw.
Character archetypes are equally as important to a story as situational archetypes. Because there are only three characters in this story, the things we can extract from the character archetypes are limited. The first character is the man. He is someone who is straightforward and explores new territories. This would make him The Pioneer or The Explorer. He is alone and detached from truth or reasoning. The next character is the “Old Man on Sulphur Creek.” This old man is who warned him from going into the wilderness alone. He warned of death or danger. His visionary advice and view into the future could assign him as The Seer or The Prophet. He is unknowingly such, so he is not prideful or absolute, rather he speaks from experience. The last character is the dog. This dog was not so much a companion to the man, as he was The Slave (London 70). The dog is also The Scapegoat because his owner tried to kill him instead of his owner facing his own death. These three characters contribute greatly to the theme of the story.
Now let’s turn to A&P by John Updike three high school young ladies, wearing just their swimsuits, stroll into an A&P market in a little New England town. Sammy, a young man working the checkout line, watches the girls intently. He assesses their looks and notes even moment insights concerning the manner in which they convey themselves. He additionally theorizes about their identities and their inspiration for entering the store dressed the manner in which they are. Sammy is especially inspired by the most outstanding young lady, who has all the looks of being the leader of the group. This young lady, whom Sammy names ""Queenie,"" has a characteristic effortlessness and certainty, showing us her uniqueness. As the young ladies meander the walkways of the A&P, they cause a buzz. As Sammy calls attention, the store is in the focal point of town, not even close to the shoreline, where the young ladies' clothing would pull in less notice. Sammy's colleague Stokesie gazes at the young ladies also, clowning around with Sammy as he does as such. Sammy jokes along with Stokesie, however he feels the problem between himself, still single, and the married Stokesie. Lengel, the store chief criticizes the young ladies for entering the store in swimming outfits, referring to store arrangement. The young ladies are humiliated, and Queenie dissents that her mom needed her to come in and get some herring snacks. As the young women leave the store, Sammy abruptly swings to Lengel and leaves his place of employment, challenging the way Lengel has humiliated the young ladies. Sammy hopes the girls are watching him. In this story the main archetypes seem to be those such as the fall of man, and the coming of age. From the time the young ladies enter the supermarket, to the minute they abandon; you can see changes in Sammy. At first, he sees just the physicality of the young ladies: what they look like and what they are wearing, appear to be his only perceptions. As the story advances, he sees the connections between the young ladies, and he even decides the chain of command of the little powerful. He watches their activities and how they influence different perceptions of the people around them. Or maybe, how different individuals see the young lady's activities. His point of view is developing and he begins to consider things how a grown-up might see them. He sees that the ""regulars"", appear to do very similar things all day every day. Following a similar way through the isles, they mark off their lists and approach the counter like regular. This is the reason the gathering of young ladies is so reviving to Sammy. They are unique and don't appear to pursue any set way. They appear to live in the now. Following how he views the girls, he begins to feel terrible about the manner in which the young ladies are being seen by others. He doesn’t want to get caught up in something that discourages uniqueness. When he chooses to quit his job, hurriedly as it might be, he is settling on the decision to be a person, to wander into the world on his own. It is something that he realizes he needs to do, so he has some hesitation in ""removing the apron"". (Updike) When it has been removed, he realizes he can't return it on. This symbolizes his realization of proceeding onward throughout everyday life.
Lastly let’s turn to Spunk by Zora Neale Hurston in a community in central Florida that is populated only by African Americans, Walter Thomas and Elijah Mosley are perched on the patio of a store. They see that Lena Kanty has vanished into the palmetto shrubs with Spunk Banks, who isn't her husband. Joe is completely mindful of the ramifications of Spunk and Lena's conduct; he realizes that the men at the store have seen her, and he realizes they realize he knows. Joe hauls out a razor and claims that Spunk has gone excessively far. Walter condemns Elijah for ridiculing Joe and insulting him to activity. Elijah shields himself by saying it isn't better than average for a man to acknowledge such conduct. Spunk is the main man in the town sufficiently courageous to ride the hover saw at the sawmill. In the event that Spunk and Joe were to tangle, Joe would not toll well. Lena's job in this triangle is clear to everyone, aside from Joe. She is in love with Spunk and wants to leave her husband for him. The issue is settled when Joe follows the couple into the palmetto brambles, and is murdered by Spunk in self-protection. Spunk and Lena don't live joyfully ever after, despite the fact that the primary obstruction to their joy has been disposed of.
The occurrence had happened similarly as Spunk and Lena were getting ready for bed. Elijah says that a major, dark bobcat had strolled around the house yelling. At the point when Spunk snatched his firearm, the bobcat stopped, taking a gander at him and crying. Spunk understands that it's anything but a wildcat, yet Joe. Walter infers that Joe was the more valiant, on the grounds that despite the fact that he was alarmed of Spunk and realized he had a firearm, he still sought after him. Spunk, then again, a characteristic conceived warrior, was terrified of nothing. A couple of days after the fact, the bobcat shows up for the second time. This time the story is told from the townsman's viewpoint. The men were grinding away in the sawmill when Spunk mysteriously slipped and fell into the circle saw. As he was kicking the bucket, the men contacted him and heard his final words: ""It was Joe, 'Lige . . . the grimy sneak pushed me."" Elijah finishes up: ""If spirits kinfolk battle, there's an incredible tussle goin' on some place ovah Jordan 'cause Ah b'leeve Joe's prepared for Spunk an' ain't skeered any more."" (Hurston) At Spunk's wake, all the townspeople have assembled to offer their regards to Lena, who is mourning her misfortune, even Joe's dad has come. As they are eating at the wake, different grievers guess on who will be Lena's next lover. In this story the archetypes that follow are death vs. rebirth, the hero, and courage vs cowardice. The black bobcat in this case symbolizes death, Spunk dies later in the story, but we can conclude it is Joe (the bobcat) returning from hell and coming back to haunt Spunk for stealing his wife. We can interpret the hero being Joe. Joe shows a true hero when he learns of his wife and Spunk and decides to kill Spunk for deceiving him. Although, Joe knew this would end in death. Courage vs. cowardice is the last archetype, in the story everyone was afraid of Spunk, no one could stand up to him, except Joe. In the beginning Joe was seen as a coward because everyone knew Spunk had taken his wife. Towards the end of the story, Spunk became afraid of the bobcat, which was Joe, But Joe had the courage to stand up to Spunk although things didn't go as planned.
Because of the archetypical approach, a theme can emerge from this story. Using the archetypical approach, we are able to figure out a central theme in which these stories are entwined and analyze the meaning behind what the authors are really trying to tell us. Using only this one approach of many can make us a reader interpret what the author is saying and get a better understanding of what we are reading.
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A Symbolic Interpretation of "To Build a Fire". (2021, Mar 20).
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Life and Death in “To Build a Fire”
“To Build a Fire” is a short story written by John Griffith Chaney, better known as Jack London. London was an American author that was born on January 12, 1876 in San Francisco, California. He grew up in a middle-class family in which he had to work and read whenever he had spare time. He was a very intellectual and hardworking person that spent most of his time in public libraries, studying whatever he could get his hands on. He was able to learn all the things a normal student who has studied for four years of high school, in just one short year. His writing career began when his mother persuaded him to enter a writing contest. At just the age of fourteen, London won the contest against students from the colleges Stanford and Berkely. After this, he realized he had a knack for writing. Towards the beginning of his career, he was not making much profit. He was writing just for his love of it. He wrote many short stories, and he even covered the Russo-Japanese War in 1904. This was a very important historical time period, and London had the privilege to cover the event. (“Jack London”). Towards the end of his life, he spent majority of his time writing. He produced numerous works, totaling up over fifty books in about seventeen years, an astounding number in such a short period of time (Britannica). He wrote many works of literature in his lifetime, and he accomplished it by hard work, dedication, and his love of writing. In one of London’s short stories, “To Build a Fire,” he uses setting, tone, and imagery to produce a story about a man that is on a journey to meet a friend in freezing cold weather miles away from where he currently is, accompanied by a dog that feels very strongly for his owner. So strong that he abandons his own instincts to follow his owner to his death at the end of the story.
Within London’s short story, “To Build a Fire,” takes place in the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush. During the Klondike Gold Rush, thousands of people were in Canada in search of the gold. During this time period, many of the people that traveled to search for the gold had no idea how brutal the weather would be. They were more worried about the gold in California that the weather was not a concern to many of them. In the short story, “To Build a Fire,” the man is in the process of crossing from one town to the other in the harsh weather. He is supposed to reach the next town over by six o’clock. He does not expect the weather to be as cold as it is, and he continues to deny it as the story goes on, resulting in his fate. From the very beginning of the story, London describes the weather as being, “exceedingly cold and gray,” (London). The author could have used numerous other words to describe the weather, but he chose to use the words “exceedingly cold” to dramatize how miserable the weather was, almost putting the readers into the shoes of the man in the story. London describes the setting extremely vividly throughout the story, and he makes sure to reemphasize how cold it is as the story goes on. Because of this, it is quite obvious that London finds that the setting is a critical part of telling the story. He writes, “… but more solidly, the deposit taking the form of ice and increasing with every warm, moist breath he exhaled,” (London). This quote is one example of how London uses the setting to emphasize how brutal the weather is going to be on his long journey. Because of the awful weather ahead of them, it is clear that the man’s dog is very hesitant to cross the path, while the man ignores all the obvious warnings of the dangers ahead. The narrator makes the condition of the weather very clear, and this moves the story along by showing the reader how ignorant the man is in the story to willingly take this long journey to a town that is far beyond him.
The second literary device that the author uses in this short story is the use of tone throughout the story. The tone throughout the whole story is dispassionate and uninvested. The narrator that tells the story does not use much emotion throughout the story. Everything he says is pointblank and does not use much emotion at all. It repeatedly described how frozen the man’s face is and how harsh the weather is without showing any empathy towards the man or his dog. In the quote,
“…he knew also that there were streams of water that came out from the hillsides and ran along under the snow and on top of the ice of the creek. He knew that even in the coldest weather these streams were never frozen, and he also knew their danger,” (London).
It is very obvious that the man is suffering in this part of the story, but the narrator does not use any sympathy towards the man. He does not empathize the man or the dog, however, the reader is meant to feel concern for the man’s wellbeing. He did not show any compassion throughout the story for the man, the dog, or the outcome of whatever was going to happen to either of them. In the following the quote, “This man did not know cold. Possibly none of his ancestors had known cold, real cold. But the dog knew, and all of its family knew. And it knew that it was not good to walk outside in such fearful cold,” (London) the narrator has no sympathy for the man. The author’s diction at this point in this story shows that he no longer feels bad for the man in the cold because of his own decisions.
The man was suggested to stay away from the cold from other men because each of them knew the cold would be growing stronger as the time passed. The traveler thought he could outsmart the weather and make it to his destination before the weather became too powerful. “…it can be said that the man is naïve when he ignorantly considers his circumstances and is therefore ill-prepared for the predicament that befalls him. The wintery white land is not a beautiful inspiration to the man because the artistic part of his mind is still quite premature” (MissAniss) However, in the end of the story the man dies from the temperature. He tried to use his resources by building fires to keep him warm, but nature always backfired for him. He was traveling miles and slowly his body was becoming more and more affected by the cold. The traveler began to lose the mobility of his fingers and toes then slowly lost feeling in his face and other limbs. Because of his quick loss of bodily functions, he began to panic and was trying to survive based on what he knew of survival. He began to build fires to keep himself and the dog warm in the decreasing temperature. However, with every attempt to make a fire he was growing more in danger. Nature was not his friend in his journey to find the other man. His fires kept dying because of other forces of nature. Due to his choices to not stay where he was told to stay, his fires died every time causing him to fall deeper and deeper into a state of death. This shows that he was too headstrong and not willing to listen. He let his mind and heart get to him leading to his death. If the man would have waited to travel when the weather was meant to be safer, he would have made it safely to his destination and never have even came close to death. However, he was reckless, and fate fell upon him like he was warned by the other men to avoid.
The dog in the story is an important character. He is the only character who seems show any form of intelligence to the situation. “The main trait of the animal’s inner characterization is his wisdom coming from his instinct of survival. Unlike his master, the dog is aware that such a cold weather is not for traveling, and that the cold can be dangerous for living creatures” (“To Build a Fire Analysis”). His instincts kick in and throughout the whole story he is aware of the danger that lies ahead of him. He is scared and whines throughout the story because of his concern of the weather and the fate of his owner. The dog knows of the fate that lies ahead of his owner and tries to warn him and keep him from travelling any further into the death that awaits him at the end of the story. However, he is still loyal to his owner and continues to follow him on his journey until the very end. He uses his own natural instincts to keep himself alive and watches as his owner carelessly walks into his own death. In his own attempt at keeping himself alive, he ends up watching his owner die because of his own choices. He lies with his owner as he slowly passes from the cold and waits until his final breath until he leaves. He then walks to the spot that his owner was trying to reach to meet the men who were waiting for him at the end of the journey. This shows the loyalty of the dog and that instinct that he possesses that were capable of keeping the man and his dog alive.
Towards the end of the story, the man is almost in between life and death. Most people would be concerned for the man’s wellbeing, but that is not the case with the narrator. He shows how the decisions the man makes affects his decision between life and death. Because of how careless the man is, he ends up dying due to how stubborn he is. The man believes he can outsmart the weather and the suggestions of the other men. He had every chance to go back to the town he came from, but he continued to go further to reach the other town. The character of the dog was created to show how the instincts of the dog were meant to help the man survive. However, he lost his life because he was too stubborn to follow along with what nature was telling him to do. The reader is likely to worry and feel very strongly for both characters within the story, but that was not the case with the narrator. As the traveler grew closer and closer to death, he envisioned his life and the decisions he made to get to this point. The dog stayed with him to show the loyalty he had for his owner and stayed with him and his took his last breath.
Works Cited
- Britannica, Inc., 8 Jan. 2019, www.britannica.com/biography/Jack-London.
- “Jack London.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 15 Apr. 2019 www.biography.com/writer/jack-london.
- Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopedia. “Jack London.” Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia MissAniss. “Literary Criticism: Psychological Effects in To Build a Fire.” Owlcation, Owlcation, 18 Jan. 2017, owlcation.com/humanities/PostmodernismNovelReview.
- “To Build a Fire | Analysis.” Målrettet Hjælp Til Gymnasiet - Studienet.dk, www.studienet.dk/engelsk/analyse/to-build-a-fire/characterization-of-the-dog.
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The Prescription Opioid and Heroin Crisis
In 1665 one of the worst plagues to ever hit mankind had come to an end and had been defeated by the human race when a vaccine was discovered to stop the spread of it. It went by the name of “the black death” and swept through Europe and Asia in the 1340s killing nearly 25 million people. The disease was a bacterial strain called Yersinia pestis, which is commonly found in animals throughout the world such as mice, rats, fleas, and many more. However, the winter killed off a vast majority of the small animals and insects which eventually brought an end to the “black death”. This was the one and only bubonic plague which claimed the lives of so many and took the world by surprise. However today we have a new pandemic and plague which gropes the world in fear and leaves many questioning if they will make it another day, yet this plague cannot be stopped by winter and does not come from small rodents and insects. It comes from a dirty syringe, a prescription pill, or an opium poppy plant, with this epidemic known as the heroin crisis. Many people around the world today have suffered from the heroin crisis and epidemic, not only first hand but also with loved ones using opioids in some way or another, yet when focusing on Canton, Ohio, heroin seems to be a huge problem and opioids, in general, have claimed the lives of hundreds. This leads civilians and government officials alike to question why it is such a large problem in a small area such as Stark County, which leads us as researchers to ask, is heroin use directly linked to impoverished areas and poor communities in Canton, Ohio.
For starters, it is essential that we talk about what an opioid is and how the epidemic of them has come to power in the united states. According to the national institute on drug abuse, opioids are a class of drug which contains a variety of numbing substances such as heroin, fentanyl, oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, morphine, etc. Opioids chemically react with receptors in the brain known as opioid receptors in which control sensations such as pain. They can be safe whenever taken for a short period of time, however, opiates release endorphins causing euphoria which tend to make the highly addictive. For this reasons opioids have been on the government watch list for quite a long time and have been monitored and controlled by pharmacies, however, this has not stopped the boom in opioid addiction and abuse in America today. So the effect of this cause, according to opioids.gov, drug overdoses are now the leading cause of injury death in the united states. In 2016 there were approximately 63,632 drug overdose deaths in the united states and 42,249 of those were opioid overdoses. This is more than breast cancer which totaled out at 41,952 and car crashes which reached a maximum of 38,748. Another very scary fact about the opioid crisis in America today is that the number of people who are over the age of 12 years old who have misused prescription opioids was 11.8 million in 2016. First-time users in 2016 were at 2.3 million and the numbers are still going up. (CDC, 2019)
As we digress, however, we are here to focus not on the united states but on a small area, known as Canton, Ohio. according to opiods.gov, Ohio is actually one of the leading states when it comes to the most opioid prescriptions per 1,000 people, ranging anywhere from 820 to 659. Well, Ohio has a population of nearly 11.66 million people so when dividing this number by 1,000 you get 11,660. When multiplying this to the two ranges of numbers of prescriptions in Ohio at the max there would be approximately 9,561,200 prescriptions. At a minimum, there would be approximately 7,683,940 prescriptions in Ohio for opioids. It's clear to see that opioids have become a major problem in Ohio as a whole, but what about looking at it on a smaller scale zooming all the way in on inner-city Canton. Canton is a quaint midwestern town in which contains many historical landmarks and sights that tourist come from all over to see (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2019). Canton is home to the national first ladies library, William McKinley presidential library and museum, historic canton palace theatre, canton classic car museum, and the one and only Pro football hall of fame. Canton has a population of approximately 71,323 people and according to worldpopulationreview.com canton is the seventh largest city in the state of Ohio (Canton, Ohio population, 2019). Although this might seem as if it is a beautiful place to be, every pretty face has its scars and cantons is sadly the never-ending battle of the heroin epidemic and opioid crisis. It seems as if the news articles which deal with the news on the heroin and opioid epidemic are never-ending. If you are looking to be a journalist and your passion is writing about drugs then perhaps canton is the place to be because somehow somewhere people are using and overdosing on heroin on a daily basis. For example, when looking to the local newspaper, the canton repository, you will have no problem stumbling across articles such as “Man gets nine years on cocaine, heroin charges” and “canton police arrest 3 women, and man on heroin charges.” and the list goes on and on.
However, there is little to no research about how many people are using heroin because we know that people are using or else you wouldn't have people being arrested for opiates, but how many are there that aren't getting caught. How many are there that are lingering in the dark using and peddling opiates to contribute and boost the epidemic? That is the main goal of this paper and research project, we need to understand the information about the heroin and opiate epidemic in Canton Ohio and get an inside scoop for what is really going down. The plan of attack is to find out what opiates are used the most in Canton, Ohio. Is it heroin, morphine, prescriptions such as oxycodone, because once we figure out what drug is being used then we can move forward and target areas and people in order to get the information needed. We can focus on the people that are using these opiate and where they are currently residing, are they homeless or do they live in a mansion. Are they poor or do they have loads of money? Is there a possibility that this epidemic doesn't choose favorites and everyone in the city of canto has succumbed to the abuse of opiates in Canton, Ohio. What about those who have not used opiates, do they worry on whether or not they are going to be affected or if they are going to succumb to the use of them at any point in time. These are all extremely essential questions that will be answered as we dive head first into Canton, Ohio and find the root of the problem of the opioid epidemic which plagues are citizens.
In order to collect information, you must have sources which touch on subjects like the heroin epidemic and the opioid powerhouse sweeping across the united states. Although there will be numerous sources in which we will pull data from we have two essential sources which base the premise of our study. For my first source we are going to look at a scholarly article titled “Increasing Prescription Opioid and Heroin Overdose Mortality in the United States, 1999-2014: An Age-Period-Cohort Analysis.” which basically studies the opioid crisis and how age plays a relatively specific part in it. According to the article people of certain ages who were born in certain years are more prone to using and abusing opiates and heroin. This source could be extremely helpful to the research that we are going to be conducting because canton has a percentage of 12.8 percent of its population 65 years or older and 51.2% of ages 25 through 64 according to canton demographics in 2010. With that being said we can see that there is a fair amount of elderly people and middle-aged people in the city of Canton and if according to the article if older people and middle-aged people are more prone to abusing opioid drugs and heroin then what is the reason for this. Does this demographic of people in canton live in poverty or do they not have large amounts of money. This is something that can be answered through research about canton and the links that both the elderly population, the middle-aged population and opiates share (Xiwen, 2014)
Continuity and Risky Opioid Prescriptions.” which studies the prescribing of opioid drugs by doctors in the united states, risky prescribing patterns that have been seen in the united states, and the overdose risk and rate of civilians who are prescribed an opioid medication by a doctor. The reason this would be pinpointed as an essential source is that it offers up a background on why the opiate epidemic is happening in the first place. If doctors did not over prescribe or give too many prescriptions out then would we have less addiction and fewer overdoses in the united state? My plan with this source is to see how many doctors are prescribing opiates in the city of Canton Ohio and if they are over-prescribing to their patients. If they are over-prescribing, then who could they possibly be giving prescriptions too. Are these people living on low wages and low income and are they living in impoverished Parts of the city. That is the main reason we can use this source because it gives us the tools needed to build the shed, they offer up the idea of over prescription now let's find someone in particular who is over-prescribing.
Although we have these two sources which will help us tremendously, we still need to dive deep into the information and find out what the real cause of heroin use is in Canton, Ohio. The hypothesis is that heroin use is linked to low income and impoverished areas, however, there are many reasons on why people use opiates and that's the main goal here. What is the main reason for opiate use and abuse in the city of Canton, Ohio where heroin poses to be a very major issue?
It’s hard to determine which areas in canton heroin affect the most and therefore there needs to be a plan in order to find out who is affected by this and where they are affected by it. So in order to find out how bad heroin is in Canton Ohio, it is essential to meet with the health director who deals with drug cases in order to find out how prevalent this issue actually is in Canton Ohio.
According to the health department records, in past Ohio realized there was an issue with prescription drug abuse. So in order to counter that, they came up with a “log medication database” where doctors and pharmacist would have to log down whenever they gave a patient or a customer prescription medications. This ultimately way to stop the mass prescribing of, medications to patients and ensured that patients couldn't go from pharmacy to pharmacy trying to con drugs out of the same prescription. However, this seemed to only have a reverse effect because ultimately when people could no longer get their prescription meds the rise in heroin use started to become prevalent, according to health department records.
Clearly seen here, Ohio practically tried to tackle an issue without a safety net and only ended up with a larger issue on their hands. Now, where has this left the health department, Ohio, Stark County, and canton. Well through 2017-2018 according to Jim Admas there were “ nearly 24 overdose deaths due to opiate abuse in Stark county and paramedics and police likely administer Narcan at least once a day”. He also carries on to add that it's become a much larger problem than people actually take it for and many tend to think that the heroin use in Ohio is something that can be overlooked. In fact, they are “currently selling Narcan at local pharmacies in case of an accidental opiate overdose”. Heroin use in Stark County is a very obvious problem however what about just canton.
However, this can be shown on a national scale as well and can clearly be pinpointed as a problem when we look to an article which highlights the idea that the blue cross is looking to arm all of its employers with Narcan kits. In Massachusetts, the opioid use has gone up tremendously, and when looking at the numbers it can be seen that in 2017, the state has 1,909 opiate overdose and had about 657 deaths in the first six months of 2018. Now in order to combat this crisis, the blue cross has stated “Blue Cross itself will comprise a significant part of the program, with 3,700 employees.” arming a vast majority of their force with Narcan kits. Now while yes this shows progression in helping those who use drugs no punishing them, it's still seen that opiates and heroin are on a rise and Narcan is becoming very popular which could lead to the increase in drug use, one thing Jim Adams highlighted.
Furthermore, A main roadblock that was encountered that had come up is the fact that no one was kept on file by name or social, just a number they can be identified by the health department as. For this reason solely. It was going to be extremely difficult to pull information based off of people socioeconomic status and their new or prolonged drug use, specifically heroin and opiates. Because of this, we had to go off the records in which the health department keeps on heroin and opiate overdoses in canton. It shows that in Canton, heroin and poverty do not rely solely on each other nor do they solely influence each other, in fact, it was added that it was in fact mostly socioeconomic factors, including social and economic status and outlook. Whenever looking to the graphs provided by the city of canton regarding the needle exchange program it can be seen that the amount of needles being used in the exchange program has gone up of the past year. However it was also shown that there was no correlation between needles returned and the area code in which they were taken. What this does is highlight a solution that heroin and poverty may not play hand in hand. Not only this but Jim Adams added that canton sees heroin and opiate use way more in the upper middle class and less in the lower classes because in the middle class we see two factors playing in the users favor. Upper-middle-class heroin and opiate users are more likely to have one, the money for it, and two, the accessibility that those impoverished citizens don't have.
So ultimately that answered our definitive question of whether or not heroin has a direct link to poverty in canton and that answer was, in fact, no, heroin use is more prevalent in the upper middle class families then in the lower class ones, however why does heroin seem to be so bad and canton and why is it that viewed gets skewed between poverty and heroin use. Canton has a 31% poverty rate and has three times the national average crime rate, however, the reason the heroin use and opiate use is taking place in canton so heavily is because of the crime rate, not the poverty one. See, Canton is one of the worst cities for crime with about 1,200 incidents per 100,000 residents, and what this leaves canton with is a higher incarceration rate. Well, the numbers also show that fentanyl-related use in Canton has gone up astronomically. So what this definitely boils down to is with a higher rate of crime and incarceration, while heroin and opiate abusers are in jail we are seeing a spike in fentanyl use. Then when they get out, they choose to use again however there are unaware of the toxic amount of fentanyl when everyone around them has built up a tolerance. This so why canton has a heroin and opiate use issue, people are dying from heroin use not because they are poor but because of the incarceration and use of much stronger heroin when that person is released.
So in conclusion, although there was some trouble gaining information on heroin and opiate use in canton due to the legal aspects and grey areas, however, we were able to get information from the people in the city who directly work with things like heroin and opiate abuse. After everything was said and done, we had our information on why heroin use is bad in Ohio, how bad it was in stark county, how bad it was just in Canton, if there was a direct link to poverty, and if not why does canton seem to be so bad with heroin and opiate use. These findings show that heroin use does not solely rely on economic status, in fact, heroin use is more closely related to social factor and although it is considered socioeconomic, it can still be pinpointed to the fact that heroin does not have a link with the impoverished community, it has a direct link with people committing the crimes in them.
Not only this but we were also able to discuss a bit on how we could potentially move forward and help people out with the heroin and opiate use in Canton Ohio. There have been the ideas of safe spaces where people could use opiates and heroin in a safe clean environment without having to worry about getting busted however these are still new and not enough information is on them to implement them yet. Not only that but Jim Adams, the health director, stated that simple education would help a person out so much. He said a lot of these people can be mentally needing help with depression or anxiety or ADHD and since they don't have that help they turn to opiates and then it's all downhill from there. If we focused more on mental health and less on scare tactics perhaps we could help a lot of people suffering from the burden of opiate and heroin addiction. Although heroin use is currently on the rise in canton, it seems as if the city is working extremely efficiently in order to fix it and try to curb the addiction and over doxies. Lately, the canton has been putting up numerous billboards around the city in order to bring awareness to heroin use. Not only that but they have also offer needle exchange programs, psychiatric check-ins for abuse, and many other supports such as hotlines for those suffering from using. Although it is slow progress it is still progress and hopefully, now that we understand that it is not linked to poverty, perhaps we could focus on the crime and education of the incarcerated in hopes we can save another person from having to bite the bullet. There are ways that we could potentially fix the heroin and opiate issue in Canton for good, however, I think it just takes time to get those ideas going and when they do implement them it still takes a while to take off. Ultimately, this a war that can't be one overnight, however, it's better to know that you should be tackling poverty and not so much crime in order to curve the heroin and opiate use in canton. In a war, it's always beneficial to know the true enemy.
Sources:
- Bannow, Tara. “Blue Cross of Mass. Giving Opioid Overdose Reversal Kits to Employers.” Modern Healthcare, 4 Oct. 2018, www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20181004/NEWS/181009943/blue-cross-of-mass-giving-opioid-overdose-reversal-kits-to-employers.
- City of Canton, I.T. Department. “SWAP.” Health Department - Canton City Board of Health, www.cantonhealth.org/nursing/?pg=493.
- Gould, Kathleen Ahern. “Got Narcan? : Dimensions of Critical Care Nursing.” LWW, journals.lww.com/dccnjournal/FullText/2019/01000/Got_Narcan_.1.aspx.
- Meisenberg BR, Grover J, Campbell C, Korpon D. Assessment of opioid prescribing practices before and after implementation of a health system intervention to reduce opioid overprescribing. JAMA Network Open. 2018;1(5):e182908. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.2908.
- Pitt, Allison L, et al. “Modeling Health Benefits and Harms of Public Policy ...” American Public Health Association , ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2018.304590.
- Schiller, Andrew. “Canton, OH Crime Rates.” NeighborhoodScout, NeighborhoodScout, 27 Mar. 2019, www.neighborhoodscout.com/oh/canton/crime.
- “Opioid Overdose.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 19 Dec. 2018, www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/statedeaths.html.
- National Institute on Drug Abuse. “Ohio Opioid Summary.” NIDA, 28 Feb. 2018, www.drugabuse.gov/opioid-summaries-by-state/ohio-opioid-summary.
- “Canton, Ohio Population 2019.” Canton, Ohio Population 2019 (Demographics, Maps, Graphs), 30 Mar. 2019, worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/canton-oh-population/.
- Xiwen Huang, MPH, Katherine M. Keyes, PhD, and Guohua Li, MD, DrPH. “The American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) from the American Public Health Association (APHA) Publications.” American Public Health Association (APHA) Publications, ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2017.304142.
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The Prescription Opioid and Heroin Crisis. (2021, Mar 20).
Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
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The Opioid Epidemic
Devin Reaves, 36, tells USA Today that his opioid addiction started when he was only 16 years old when he was prescribed for a 30-day prescription to manage his acute pain from the removal of his wisdom teeth. Reaves went through his medication in just 3 days. Realizing the easy accessibility to obtain opioids, Reaves began to use pills at his friends’ house and on the street. Very common, Reaves’s addiction to opioids led to a heroin addiction when he was in college. Luckily, he began a drug intervention process led by his mother and drug counselor when he was 24 years old. Not all teens and young adults are as lucky as Reaves when they become addicted to opioids. Researchers from Yale University found that nearly 9,000 adolescents died due to opioid addiction problems from 1999 to 2016 (Gaither, Shabanova, & Leventhal, 2016). This is an alarming rate of adolescents dying that could have been prevented. Like Reaves, adolescents who first misuse opioids get into heroin addictions. Researchers also found that 80% of people who have misused heroin began their addiction by first misusing prescription opioids from common surgical procedures like wisdom teeth removal (Muhuri, Gfroerer, & Davies, 2013). Wisdom teeth removal procedures are so common and can occur when an individual is an adolescent to young adult age. Because the procedure is so common, numerous amount of people across America will have the procedure and come face-to-face with opioids. According to Researchers, 21 to 29 percent of people prescribed opioids reported that they did misuse them during prescription period (Vowles et al., 2015). Adolescents have been misusing strong addictive drugs during critical years of development that can lead to more addictions later in life.
The 9,000 lives lost due to opioid addictions could have been prevented. Stories like Devin Reaves can be heard and treated with steps to start the end of the opioid epidemic America faces today. Although it cannot be fixed with only one simple solution, steps can be proceeded to start the process of cleansing. I am going to introduce my solution to end the opioid epidemic in just four steps. One of the most important steps to ending the opioid epidemic is to first develop, fund, and implement effective public education and awareness campaigns. Next, School and Community based prevention should be developed, funded, and implemented. The next critical step is to start reducing the availability and accessibility to opioids. The last step is to invest in research. These four steps are crucial to start the process of ending the opioid epidemic.
The first step is to develop, fund, and implement effective public education and awareness campaigns in the local area. Adolescents are well aware of drug free campaigns involving smoking cigarettes & marijuana and the effects from those drugs. Although drug free campaigns involving smoking cigarettes and marijuana are very important, opioid campaigns need to be broadcasted just as much or even more due to the increasing mortality rate. Opioid campaigns need to address the best way to identify, prevent, and treat opioid addictions. Like other drug free campaigns, opioid campaigns should include addiction care services and toll-free hotlines available to the public. The public should also be informed how to control prescription safely to adolescents. Just as controlling the distribution of prescriptions, the public should be informed how to safely discard the unused medications back to the suppliers to prevent the opioids getting into the wrong hands. Another important aspect of this first step is to reduce the negative connotation and stigma of being addicted, reminding the public that addiction is not at the fault of a person’s moral but how the brain processed receiving the addictive opioids. Taking this first step of keeping the public aware of opioid addictions can lead to the end of this epidemic.
After getting the opioid campaigns out to the public, the next step is to develop, fund, and implement School-and Community-Based Prevention programs. The local government should require school districts and communities to hold prevention classes that is focused on the health aspect rather than the punishing aspect of misusing opioids. These prevention programs and classes should not only address illicit opioid misuse but also prescription and the effects it has on the body and mind. The classes should also have different focuses and approaches for different age groups from adolescents to adults that are most suspectable for opioid misuse. A survey should also be implemented into the classes to screen any individuals in class to see if they show signs of risk or if people they know show signs. From there, different treatment options should be referred to those individuals who were screened. Having school- and community-based prevention programs and classes is important to not only bring more awareness but to have actual contact with people that could show signs of opioid addictions.
The next step is critical and that is to reduce the availability and accessibility of opioids. Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMP) systems should be used to prevent drug misuse. The PDMP systems collects, monitors, and analyzes data of prescribing drugs and dispensing drugs between pharmaceutical companies and practitioners all at the discrepancy of the patient. With this system adopted into different states, drug misuse can decrease. Another way to reduce the availability and accessibility of opioids is to create different incentives for states and locations that adopt a PDMP system. With PDMP systems, this can prevent direct-to-consumer distributions and reduce the selling of opioids illegally. Also, physicians who prescribe opioids are put into authorization programs so they can fully comprehend what is the right amount of prescription for a patient with certain backgrounds with other drug addictions. Physicians should also go through programs to recognize signs and signals of misuse and how to respond under the event of suspicion. Having Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMP) systems can not only help the patients being prescribed opioids but also the physicians who prescribe them.
The last step to ending the opioid epidemic is to invest into research on better options. Investing in research can be looking to develop non-addictive pain treatments or new treatments for opioid addictions. A further step taken by investing in research is to also investigate treatments for women who are currently pregnant and babies who are born with neonatal abstinence syndrome. These different research projects can be implemented into one data base to obtain more statistics that are more frequent. Different data can have statistics showing from different locations and to see the increase or decrease of opioid misuse with the new treatments. More research can also be conducted to see if the Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs were effective or not and the data collected from different the PDMPs. Investing into research can help reduce opioid misuse to see if new treatments are effective and whether to implement the treatments into populations with high risk.
My four steps to prevent opioid misuse and addiction can help prevent more stories like Devin Reaves. Effective public education and awareness campaigns can start the end of the opioid epidemic by informing the public of how opioid misuse happens. Having school-and community-based prevention programs can give the people first-hand experience on how to prevent this from occurring with health-based programs. After informing the people, reducing availability and accessibility to opioids is in the hands of those who prescribe the drugs by adopting Prescription Drug Monitoring Program systems. Using different techniques to prevent opioid misuse can lead to more research in ending the opioid epidemic by finding other treatments that are more effective to certain groups of people. These steps can only lead to ending the opioid epidemic, but it is up to the local and federal government to develop, fund, and implement these steps.
Like other drug campaigns that have been frequent in social media, TV commercials, and posted at stops around the city, opioid campaigns should be broadcasted just as much. When physicians and pharmacies distribute more opioid drugs to a patient months after a surgery is considered ethically wrong because they should be able to identify the signs and risks of a patient misusing the drug especially when they know the effects of what opioids can do to a person. Because opioids are a narcotic drug, opioids affect an individual’s chemical components. In the nervous system, the opioids bind to pain receptors and block the pain signals to the body. With an increase in opioids in the system overtime, can cause the body and brain to need more opioid drugs to receive that same level of high. Although opioids temporarily relieve an individual from pain, it sill has chemical components that make it addictive that have been presented from the day it came out in the 1990s. The opioid epidemic is present in America today and although it has been addressed, nothing has been done to stop it. With my four steps, I believe that we can end the opioid epidemic across America by starting locally and seeing the impact it has on different states.
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The Opioid Epidemic. (2021, Mar 20).
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Make Hay while the Sun Shines
In the movie Dead Poets Society, Mr. Keating teaches his students to seize the day. While showing them a picture of some alumni on the walls of the academy, he draws them in close to hear their legacy, “carpe diem, seize the day.” The lesson being that time passes by quickly and all too soon life is over. Therefore, we should take advantage of every opportunity, every passing day, and each passing hour. This theme in the movie reminds me of a poem by W. H.Auden called, As I Walked Out One Evening. The poem illustrates that life is as ephemeral as a flower as it tells a story of lovers professing their love for each other and proclaiming their love has no ending. The lovers believe that nothing can conquer their love. But all the clocks who are listening to and watching the lovers start to “whirr and chime” and warn to not be fooled by Time. Here in the poem, Auden personifies time by giving it an uppercase “T”. Time reminds the lovers that “into many green a valley, drifts the appalling snow, Time breaks the threaded dances and the diver’s brilliant bow.”
Time goes on to caution, ‘In the burrows of the Nightmare Where Justice naked is, Time watches from the shadow. and coughs when you would kiss.” Here Time becomes a stalker in the poem reminding the lovers and the readers that no matter how wonderful life is when we were are young, time, illness and death are waiting for us right around the corner. Time goes on to forewarn, ‘In headaches and in worry vaguely life leaks away, and Time will have his fancy, tomorrow or today. This suggests that not only will Time defeat us in the end, but it also will not even let us enjoy the short time we do have as the stresses and strains of everyday life will rob us of that. It reminds us that time is crafty and devious, and no matter how naive we may be when we are young, we will never escape death. In the end, Time will catch up to us and we will surely die. Time is brutal and continually presents us with this harsh reality of life, even as the lovers are enjoying themselves and living in the moment. Life is fleeting and full of regrets. As we get older, we may start to realize this fact as stated in the line, "O plunge your hands in water, plunge them in up to the wrist; Stare, stare in the basin and wonder what you've missed."
What did we miss? That the universe is enormous and we are just a tiny, insignificant part of it. Life is complicated and confusing, and will never make sense of it. Still, we accept it and go on. This idea of the confusion and the perplexity of life is seen in the line that says, “Where the beggars raffle the banknotes and the Giant is enchanting to Jack, and the Lily-white Boy is a Roarer, and Jill goes down on her back." The meaning behind this poem is that nothing will last forever and so we should live every day to the fullest despite life’s complexity, hardships, and absurdities for one day, it will in fact end. This poem means a lot to me because of recent life events that taught me this lesson the hard way. For example, graduating high school I remember how I couldn’t wait for it to be over and to start college, and now a year later I miss it. I miss seeing my friends every day wish I would have appreciated that more. I also recently lost both of my grandmothers within months of each other and wish I had spent more time with them and had time to know them better. But time seriously did get in the way. All the nights I had too much homework and couldn’t just sit and enjoy the time with them added up I suppose.
Time cautions us to not leave important things undone, especially once the opportunity to act upon it is past. These missed opportunities and chances carry us to our graves. Perhaps the most interesting part of Auden’s poem though, and the part I like the best is the following. ‘O look, look in the mirror, O look in your distress: Life remains a blessing, although you cannot bless.’ The stanza is about someone looking out the window and crying perhaps about being near the end of their life and missed opportunities. Then the lines, “ O stand, stand at the window, as the tears scald and start; you shall love your crooked neighbor, with your crooked heart.” These lines are telling us all we can do is love others who are perhaps as confused or dishonest or unkind, just as our own hearts are sometimes.
The end of the poem confirms that Time was correct as the lovers and the love they had was no more, and even the clocks had stopped chiming, However, even though the lovers' lives were over, time and life itself, the deep river, will run on endlessly. This is what Mr.Keating was trying to tell the boys. Carpe Diem, seize the day because soon we will be worm meat and we don’t want to be crying and staring out the window regretting missed opportunities. What I feel Auden is trying to say in his poem is that no matter what no one defeats time. It does not matter how much someone loves another, no matter how much money someone has, no matter what anyone does. time will have the final say. That is why in life people must do what they want, not what their parents want, not what their friends want, not what their families or spouses desire. They have to choose for themselves to be truly happy, because as Auden demonstrates in the poem. in the grand scheme of things, life is precious but so short. Once it is squandered that time is irreplaceable.
The scene in “Dead Poets Society” when Mr. Keating took the boys to the picture of the dead students and whispered, “Carpe Diem! Seize the day!” that spot on made me think of Auden’s poem because what Keating is telling the boys is that those students were just like them once. They too were young, hopeful, and on top of the world. Then time passed and withered the students. The young faces in the pictures are now skulls buried six feet under. And one day the young boys will be six feet under too. Mr. Keating teaches them to enjoy their lives and to follow their dreams because one day, all too soon, it will all be over and done. Easier said than done for sure, because as Auden shows us, Time is deceptive. It makes us think we have forever, and it causes us to forget to live each moment fully. It’s no wonder time is often seen as our enemy. I hope when the time does come that I die I will be surrounded by my kids, maybe grandkids, and my family and friends. I hope I will have the presence of mind to look back on it and be happy with all the memories I have shared with them. The bottom line is, seize the day, be true to self, and believe in yourself. Follow your dreams for this is the day. No matter the situation, remember “Carpe Diem! Seize the day!”
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Make Hay While The Sun Shines. (2021, Mar 20).
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Impact on Individuality in “Dead Poet’s Society”
Winning several awards including the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1990, Dead Poets Society is film worthy of such titles for its unique storyline in regards to individualistic ideology. Written by Tom Schulman, the script’s inspiration is heavily drawn from his life experiences at the Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, Tennessee. Schulman claims that each character in the film loosely reflects people he has encountered throughout his high school experience, particularly his inspirational teacher, Samuel Pickering, who influences Mr Keating’s prominent role. The storyline predominantly focuses on a group of boys who are imposed to attend a strict boarding school upon their parents’ oppressive wishes.
Subjugated to realist, anti-youth administrative ideals, the boys are left with little room for self-expression. However, the introduction of Mr Keating provides the boys with the excitement and freedom they desire, as he states, “But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen. You hear it?... Carpe... Hear it?... Carpe. Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary”(John Keating). This direct quote from the movie demonstrates Keating’s appreciation towards the former students and fellow faculty members of Welton, however, instead of manipulating them as characters of intimidation towards the boys, Mr Keating introduces an emblem of inspiration for which his students can use to develop a feeling of passion and determination to follow their dreams.
He wishes for the boys to understand that their world could be full of enjoyment and satisfaction if they could only step away from the path others have paved for them. Mr Keating further continues to develop this idea of individuality as he has the boys perform an exercise in which three boys walk in a straight line. Though they start at different paces, their steps eventually align and they walk in unison. Keating wants his students to realize that they must obtain a mind of their own, that their thoughts are valid not matter how other accept it. He then allows everyone to stroll across the courtyard in any way they wish. In doing so, the boys all walk at a different pace and in contrasting manner, symbolizing each boys’ individuality in the face of conformity. Finally, the climax of the plot arises, as Neil Perry mournfully suicides as a way to escape from his harsh reality. “This is a battle, a war, and the casualties could be your hearts and souls”(John Keating).
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The Theme of Education in “Dead Poets Society”
The definition of education is the knowledge and development resulting from being educated. (Merriam-Webster). Education is a crucial part of a teenagers life and can often be taught in an older style. An example of this is a school called Welton Academy on the movie Dead Poets Society written by Tom Schulman. Welton Academy is a private all boy school and focuses on students being the greatest. Although this works, sometimes educators have to get creative and interact with students outside of the classroom environment. A perfect example of this is a teacher by the name of John Keating. John Keating is a former honors graduate of Welton and a new English teacher. His views on teaching greatly differ from the other teachers. His method sometimes can raise questions from the other members of the staff. While some may stand by the argument that John Keating was not a great teacher, another look would reveal that he taught very differently, built their confidence and to follow their dreams.
John Keatings ability to teach differently from the other teachers is one of the reasons he is a great teacher. One of the most memorable scenes of the movie is when Keating has his English class rip out the first page of Understanding Poetry by J. Evans Pritchard. This page basically states that all the poetry in the book should be ranked on a scale of perfection and importance. Keating proceeds to say, “Excrement. That’s what I think of Mr. J. Evans Pritchard. We’re laying pipe, we’re talking about poetry… Now I want you to rip out that page.”(Dead Poets Society) Mr. Keating although finds a perfect opportunity to bring up that poetry should not be measured by perfection and importance. Many teachers would’ve just taught the students what was in front of them and had them learn that all year. Mr. Keating though decides to teach his students a different outlook and not always to go off what the book says. Another way that Keating taught his students differently is by having them stand on his desk. Keating says,“I stand on my desk to remind myself that we must constantly force ourselves to look at things differently.” (Dead Poets Society) Many teachers would not think of incorporating a lesson like this but low and behold Mr.Keating does. This lesson teaches the students that they will all see the classroom differently from the rest. This lesson is not only important in the classroom but important in life too.
The capability of having a teacher build students confidence in and out of the classroom is another reason that John Keating is such a great teacher. For one of Mr.Keating's lesson he takes the class outside and has a group of them walk. He explains that they all walked the same. He then says,“But you must trust that your beliefs are unique your own. Even though others may think them odd or unpopular … I want you to find your own walk right now.” (Dead Poets Society) Mr.Keating is trying to teach that even though everyone is doing it doesn’t mean you have too. He was trying to build their confidence in their walks and to not care about the other walks. Another example is Mr. Keating trying to break Todd out of his shell. Todd kept being compared to his older brother and wasn’t feeling the best about the attention going to his brother. Many teachers would of just kept comparing him but Mr. Keating sensed he wasn’t confident and tried to build it. Mr.Keating says,“I think you have something inside of you that is worth a great deal.” Mr. Keating encouraged him and got him to read his poem, when he barely talked at all.
Regardless of what others say, Mr.Keating always encouraged his students to follow their dreams with everything they do. One of his students, Neil Perry, thrived to be an actor but his father does not want him to be one. Mr.Keating realizes that the play means alot to Neil and wants his father to understand his dreams too. Mr.Keating talks to Neil and says, “Well, if it's more than a whim, then you'll have to prove that to him. You'll have to show him with your passion and commitment that it's what you really want to do. If that doesn't work, at least by then you'll be eighteen and able to do what you want.” (Dead Poets Society) This conversation is important because Mr.Keating is trying to tell Neil to pursue his dreams and not be afraid of the outcome. He still wants his dad to know but he still wants to follow his dreams. Mr. Keating teaches the viewers to follow their dreams no matter what someone might say. While helping Neil pursue his dreams was a memorable moment in the movie he also helped other students and teachers too. While talking to Mr. McAllister Mr. Keating realizes that he doesn't believe in students following their dreams. Mr. Keating replies with, “But only in their dreams can man be truly free.” (Dead Poets Society) He is explaining that when people have hops and dreams they can be truly happy and look forward to something. Teaching someone to follow their dreams can be tough but Mr. Keating makes it effortless.
All in all, Mr. Keating was a very different teacher and was not an ordinary teacher. Some examples are that he taught very differently, built their confidence and to follow their dreams. Mr.Keating might not be an ordinary teacher but he is a great teacher.
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“Our Town” and “Dead Poets Society”
Have you ever felt that if you acted or said something differently at a different time or if you were just a minute off that there would have been a different outcome, or that two totally different things could have the same meaning and somehow be connected? Both the book ""Our Town"" and the movie Dead Poets Society are great examples of just that, despite being completely different stories they have the same themes. Both illustrate how its important it is to be oneself because of how short and fragile life is.
In both ""Our Town"" and Dead Poets Society, one of the themes portrayed is how short and repetitive life is. This creates a conflict because people are always caught up in their problems and they miss those tiny moments in life that have important meaning or are packed with emotion. In ""Our Town"", this theme is shown by how life in Grover's Corner is the same every day. One way this is demonstrated is the Stage Manager can predict that the bus comes at the same time every day and it is never a minute off. “Now they'll be coming out of high school at three o'clock.” In Grover's Corner, everyone knows the time the bus is going to come home and how predictable it is clear that based on the fact that the Stage Manager can say the time when he sees the bus, without looking at his watch . This theme is shown in Dead Poets Society. The students have dinner at the dinner hall every day and wear school uniforms as part of there everyday life traditions and constants. The uniforms show how life is plain, boring and the same. “All throughout the pews, uniformed boys rise to their feet. Todd, who is not wearing a uniform, is urged by his father to stand with them.” Not only are all the boys wearing the same thing, they are all doing the same thing emphasizing how boring and repetitive life is.
Another common theme between “Our Town” and Dead Poets Society is how impermanent, fragile and delicate life is. In “Our Town”, Emily looks back on her life after she died. Even though she is advised not to, she decides to go back anyway, to a single day. She enjoys it at first, then as time goes on, she starts to realize that what she had back then was great, and how its no longer there and it was lost in a heartbeat. Emily states “I can't. I can't go on. It goes so fast. We don't have time to look at one another.” Emily sees that life is fragile; she didn’t realize how great things were in the middle of it, however once it's over she looks at her life and wishes she could go back. In Dead Poets Society, this concept was shown with Neil's death, because everyone realizes how what they have only lasts for so long and how it is special. “The death of Neil Perry is a tragedy. He was a fine student. One of Welton's best. And he will be missed.“ The students are mourning the death of Neil and they are realizing that what they have, took years to get and can be gone in seconds, demonstrating the fragility of life.
A third and final common theme in the play and movie is that everyone should follow his or her own path and seize the day and that way life isn’t so monotonous and even though its fragile you still get to enjoy every single moment. This is demonstrated in “Our Town”, with the Stage Manager and in Dead Poets Society with Mr. Keating. The Stage Manager in “Our Town” is always helping guide the audience and characters to realize that they need to be themselves and follow their own paths, not the paths their parents set for them. He asks, “Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it? every, every minute?” The stage manager’s question reflects the characters realization that no one seizes the day while they are in the moment, but then looking back, you realize they should have appreciated the small things more, instead of waiting for the big day or big occasion. In Dead Poets Society, Mr. Keating helps the boys realize that they are their own person and that they don’t need to live a life of conformity, or to follow the path their parents want. He teaches them to be unique through the ripping out the pages. One thing Keating tells the boys is “Now in my class you will learn to think for yourselves again. You will learn to savor words and language. No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.” This quote takes place in Mr. Keating's class and it shows how the boys need to be themselves and follow their own path. It also shows they need to seize the day because the way he's teaching his class is very different from every other teacher as he tries tirelessly to get them to live in the moment, and change the world with their words and ideas.
In conclusion, the movie and the play while being very different still have similar themes. While it may not appear at the surface like these two are the same they in depth are very much similar and have the common themes of Life is repetitive, and boring, and we should appreciate the moments in life that may seem small and insignificant even though it turns out they are much more than that. Life is fragile and can be gone in a second and that you should seize the day and follow your own path, or as best put from the movie “Rent”, there is “no day but today.”
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John Keating: the Tragic Hero
The film Dead Poets Society, is about a new English teacher, John Keating who is introduced to an all boys preparatory school that is known for its ancient traditions. The school, Welton Academy is known for Tradition, Honor, Discipline, and Excellence. Keating is one of the many tragic heroes in Dead Poets Society. A tragic hero, is the protagonist of a tragedy in dramas. They experience conflict which adds toward their tragic downfall. John Keating being one of them. The first appearance of John Keating is during his first english class, which soon leads to his downfall.
During the beginning of the film , Keating is first introduced to the entire school as their new English instructor. Heads turn to the new guy as Headmaster Nolan emphasizes the great importance tradition reputation carry for Welton. At Welton ,it’s all about Legacy ,of which the old English professor was a part. As you can see Mr. Keating has a lot of work to do. On that basis, Keating begins to urge his students “seize the day” which means to be extraordinary, to do original things instead of only imitating their parents and educators. His example of the situation inspires the students to receive a secret society of which Keating was once a member of. Keating emphasises on freedom at Welton, a school that celebrates tradition above everything else. When his students begin fighting back against the Welton administration more and more overtly. Despite Mr. Keating’s faculty objections he imparts heavy wisdom into his students. Not just meaning “Carpe Diem”, even though it’s very important. He teaches them about life, love, and poetry. At this point Keating begins to get closer to his students, which for a teacher is highly strange. Mr. Keating at heart becomes their leader, and inspiring them to make big changes in their lives ,which soon leads them to forming the Dead Poets Society; Eventually leading to his downfall.
By the given trait issues, Keating was then fired from Welton Academy, later on in the film. When Neal kills himself, largely because of his father's dominance in his life, Mr. Keating is fired. After Neil Perry commits suicide Mr. Keating is used as a scapegoat by the school to placate parents for Neil's death. Neil’s death could possibly be the reason for Mr. Keating being fired. Mr. Keating uses his unusual ideas to negate the 4 pillars of Welton Academy and represent the modern ideas that were dropped in 1950’s England. This could have been planned in Neil’s mindset to get Keating fired.
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“Dead Poets Society” by N.H. Kleinbaum
The book takes place in 1959 at the best private school in the United States. In the book we then follow the students Todd, Neil, Knox, Richard, Steven and Pitts. When the school term started, the class got a new English teacher, Mr Keating, who was very keen that the students go their own way and follow their own dreams and not the dreams that others want them to have. The students quickly took after Mr. Keating and his way of looking at things and what´s important in life. One day, Mr Keating told the students about when he went to school and he and his friends had a club called Dead Poets Society. In the dead poet’s society, the students told poetry to each other.
Neil’s biggest dream is to become an actor, and later into the book opens the application to a role in a theatre. and because Neil wants to become an actor, he applies for the role. Neil got the role in the theatre, but his dad wasn't happy with that because he has already decided that Neil will become a doctor. Neil's dad then forbids Neil to attend the theatre. Neil was very sorry that he was not allowed to attend the theatre for his father, this was something that Mr. Keating noticed and encouraged instead to follow his dream of becoming an actor.
Later, after all, Neil participated in the theatre, which his father did not appreciate, and he became very angry with this and then brought with him Neil home from school. That night, Neil felt it was not worth living a life he didn't have to do what he wanted to do. Neil then decided to commit suicide that night.
After Neil's suicide, Mr. Keating blamed it because they felt he was wrong in teaching the students to make their own decisions and follow their own dreams in life. The book ends with the students standing on their benches and say “O Captain My Captain” to protest the headmaster against the decision to fire Mr. Keating.
The time the students spent at the school with Mr. Keating as a teacher I think was important to the students as they were changed in a positive way by becoming more indpendent and daring to say what they think and what they want and not what other people wants.
I think the author's thought when writing the book was to show the reader that it´s important that you as a youth and as your own individual must choose their own path in life and not do the other you think you should do. I also believe that the author wanted to show that it´s important that you are yourself.
I think parents should read this book to understand how important it is for children and young people to choose for themselves what they want to work and do with in the future because I think there are many parents that are trying to choose for their children what they should do in the future. I did not like the book so much because it was not a book of the genre I like, this book was more like a book of drama. If the book had been a comedy, I liked it more because I think the genre on books is the most fun. To sum up what I wrote I would say that this is a book that is completely okay for those who like drama books. The book also has a very good message that I think people especially adults should take after.
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Todd Anderson in “Dead Poets Society”
“O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells”. As opposed to many or even all of the other educators at Welton Academy, John Keating pushed the envelope and shoved the status-quo the Academy was trying so desperately uphold, aside. Through doing this, Mr. Keating offered each of his students a valuable gift to take on with them beyond the class period. All-though the songs of John Keating’s bells only rang out for a short time, the echoes of his teachings and messages remained and impacted the students even after the ringing had ceased.
In the film, Mr. Keating tried to teach his students about the importance of free-thinking and carpe diem, rather than teaching word for word out of the textbook. Naturally, many of the concepts taught by Mr. Keating were uncharted territory for the school and its curriculum thus deeming his practices, as said by Headmaster Nolan, “blatant abuse for his position as a teacher”. Mr. Keating had no interest in just “educating” the students but rather, he aimed to shift the learning environment into a place full of individualism and encouraged his students to make the most of lives. Rather than carrying and upholding the traditions and pillars of the Academy, Keating carried the views of the students.
In many aspects of Keating teaching it can be seen that in addition to preaching individualism, he practiced the art as well, going as far as to answer a Tennyson quote by quoting himself. On the first day of the new school year rather than holding steadfast to the customary Welton pillars, Keating takes his students out into the hallway and he instructs them to call him ""Oh captain, my captain"", he then asks them to gaze upon the photos of former Welton student. While the boys do this he further impresses the importance of make the most of their lives. He then goes on to talk about how even though the boys in the photos are long gone, if they listen closely, they can still hear the whisper of legacies… “Carpe diem, carpe diem. Seize the day, boys, make your lives extraordinary”.
Keating’s lessons and actions not only inspired the reassembly of the Dead Poets Society but he also inspired many individuals in his class to strive to find their own voice. His actions inspired many of his students. A good example of that can be seen in his impact on Neil Perry. Neil’s father wanted him to go to Harvard and become a Doctor and left little room or consideration for Neil’s feelings or dreams. Through Mr. Keating’s example, Neil decided to try the ""carpe diem"" lifestyle on for size and pursue his passion for acting, rebelling against his father’s wishes.
Another great example of the impact Keating had on his students can be seen in Todd Anderson. Todd shows the most growth over the course of the film and seems to benefits the most from Mr. Keating’s lessons. Throughout the film, Todd is very shy and reluctant because he is forced to live in his older brother’s shadow. But by the end of the film, Todd has really taken Keating lessons to heart and was inspired enough to finally speak up and shout one last time, “O Captain! my Captain!”
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Appreciating the French and Indian War
The French and Indian War was an extremely bloody conflict that is considered by some to be the very first world war. At the time, the British and the French had colonies and territories all over the world. As a result, these areas helped partake in a war that was halfway around the war. Most of this war was fought in North America. The French and British colonies were pitted against each other because each wanted the fertile farm lands of the Ohio River Valley. Both had Native American allies, but the French had the upper hand in this because of the way the French had handled them; they did not want to come and convert them, take their lands, or enslave them, they just wanted to create trading outposts and profit from the furs. Because the French did not intend to colonize, they did not have near as many people settled, which puts them at a serious disadvantage to the heavily colonized British colonies. The article I will be critiquing was written by Keith Sinzinger.
Keith Sinzinger worked at The Washington Post from 1985 to 2008 as the
Assistant Foreign Editor. In the article “A Question of Loyalty- How Essential Was the French and Indian War to the American Revolution?”, Sinzinger is very well organized, in most parts of the article reverting to writing chronologically. This type of organization helps the reader stay on topic, and also helps the author get his points across. The author does answer most of the questions that he sets out to answer. Throughout much of the article, Sinzinger tells about how the Revolution started, the causes of the Revolution, and the effects that the French and Indian
War had on how it started and also why the French were so eager to help the colonists win their independence over imperialistic Britain. This reviewer did agree with Sinzinger’s points on how the French and Indian War affected the outcome of the Revolution because the way his points are organized effectively make his arguments clear. This researcher did not find a direct quote that aroused attention. This reader almost detects a bias that Sinzinger might actually feel sympathetic for the Tories that were punished for staying loyal to the Crown. Sinzinger mentions several different punishments that go into detail about how he might feel bad about being tormented for their personal political beliefs. This author uses several different books in this article such as: Tories: Fighting for the King in America's First Civil War, Liberty's Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World, and A People's History of the American Revolution . On top of those sources, Sinzinger also uses quotes taken from people living during the Revolutionary period and also from Barbara Clark Smith, a curator at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. This author did not use any words that this reader did not know. The basic vocabulary is very simple throughout this article which is something this reader would recommend advancing a level or two. This reviewer liked how organized this article is. This allows readers to follow along easily and also to comprehend what he is trying to say without much speculation. This researcher did not like that towards the end of the article, Sinzinger appears to sympathize with the Tories. It may have been true that they were being persecuted for their allegiances, but they were not defenseless, and they also fought back.
In this article, I enjoyed the beginning the most because Sinzinger provided valid reasons as to why the French decided to aide the colonial revolutionaries in their fight for independence. I disliked most of the ending because of the author’s apparent sympathy for the Tories. These
people were persecuted, but they waged war on the Patriots by joining the British ranks and also when both the patriots and Tories unleashed destruction upon each other in the countryside. Aside from learning that Sinzinger is a Tory, I figured out that much of the French’s reasoning in helping the revolutionaries had to do with payback from the French and Indian War. Sinzinger made apparent that the entire reasons for the Parliamentary taxes on the colonies were for the repayment of war debts, which the Americans turned against them with all of their boycotts. Had the British not been desperate for money, the boycotts may not have worked as Sinzinger showed in the War of 1812.
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The Opioids are very Dangerous and very Addictive
What is the opioid epidemic? They are a group of chemicals that reduce pain, increase pleasure, and make your breathing slow down. This opioid can be deadly if it were to cause and overdose. They are usually prescribed to treat severe pain. They opioids can be very addictive and they can also be deadly due to the overdose.
The opioid epidemic causes a lot of health problems such as slow down breathing, cause brain damage etc. These drugs have caused the death rates to increase in the past years. They people become addicted to the opioids because their body think that the drug is necessary. In which addiction takes a hold of the brains in several ways, in which is more consisting of many different and connected parts. There has been misuse with both prescription and non-prescription, and the deaths were involved with a prescription opioid.. Two-thirds of those deaths were attribute to the opioid overdoses. There are some signs of addiction such as spending time alone and avoiding others, losing interest in activities, not bathing, being very tired and sad, eating less, being nervous, quickly changing moods etc. These would just be some of the most signs that you will see and know that there is an opioid addiction. The opioid overdoses have killed more than forty- seven thousand people, the mortality rate had contributed to the third straight yearly declined.
If you were to realize that someone is suffering of addiction you should contact a physician or another health professional. You can also approach them by making them acknowledge that it may take several attempts at treatment and for them to find their best approach. While they are in treatment you can store the opioids in a safe and a secure place therefore, they won’t be anywhere near in the eyes of the person trying to get help from an opioid addiction. Also, you are to never share your prescription to anyone because all you could be causing is a lot of damage to that person that may be trying to leave all of addiction behind but yet still has temptations. You may never throw the unused opioids in the trash because someone else may find them and just start taking them and end up becoming addicting to the opioids.
What is being done to alleviate this problem? They have a lifesaving drug which is the Naloxone. The Naloxone is a medication that make the opioid reverse overdose and may even restore breathing. Although the naloxone can only be prescribed by a physician, and it is also carried by police officers and other emergency medical responders. In conclusion, the opioids are very dangerous and very addictive.
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Rebuilding Sierra Leone
You may know Sierra Leone from the book “A Long Way Gone”, by Ishmael Beah. This book focuses on the nearly decade-long civil war in the country, and all the disasters related to it. But, that is over now. Sierra Leone, however, still has many problems. One of these is how to feed all 8 million people in the country. Solving this is a problem that will take an organized effort and work from many different sectors. Just one part of this is rebuilding the road system Sierra Leone has in place. This not only can help with food, but lift people out of poverty and help create a road network for a greater, more developed country.
Since the war, Sierra Leone has made significant progress on the road to recovery and prosperity, but it is still nowhere near where it has the potential to be. The HDI, or Human Development Index score is amongst the lowest in the world, at .419 in 2017 (“Table 1.”). However, in 1990, the HDI score was .275 (“Human Development Data”). This indicates improvement, however, the HDI for the world is .728 (“Table 1.”), so there is a lot of work to be done still. Also, it is ranked in the bottom five of the GHI, or the Global Hunger Index, with a score of 35.7. This is improvement from the year 2000, when they had a score of 54.4. For reference, lower scores are better. (“Sierra Leone” [Global Hunger Index]).
Sierra Leone has a tropical climate, with temperatures 27C (80.6F) across almost the entire country. There are two main seasons in the country: a dry season and a wet season. The dry season typically lasts from November to April, with winds bringing sandstorms from the Sahara Desert. On the other hand, the wet season brings monsoons, with an annual average of 315 CM (124 IN) of rain (“Sierra Leone” [Nations Encyclopedia]).
The rainy climate is ideal for agriculture. Two-thirds of the population of almost 8 million relies on farming. Farming accounts for half of the GDP, and is also one of the main sources of food for people, along with markets where they buy and sell food. 80% of farmers grow rice, which is a staple in almost every dish they have. Some of the issue plaguing farmers include labor shortages, harmful practices, lack of helpful technologies, and losses of food. Households often hold extended family, with three to five generations living in a single house, with everyone who can help out helping (“Sierra Leone” [Nations Encyclopedia]).
With most people farming away from cities, where the majority of healthcare is, diseases are widespread. This results in high infant mortality rates, widespread sickness, high death rates and low life expectancy. Out of every 1,000 births, 83.3 infants do not make it. 38% of kids will be at least moderately malnourished before age five. The situation is similar for adults. Life expectancy averages a mere 52 years, and 303.5 out of every one thousand people will have malaria. (“Sierra Leone” [United Nations]). There is much improvement to be made here.
Another major issue for the country is that education is limited, in part due to the civil war, which destroyed 1,270 schools across the country (“A Model School”). This put thousands out of school, and many ended up fighting in the war as child soldiers. On average, every person only has 3.5 years of education, with literacy rates at only a third of the population (“Sierra Leone” [United Nations]). Some work has been done on rebuilding schools, but the system is not yet up to prewar levels.
The government is a constitutional democracy. They have three branches of government: The Executive, consisting of a president, who serves as both the head of government and the head of state. The Legislative, with a House of Representatives, consisting of 124 members. Finally, the Judicial branch includes multiple courts, including “a Supreme Court, a Court of Appeal, and a High Court of Justice, with judges appointed by the president” (“Sierra Leone” [Gale]).
Speaking of government, they have a branch in charge of road transportation, the Sierra Leone Roads Authority. Sadly, the status of the road system in Sierra Leone is severely lacking. According to MambaTV, over 500 miles of a sample of 1,168 miles of road were unpaved. (“MambaTV Investigates”) This is similar across the country. Sierra Leone has around 11,700 kilometers of roads, and roughly half are unpaved. Alongside that, many of the roads have been damaged from the civil war. This makes travel difficult for many people.
If Sierra Leone would improve its road system many benefits would arise. A better road system will save people time, as they don’t have to rely on simple paths or gravel roads that may lead to nowhere, they can have smooth, paved roads that lead directly to their destination. This also would allow easier access to markets, so that farmers can sell their food, and for them to potentially purchase food for companies, who can also use the roads to deliver food safer and smoother. It would also set up Sierra Leone for a future where cars are commonplace, and allow easy ways to move people in emergencies.
It is clear that having a decent road system is vital in emergencies and for moving people and goods. So what can Sierra Leone do to “modernize” their road system? Sierra Leone has, as previously mentioned, about 11,700 kilometers of roads, many of which are unpaved. The solution is simple: replace the unpaved roads with paved roads, and fix the existing paved roads. The proposal has two main parts. The first is to have the government set up both a short term and a long term plan to rebuild the road system, and use new discoveries to keep the road system lasting longer. And the second part is to set up a plan to keep the roads safe and usable over the long term. It is comparable to the highway system in the United States and its uses, however, they have a base to start off of.
To do this, there are many steps that need to be done. The first important step is to get the government to support the project. Without their support, nothing else can be done. Once that is done, the next step is to find a private company to work with them. Then, they need to determine where funding will come from. Next, they simply have to rebuild the roads, maybe build a few new ones where needed, and then they are almost done. The last step is to set up a group at the SLRA to provide maintenance, and recommend roads to be rebuilt where needed. This will get the road system rebuilt, and keep it working for decades to come, assuming no major changes happen in government.
Now, one major issue is cost. However, Sierra Leone can look at the country of Senegal as an example of how to deal with this problem. Senegal has built a 32 km toll highway from their capital, Dakar, to the new economic district of Diamniadio. (“Senegal’s Dakar to Diamniadio”) They did this with what is called a “public-private-partnerships”, where the government and another company work together to complete a project, for the benefit of both groups. In this case, they worked together over 11 years to set up, build, and open the highway. They then placed an affordable toll so that they can profit from it. In addition, almost a thousand jobs were created during this project, and access to services in the city improved. If Sierra Leone did the same thing, but over a larger scale, thousands of jobs could be created, both from fixing/building the roads, and from maintenance. An added benefit is that it would lift these families out of poverty, with a steady job and income source.
On the topic of jobs and maintenance, maintenance is an important topic to cover. If you look at the United States Interstate system, it is falling apart and not being repaired when needed. Potholes are commonplace nationwide, and dangerous. “The interstates have long been the backbone of our country’s transportation system, but most of them have exceeded their design lives and in many places are worn and overused,” says Norman Augustine (qtd. in Sparkman). The cost of building the American highway system was huge, and, now that is has gone years without repair, the costs are huge. According to the U.S. DOT, the government would have to spend “between $123.7 billion and $145.9 billion per year to both maintain and improve the condition of roads and bridges alone” (“New Department of Transportation Report”). If Sierra Leone planned for the long-term issues when fixing their roads, they could save themselves billions in the long run. They could do this by creating jobs within the SLRA to fix potholes or redo roads as needed to keep the roads safe and smooth.
Sierra Leone can also, surprisingly enough, also help the environment while building their paved road system. It is no secret that plastic pollution is a huge issue across the environment. Studies have shown that partially replacing sand with chemically treated plastic can result in concrete almost as strong as or stronger than normal concrete. (Thorneycroft, J. et. al.) So, one option is to ship waste plastic to Sierra Leone for them to use in their road system, and ship back to other countries crops they have grown, in a back-and-forth system. This would “kill two birds with one stone”, as Sierra Leone could vastly improve their road system, and, as a result, lower the rates of poverty and hunger, and the environment would have notably less plastic floating around in it; a net gain for everyone involved. This part of the solution could potentially be applied across all of Africa, and even the world.
There is one last added benefit to building a road system. With a standardized road system, there is the potential to open up new schools, markets, and wells by the roads, with signs to mark where they are. This, once again, mirrors the American interstate system. Doing this would allow literacy rates to rise, more people to have access to clean water, resulting in lower disease rates. This also could result in shorter or more frequent trips to the market, enabling more food to be purchased or sold, which would help with hunger problems or poverty. And, this would allow cars to be used easily and safely on the roads in the future, however, that is not a problem for most people right now, as 53% of the population is in poverty, with no easy way out yet (“Population Below Poverty Line”).
So, the solution is viable. It is simple, but effective. It can work both in the short term and long term. It also can generate money for the Sierra Leonean government, propel them towards being a developed country, and create jobs for people. But, more importantly, it allows more people to access food easier. And while it may not be perfect, some work can solve the major problems.
Fixing the road systems in a developing country has many benefits, both expected and unexpected. It not only can help with food security, but create jobs and prepare the country for the future. There are many things that need worked out, but, with some help, it can easily get done. Food is a basic human right, and anything and everything that can give people access to food must be done. Change is needed, and that work can be started anytime. Kids like Ishmael deserve a better life, without worries of food or war.
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Nurse Role to Combat the Opioid Epidemic
Introduction
In the past several years, the opioid addiction has become exponentially greater with more and more deaths occurring daily. The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention report that the opiate related deaths are a public health crisis with an average of 130 Americans dying as result of an overdose daily (CDC, 2018). An opioid is a drug used to relieve pain and noted to work by inhibiting pain signals sent to the brain (Bradley University). Some examples of opioid medications are codeine, morphine, oxycodone and hydrocodone. Congress passed the bill titled H.R. 6 titled Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act. In effort to address the opioid crisis, this bill will allow for additional funding of medical professionals with continuing education and improve prescription drug monitoring programs in addition to increasing research for different approaches for pain treatment and treatment modalities instead of the heavy dose opioids. Physicians have been loosely prescribing opioid medications to patients who report severe pain and with the high addictive properties that opioids have is the foundation of opioid abuse. Therefore, the growing population of opioid addictive users constitutes the current crisis that has been going on killing many it could have been prevented. Because the fatality that this crisis has put on society, the government has taken action to seize this epidemic. In addition, nurses compose a vast majority of the healthcare workplace therefore the necessity to educate nurses on addiction specifically opioids in order to better provide the best possible care for their patients can make a substantial difference in combating opioid addiction.
Background
It was in 1991, when there was an increase in physicians prescribing opioids for treatment of pain because pharmaceutical companies began to provide reassurance to prescribers that risk for addiction was particularly low and society would not be affected (Liu, Pei, Soto, n.d.) In addition, pharmaceutical companies also stressed the use for opioids in non-cancer patients with no data to outweigh and risks and benefits. This misleading information led to over 80 percent of users being non-cancer patients who reported pain and thus given an opioid prescription to help relieve the pain. As the years went on there was an increase in opioid prescriptions being given out which also led to misuse of the medication and diversion meaning giving medication to others who are not prescribed. As a result, research found that these pain prescriptions were highly addictive and the addictive population continued to grow leading to more deaths related to overdoses and illicit use. In 2017, there was an estimated 1.7 million people in the United States who suffered substance abuse related to prescription opioid pain relievers (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2019). Today, the addiction has become so widespread and affecting millions of people that it has become a national public health crisis with many efforts now in place to attempt to decrease this devastating epidemic.
Government Actions to Combat Opioid Addiction
According to Russell (2017), the White House has created and initiated a requirement that address the lack of physicians controlling the number of opioids they prescribe. The initiative that they created now requires federally employed healthcare providers who indeed prescribe opioid medications to complete a training that focuses on opioid prescribing. Since this initiative has been ruled out, there have been thousands of healthcare providers completing the training. Furthermore, the American Public Health Association (APHA) has created a policy to further provider education on evidence- based programs focusing on substance abuse, mental health, risks of high dose opioid therapy, and non-pharmacological alternatives to treat pain (Russell, 2017). Finding a way to treat chronic pain without the need to continually prescribe opioid as well as safely assessing the patient for follow-ups when currently taking an opioid for pain is the necessary steps that as a country the government needs to provide great focus on. The National Institutes of Health, recently created a Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) effort to accelerate scientific based solutions to address and combat the opioid public health crisis (NIH). This initiative has a plan to target a great deal of research with the main topics focusing on improving prevention and treatment for opioid misuse and addiction and enhancing pain management. When this approach and research is completed, the country will be able to have the necessary tools to end the crisis and prevent it from reemerging in later future. Although there are many other approaches that have been done, I will focus the last government approach on the president’s commitment to target this devastating crisis and affect it has had in many communities and many Americans. President Trump’s initiative to stop the opioid abuse consisted behind the driving forces in which entails the easy accessibility and over prescription, controlling the amount of international and domestic supply that hit the communities, and providing evidence-based approaches and treatment as well as recovery services. As stated previously, one of the largest legislative bill that address a specific drug emergency in history was passed last year. With this new nationwide policy, the change will without doubt positively benefit both patients and healthcare providers with the additional funding and increased prescription drug monitoring allowing physicians to be more cognizant and not abuse the way in which they prescribe such pain medications. With that said, there will be improved, safe and effective opioid prescriptions.
Nurse Role in Educating and Succoring Opioid Epidemic
Nurses interact, care and treat many individuals with all different backgrounds and issues. Within the past several years as the addictive population specifically the opioid crisis has become much more severe with an increased number of patients, they encounter face addiction. The result of this epidemic affects all individuals and families across all lifespans and are seen in every aspect of nursing (Painter, 2017). When faced or confronted with a patient who battles addiction, there is the importance of building a trusting relationship to allow for the patient to a safe environment to confess their addiction. Within the nursing community, nurses can have a very impactful say in advocating for awareness and change. However, like many other healthcare professionals there is lack of specialized training in dealing with the addicted leading to an unsuccessful or complete absence in educating patients on how they can overcome their addiction. Jozaghi and Dadakhah-Chimeh (2018) touched upon the potential to more appropriately screen and treat those who suffer with substance abuse by incorporating nursing strategies and interventions which strictly focus on addiction. One approach that can begin in the early years of a nurse is within nursing programs to allow for young nurses to build an eye for substance abuse, addiction and those at risk (Jozaghi & Dadakhah-Chimeh, 2018). There are certain factors and populations that are at higher risk of dying from and overdose related events. With the knowledge of certain factors that can play in the higher incidence of overdose deaths, enhancing education can play a critical component in the healthcare system to visibly see improvements and begin to overcome this crisis in addition to decreasing opioid related cases.
As mentioned above, nurses say can without a doubt have a strong influence on recommendations that can be deemed appropriate to battle this crisis in addition to advocating for patients to provide better access to treatment options. Many nurses are involved in professional nursing organizations which can be an outlook to advocate through to further push the importance of how detrimental this opioid epidemic is affecting millions of people (Hahn, 2018). Furthermore, research has shown the lack of teaching within the realm of patient risks associated with opioid use especially to those who take it for nonmedical use. There is evidence that when nurses teach patients about the medications, they lack to provide the proper way to secure and dispose of controlled substances that have been prescribed to them (Manworren & Gilson, 2015). One way in which this opioid addiction has become such a public health emergency is due to what is known as diversion and for nonmedical use. Many ways in which diversion occurs is through family and friends. Over 90 percent of individuals receive opioid prescriptions from a family or friend which is an astounding statistic (Messer, 2017). Putting this into perspective, a family member or friend has been prescribed an opioid and offers it to another person who reports increased pain. After that non-prescribed individual consumes the medication and enjoys the effect, it slowly begins to affect the brain receptors and with the highly addictive properties that opioids have they begin to want more, and the road to addiction begins. Teens and adolescents have a belief that a prescribed medication is regarded as safer than street drugs and take others medications (Messer, 2017). Simple nursing interventions that can be implemented within nursing routine educations is educating patients on risks of opioid diversion, provide proper education on controlled substance disposal and track opioid consumption for those who suffer from acute and chronic pain conditions (Manworren & Gilson, 2015). Likewise, with the new state implementations of drug monitoring programs and if permission is provided, nurses can access the program to track opioid use. Nurses can play a pivotal role in addressing and reducing the opioid addiction and overdose related deaths. Nonetheless, a combination of improved and specialized nursing education and public health strategies can further support and provide a greater foundation to tackle the occurrences of opioid addiction. As a collaborative effort between healthcare providers and nurses, providers should be more cautious in prescribing opioids to acute or chronic pain patients and nurses should be trained in identifying and understanding practical measures to address to aid the provider in alternatives in addition to educating the patients about the various risks (Higgins & Simons, 2019).
References
- CDC- Understanding the Epidemic. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/epidemic/index.html
- Congress.GOV- H.R. 6- Support for Patients and Communities Act (2017-2018). Retrieved from https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/6
- Hahn, J.A. (2018). The American opioid epidemic: A policy update. Virginia Nurses Today.
- Higgins, S.A., & Simons, J. (2019). The opioid epidemic and the role of the occupational health nurse. Workplace Health & Safety, 67(1), 36-45.
- https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/opioids/opioid-overdose-crisis
- Jozaghi, E., & Dadakhah-Chimeh, Z. (2018). A call for action to combat the growing synthetic opioid epidemic: The need for the creation and expansion of addiction and psychiatric nursing programs. The Journal of School Nursing, 34(1), 11-13.
- Liu, L., Pei, D.N., & Soto, P. (2012-2019). History of the opioid epidemic. Retrieved from https://www.poison.org/articles/opioid-epidemic-history-and-prescribing-patterns-182
- Manworren, R.C., & Gilson, A.M. (2015). Nurses’ role in preventing prescription opioid diversion. The American Journal of Nursing, 115(8), 34-40.
- Messer, A. (2017). Nurses working together to fight the opioid epidemic. The Mississippi RN, 12-13.
- National Institute on Drug Abuse- Opioid Overdose Crisis (2019). Retrieved from
- National Institutes of Health- HEAL Initiative Research plan (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.nih.gov/research-training/medical-research-initiatives/heal-initiative/heal-initiative-research-plan
- Painter, S.G. (2017). Opiate crisis and healthcare reform in America: A review for Nurses. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 22(2).
- Russell. K. (2017). The opioid epidemic: A national response and nursing’s contribution to ending the crisis. Dean’s Notes, 38(3).
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American Indian Wars
In 1622, the Powhatan Confederacy almost cleared out the battling Jamestown province. Resulting assaults propelled by Metacom against English settlements started a deliberate reaction from the New England Confederation. Utilizing Indian helpers and a burned earth approach, the pilgrims about annihilated the Narragansetts, Wampanoags, and Nipmucks in 1675-1676. A noteworthy Pueblo revolt additionally compromised Spanish-held New Mexico in 1680.
Indians were moreover a key factor in the preeminent disputes among France, Spain, and England. In King William's , Queen Anne's , and King George's wars, the French bolstered Abnaki and Mohawk attacks against the more different English. Meanwhile, the English and their trading assistants, the Chickasaws and as often as possible the Cherokees, battle the French and related families for control of the lower Mississippi River valley and the Spanish in western Florida. Continuously definitive was the French and Indian War . The French and their Indian accomplices directed the conflict starting occasions, turning back a couple of English areas in the north. Edward Braddock's capacity of thirteen hundred men outside of Fort Duquesne in 1755. Regardless, with English minister William Pitt infusing new life into the war effort, British regulars and basic state armed forces overwhelmed the French and expended all of Canada.
The Natchez, Chickasaw, and Fox Indians contradicted French control, and the Apaches and Comanches fought against Spanish endeavor into Texas. In 1763, an Ottawa supervisor, Pontiac, made an earth shattering confederation against British endeavor into the Old Northwest.
In 1777, they joined the Tories and the British in the inadequate offensives of John Burgoyne and Barry St. Leger in upstate New York. Western Pennsylvania and New York ended up savage battlegrounds as the conflict spread to the Wyoming and Cherry valleys. Strong American powers finally invaded the center of Iroquois space, leaving a wide swath of pulverization a short time later.
The Americans continued the activity in 1782, when Clark walked northwest into Shawnee and Delaware nation, stripping towns and delivering a few stinging annihilations upon the Indians.
However protection from white development in the Old Northwest proceeded as a Shawnee boss, Tecumseh, shaped a vast Indian confederation based at Prophetstown. While Tecumseh was away looking for extra help, William Henry Harrison consumed the town after a stalemate at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811.
The Third Seminole War stepped out everything except a bunch of the rest of the individuals from the clan.
Neighborhood social orders insistently tested the Russian control of Alaska. Upon the Spanish cession of Florida, Washington began removing the space's factions to lands west of the Mississippi River. Regardless, the Seminole Indians and runaway slaves would not relocate, and the Second Seminole War saw wild guerrilla-style exercises from 1835 to 1842. Osceola, possibly the best Seminole pioneer, was gotten in the midst of amicability talks in 1837, and right around three thousand Seminoles were at last cleared.
The procurement of Texas and the Southwest amid the 1840s, nonetheless, started another arrangement of Indian-white clashes. In Texas, where such fighting had defaced the autonomous republic concise history, the circumstance was particularly unpredictable.
On the Pacific Coast, assaults against the local people groups went with the surge of foreigners to gold-loaded California. Infection, lack of healthy sustenance, and fighting joined with the poor terrains put aside as reservations to diminish the Indian populace of that state from 150,000 of every 1845 to 35,000 out of 1860. The military played the lead job in Oregon and Washington, utilizing the Rogue River , Yakima , and Spokane wars to compel a few clans onto reservations. Sporadic clashes likewise tormented Arizona and New Mexico all through the 1850s as the military attempted to set up its essence. On the southern fields, mounted warriors represented a much increasingly impressive test to white development. Strikes against the Sioux, Cheyennes, Arapahos, Comanches, and Kiowas amid the decade just indicated the deadlier clashes of years to come.
The Civil War saw the expulsion of the Regulars and a going with increment in the number and force of white-Indian clashes. The impact of the Five Southern, or «Civilized» Tribes of the Indian Territory was pointedly diminished. Thrashing there and at Honey Springs hosed eagerness for the South, albeit ancestral pioneers like Stand Waite kept on supporting the alliance until the war's end. James H. Carleton and Christopher Carson directed a mercilessly viable battle against the Navajos in New Mexico and Arizona. In Minnesota, assaults by the Eastern Sioux incited counterattacks by the volunteer powers of Henry H. Sibley, after which the clans were expelled to the Dakotas.
Railroad development, new mining endeavors, the demolition of the wild ox, and regularly expanding white interest for land exacerbated the hundreds of years old strains. The mounted warriors of the Great Plains represented a particularly prickly issue for a military tormented by a perpetual deficiency of rangers and an administration approach that requested Indian expulsion for barely anything.
Winfield S. Hancock's incapable crusade in 1867 only featured the harshness among whites and Indians on the southern fields. Utilizing a progression of meeting sections, Philip Sheridan made more progress in his winter crusades of 1868-1869, however just with the Red River War of 1874-1875 were the clans broken. Initial failures against a loose Indian coalition, forged by leaders including Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, culminated in the annihilation of five troops of Custer’s cavalry at the Little Bighorn. A series of army columns took the field that fall and again the following spring.
Canby's passing broken President Ulysses S. Allow's tranquility arrangement and brought about the clan's annihilation and expulsion. Simply after long battling, amid which armed force segments much of the time entered Mexico, were the Apaches compelled to surrender in the mid-1880s.
The military stayed careful about potential inconvenience as accidental viciousness proceeded. Militarily, a few patterns had turned out to be clear. New innovation regularly gave the whites an impermanent preferred standpoint. As the scene moved from the eastern forests toward the western fields, white armed forces discovered it progressively hard to start battles with their Indian adversaries. This perilous strategy had functioned admirably at the Battle of the Washita yet could deliver grievous outcomes when substantial quantities of tribesmen stood and battle, as at the Little Bighorn.
During the time of contention, the two sides had taken the wars to the foe people, and the contentions had claimed a substantial toll among noncombatants. Whites had been especially viable in abusing innate competitions; undoubtedly, Indian scouts and helpers were frequently basic in overcoming clans esteemed antagonistic by white governments. At last, be that as it may, military power alone had not devastated Indian obstruction.
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History of the Ojibwe
“When the creator Gichi-Manidoo made the universe, ‘that one’ imbued the manidoog beings and forces with immortality, virtue, and wisdom and implanted them, to various degrees, into beings and objects.” Gichi-Manidoo was said to have had a vivid vision of the universe, which they were supposed to bring into existence. This act, of creating a new world was seen as the ultimate selfless gift, “a use of the creator’s power purely to benefit others, and a gift so awesome that it can never be fully reciprocated.” In honor of Gichi-Manidoot all beings that were created by them work to show the same selfless. The manidoog gave gifts to humans, and humans in turn give gifts to help others of their own kind and show respect to those who have helped them. “The creator did not bring into existence a predetermined creation but rather entrusted all beings not only with purpose but also with free will. Those who shared their gifts or blessings did so out of free will, and on the same basis, they could also withhold their presents.” Due to their strong relationship with their creator, the Ojibwe worked for spiritual enlightenment from a young age.
The Ojibwe people had a very strong religion prior to first contact with the United States, connecting with different gods throughout their entire lives, starting in childhood. “The Indian youth from the age of ten to manhood are encouraged by their parents and old people to fast in order to gain favor with some god.” The children would then start their fasting for several days in which they would note anything unusual in their surroundings and in their dreams. Following their fast, they would reflect upon what they heard, saw, and dreamt. Whichever of the unusual events or dreams made the biggest impression on them, is supposed to show which spirit will become their personal mundoo for the rest of their lives. “Every Ojibwe tale mentions some use of supernatural power, suggesting that Ojibwe peoples considered relationships with manidoog and the blessings and gifts that flowed from them to be a regular part of everyday experience.” Their religion was not challenged very much during the Ojibwe’s contact with the French.
Dutch East India Company set up in 1609, in the lower part of Canada to hunt beaver and gather their pelts for trade. Soon the beavers were over hunted in that area and the company had to expand down into North America to find continue their trade, in about 1660. There they encountered many tribes, the Ojibwe being one of them. Wars due to competition between the Ojibwa and the Sioux began very soon after both tribes started trading fur for other goods with the French and continued until the fur trade tapered off in the 1800s. These conflicts were often due to the instigation of rival fur traders. Eventually the French’s foothold in North America was challenged by the British colonies.
From 1682 to 1763, France and Britain engaged in conflict over North American, a conflict which is now known as the French and Indian Wars. “In 1754, the last and most ferocious French and Indian War began as one facet in the Seven Years War, fought in Europe, India and North America over global commerce and colonial control. British supremacy in industrial might and naval power won the day.” After the French lost to England for the last time, they retreated from the Great Lakes area, where the Ojibwe are located, leaving the western area of Lake Superior in complete control of the Ojibwe. In the gap between French and British control the Ojibwe ruled freely and heavily taxed those who traveled the Pigeon and Kaministiquia rivers. The fur trade continued under their control until British troops forced their way into Ojibwe territory. After being met with resistance the British soon learned the French had successful trade because they cultivated good relationships with many gifts. The British took over French trading posts by force, foregoing gifts, pleasantries, and fair treatment in favor of quick revenue. This British take over occurred just under 20 years before the colonies gained independence.
The Ojibwe people’s first contact with the United States was in 1783, when the Treaty of Paris was signed; the treaty officially gave independence to the United States from Britain. The Ojibwe were already being forced to trade with England so when those same British representatives became United States citizens, the result was the Ojibwe’s first contact with the United States. The Ojibwe signed their first treaty with the United States in 1836. In this treaty the Ojibwe gave land to the United States, but the Ojibwe kept the right to hunt, fish, and gather food on the land they had sold. They did this because the land they sold had been their home for many years and they were worried without they would starve or lose their resources for medicine and clothing.
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Speech to the Virginia Convention
At the start of colonization, Virginia was one of the very first successful colonies that began to thrive after colonists successfully grew tobacco. After the successful colonization of Virginia, new settlements began to develop and, overtime, the disagreements between the colonies and the British helped unite the colonies, which made them more powerful. The Virginia Conventions were one of the meetings between representatives from each of the colonies that discussed the future relations with Britain. At one of the five Virginia Conventions, Patrick Henry seized the opportunity to share his ministry with his audience that became extremely famous and influential. In the “Speech to the Virginia Convention,” Patrick Henry expressed his desire to separate the colonies from the British Empire, persuaded the delegation to arm its people against England, and stirred the rebellious spirit of the Americans that led to the American Revolution.
Historical Background
After the French and Indian War, or the Seven Years’ War, the British turned their attention back to the colonists and tried to take control again. However, there was tension between the American colonists and the British due to the enforcement of the Proclamation Act of 1763. The British parliament passed the Proclamation Act of 1763 that opened Quebec and Florida up for settlement, but set aside French lands between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River for Indians (“1763-65: The War Ends in Europe”). The Proclamation Act of 1763 was created by the British after the French and Indian War ended and did not allow the colonies to expand westward. The British were tired of sending more troops over to the colonies for defense and did not want the colonies to be any farther from the British empire across the sea than they already were. “Many Americans resented the Proclamation Act, however, because they thought the point of the war against the French and Indians was to make this land safe for British settlers. They felt as if their reward had been taken away” (“1763-65: The War Ends in Europe”).
This policy that the British imposed on the colonies greatly angered the Americans because they felt as if their reward of winning the Seven Years’ War was being taken away from them. They felt that it was unfair that the British allowed their enemies to occupy the land that the colonies wanted to expand in. The colonists’ resentment towards the British and the Proclamation Act of 1763 provided a push toward the American Revolution.
One of the key factors that gave the colonists more of a reason to start a revolution were continuous new tax laws that the British imposed on the colonies to pay off their war debt. In 1764, the British monarchy began passing a series of new taxes on the colonies to help pay Great Britain's war debts (“1763-65: The War Ends in Europe”). Once the French and Indian War finished, Britain was left with a tremendous amount of war debt that they believed the colonists should take part in paying off. They believed that since they used their money and soldiers on defending the colonies, the colonies should pay back for all the services that the British provided them. With this mentality, the British began to impose a number of new taxes on the colonies, which annoyed the colonists because they had their own financial issues to deal with too. “Harsher laws and restrictions on trade were put in place by British authorities. But as a result of this crack-down, the colonies drew closer together in their opposition to Great Britain” (""Henry, Patrick""). Due to all the new policies that the British enforced after the war, American resentment towards Great Britain unified the once separate colonies to work together to protest against the British.
At first, the First Continental Congress’s main purpose was not to separate from the British; it was to deal with the Intolerable Acts the Britain created to punish Boston for their crimes. However, the effort that the congress put into repealing the Intolerable Acts was ignored by the British Parliament, which angered the colonists. The Virginia Conventions were a series of five meetings that were held after the Boston Tea Party to decide the future relations between the colonies and England (""Virginia Conventions""). As a result of the ignorance that the British gave in response to the colonists’ petitions, the colonies gathered at a series of meetings to discuss whether or not the colonies should separate from the British and become its own independent nation or continue following the strict laws of the British. The second convention met in Richmond, Virginia, Patrick Henry presented his ""Give me liberty or give me death"" speech, which inspired the colonists to follow the cause (""Virginia Conventions""). Henry was sent to the convention as a delegate from Virginia and persuade his audience to secede from the British and prepare themselves for a war and His became one of the inspirations for the start of the American Revolution.
Author’s Biography
Henry did not originally plan to take a part in the political society until he discovered that had interest in speaking for the common people and began to practice law. Patrick Henry was the son of John Henry, a wealthy planter, and was born on May 29, 1736, in Hanover County, Virginia (""Henry, Patrick""). Henry grew up in an household that was well off and because his father was a planter, so he had no intentions of having a career in politics. He inherited ……... “For a few years he attended the local schools, but he was mostly taught by his father, who had attended college in his Scottish homeland” (""Henry, Patrick""). Henry was educated in local schools of Virginia, but his education was mostly influenced by his father. He tried to head towards the profession as a planter and a store owner, which both failed, until he began to study law and discovered that he was a talented orator.
After he gained a reputation as a lawyer, he began to become more involved with political affairs and developments in Virginia and the rest of the colonies. “Henry began his political career in 1765 when he won a seat in the House of Burgesses, the lower house of the Virginia legislature” (""Henry, Patrick""). Henry is shown to be taking his first steps into the political world by winning a seat in the House of Burgesses which gave him more of an influential figure during the pre-revolutionary era. “Henry's reputation spread beyond Virginia when he took part in protests against taxes the British imposed on the colonies” (""Henry, Patrick""). This quote describes how he began to gain popularity in political society by taking part in protests that supported American independence. His involvements in the protests for independence, especially his protest against the Stamp Act, helped him gain the trust and loyalty of the colonists.
During Patrick Henry’s time in politics, he was able to establish groups that went against the British including the Committees of Correspondence. Additionally, he was as one of the seven delegates from Virginia who attended the Virginia Conventions and was given the opportunity to share his speech. In 1773, Henry helped establish committees of correspondence that aroused public opinion and organized acts of defiance against Great Britain (""Henry, Patrick""). The Committees of Correspondence that Henry helped establish helped the colonies form a political union to become more powerful as a whole and encourage the opposition of the British policies over the colonies. “This meeting marked the highpoint of Henry's fame. It was here that he uttered his legendary remarks in support of preparing for war” (""Henry, Patrick""). Henry’s “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech made him well known in American history as one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.
Analysis Of Document
Patrick Henry’s main objective was to persuade his audience to take action against the British to gain their independence. He believed that his opinion should be heard and that their peaceful pleas and petitions should not be ignored so easily.
“Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne! In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope” (Henry, 83).
Henry expresses his frustration that is caused by the ignorance that the colonies have received in response to their peaceful petitions. He believes that all hope for a peaceful protest against the British has been crushed by their ignorance. “Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings” (Henry, 83). Henry is trying to convey that they have a right to speak out and complain to the king and what they are doing is just. He believes that there is no king that has more power than the Majesty of Heaven, which is God, who will be on their side when they fight against the British.
The second key point of this document urges the people to arm their men against the British for it was the only solution left for them turn British Parliament’s attention to the colonies.
“Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted?” (Henry, 84)
Henry complains that they have tried every peaceful way of protesting for ten years, which has failed. He states that the British leave them no choice, but to turn towards the military forced to fight against the British. “If we wish to be free...we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us!” (Henry, 84) Patrick Henry urges the colonist to take action and declare a war against the British for their independence. His use of emotional language motivated and gave the colonist the courage to put up a fight against the British.
In addition, Henry uses his ministry to stir the rebellious spirit of the colonists of America. He convinces his audience that it is God’s will for them to separate the colonies from the British empire and that he will be on their side and not the British.
“Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us” (Henry, 84).
Henry reassures his audience that God will be on their side when time comes to fight. This message motivated the religious men to fight with the belief that they have God’s support and it is God’s will for them to fight for their independence. “Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!” (Henry, 85). Patrick Henry’s most famous message to his audience meant that he would sacrifice himself for what he is fighting for. This famous line greatly influenced and motivated the colonists to take action against the British and also sacrifice themselves for liberty.
Conclusion
Patrick Henry’s speech was one of the most important and influential ministries that successfully expressed his anger at the British for ignoring their petitions, persuaded the colonists arm their men for a war against the British, and strengthened the colonists’ spirit for a rebellion. The colonists were angered that the British Parliament did not respond to their petitions and Henry used this as one of his points in his speech to persuade the colonists to the separate from Britain’s control. Additionally, he convinces the colonists that initiating a war was the only solution they had to get the attention of the British government. He also reassures his audience of his proposals by guaranteeing that it is God’s will for them to fight for their independence and separate from the British rule. His speech was extremely influential to the colonists and their rebellion against the British and motivated them to fight the British head on.
Works Cited
- ""1763-65: The War Ends in Europe, but Conflicts Continue in North America."" French and Indian War, edited by Laurie Collier Hillstrom, et al., vol. 1, UXL, 2003, pp. 102-119. Gale Virtual Reference Library, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3411000021 /GVRL?u=ppjsh_ca&sid=GVRL&xid=6ca707f0. Accessed 13 Feb. 2019.
- ""Henry, Patrick."" American Revolution Reference Library, edited by Barbara Bigelow, et al., vol. 1: Biographies, Vol. 1, UXL, 2000, pp. 218-227. Gale Virtual Reference Library, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3411900035/GVRL?u=ppjsh_ca&sid=GVRL&xid=521b4b63. Accessed 13 Feb. 2019.
- Henry, Patrick. ""Speech to the Virginia Convention."" Holt Element Literature, 5th Course: Essentials of American Literature, Jolt, Rinehart and Winston, 2007, pp. 82-85
- ""The American Revolution (1754–1820)."" Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. History: Government and Politics, vol. 1, Gale, 2008. Gale Virtual Reference Library, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3048400006/GVRL?u=ppjsh_ca&sid=GVRL&xid=caade85f. Accessed 13 Feb. 2019.
- ""Virginia Conventions."" West's Encyclopedia of American Law, edited by Shirelle Phelps and Jeffrey Lehman, 2nd ed., vol. 10, Gale, 2005, p. 237. Gale Virtual Reference Library, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3437704594/GVRL?u=ppjsh_ca&sid=GVRL&xid=4935b5c7. Accessed 13 Feb. 2019.
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French and Indian War: the American Revolution
The American Revolution refers to the colonial revolt that occurred between 1765 and 1783. As a result of the revolution, the American Patriots, those that instigated the rebellion, resulted in the Thirteen Colonies gaining independence from Great Britain. This was after defeating the British during the American Revolutionary War. France’s role in the war was twofold. First they were allies with the Americans during the Revolutionary War. Second, they participated in the events leading up to the war. In the latter case, together with the Indians during the French and the Indians war, the gears of the Revolutionary War were turned. The French Indian war achieved three roles in leading to the American Revolution. One, it changed the relationship between America and Great Britain. Two, it permanently shifted the global balance of power between the French and the Britons. Thirdly, it made the British enact policies against America that did not go well with the Americans. A result of these three roles was the American Revolution.
Prior to the French and Indian war, America was under the rule and authority of the British. The British as the colonial masters held America as its colony and America responded in total obedience paying taxes to the British monarch. However, following the French and Indian war, the relationship worsened and instead of acting in total obedience, America revolted. Additionally, because of the war, the French were pushed out of North America. With the French being out of North America, the colonies never had to fear both colonial masters, the French and the British, for they now had to contend with only one colonial master, the British. Therefore, Americans figured that if they were to act out in total disagreement of the British in their pursuit of breaking free, then they would not have a lot of opposition to face.
The British and the French were two major colonial powers prior to the French Indian war. The seven year war ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1763. Following the Treaty of Paris, Britain had a large territory to manage this was because the terms of the treaty demanded that France give up all of its territories in North America. Now that France was out of contention for the North American colonies, the British became the sole power in America and thus they sought to make their power felt by increasing their influence. With increased British control, there was in effect an increase in anti-British sentiments in the American colonies. While prior to the French and Indian war the Americans, the British influence and its power was not so much felt, the French Indian war escalated this influence and power by the British on the American colonies.
With the French signing the Treaty of Paris and Britain gaining sole control of North American territories thus being free of having to contend with other external influences, the British sought to have their power and influence felt. They thus became active in the American political and economic affairs. One way in which they did this was through imposing a series of regulations and levies on American colonies. These taxes and unfair regulations as the British intended was meant to help pay for the on-going war as well as cater for the costs of defences. Thus while the British were subtle in their control of their colonies including the American colony before the French Indian war, this significantly changed after for they became ruthless and strict.
In conclusion, the French and Indian war led up to the American Revolution in a number of ways. First, it changed the relationship that existed between the British and the American colonies. While the relationship was better in some aspect prior to the war, the war further worsened it. Secondly, the war increased the rule and the authority that the British held over its colonies. The British now became a force to reckon with and the only colonial power to contend. Finally, the war made the British enact economic and political policies against the Americans. All these three were reasons enough to stir hatred against the British by the American colonies the end result being the American Revolutionary war.
Bibliographies
- Denny, Ebenezer “A Common Soldier’s Account of the Battle of Yorktown (1781)”
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Conflict between the French and the British
The French and Indian War, also known as the Seven Years’ War, was responsible for setting in motion a ripple of effects that ultimately led to the American Revolution. The conflict that arose between the French and the British was a result of both countries seeking to expand their territory in America. Great Britain had control over the 13 colonies and the land that led up to the Appalachian Mountains. The French, on the other hand, were in possession of terrain that started in Louisiana and reached past the Mississippi Valley and Great Lakes, ending in Canada. However, the frontiers that separated their claims from one another were not easily distinguished, one such area being the Ohio River Valley. When the French established strongholds there to secure their claim, the British sent Lieutenant Colonel George Washington to drive them back in 1754. However, their soldiers were outnumbered and they were forced to retreat.
This led the British Prime Minister to retaliate with another attack, but the French Government had been informed of their plans and turned the minor dispute into a war. The British sent General Edward Braddock to the colonies to command their forces, but he rejected possible alliances with the Indians and refused to collaborate with the authorities in the colonies. The French, on the other hand, formed alliances with the Indians since they usually respected and coexisted with them, therefore entitling the war the French and Indian War. During the next British attack, General Braddock was killed during a surprise assault when his men were unsuccessful in taking control of Fort Duquesne. Meanwhile, in Europe, the French had acquired navy victories and seized British land.
However, the British would soon take the lead and the French would decide to make peace negotiations. Unfortunately, these compromises failed because the terms the British set were unreasonable. This led the French King Louis XV to organize the Family Compact on August 15th of 1761 with his allies. The compact stated that Spain would wage war on Great Britain if the war was not resolved by May 1 of 1762. They intentionally hoped the Family Compact would convince the British to agree with carrying out peace negotiations, however, it only motivated the French to continue fighting.
This led the British Government to declare war on Spain on January 4, 1762, before the date the Spanish set had been reached. Despite the French and Spanish efforts, the British were victorious and peace was finally achieved in 1763 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. The treaty gave the British control of all land the French had claimed in America as well as military experience and the freedom to expand. Despite all the positive outcomes the British gained, a problem arose that would lead to the American Revolution between the colonies and England, who would pay for the expenses of the war.
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Fighting the Opioid Epidemic: Narcan Saves Lives
Tamera was very career and family orientated and maintained a happy lifestyle while taking care of her son. Overtime she began to suffer from severe headaches and was prescribed opioid medication to help ease the pain. She began taking larger doses of medication to receive the same effects she once had and was continuously written prescriptions by several different doctors. Once her prescriptions ran out, she began purchasing pills on the street as a cheaper alternative. Tamera lost her home, career, and a significant amount of money all to her addiction. Battling with addiction, Tamera was later separated from her son so she could the seek proper treatment she needed (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 1). Like Tamera, many Americans in the United States are over prescribed prescription medications and have become addicted to the nature of opioids. Opioids are naturally occurring compounds derived from the opium plant or a synthetic version of those compounds. Commonly known forms of this drug are known as morphine, heroin, fentanyl, codeine, and oxycodone (McCoy 1). These drugs are highly addictive and McCoy states that “most people who develop an opioid addiction begin by overusing or misusing a prescription opioid medication, whether intentionally or unintentionally, subsequently developing a prescription opioid use disorder.” In return when a patient’s prescription medication runs out, they will turn to illegal measures to obtain opioids.
In the United States of America, the opioid epidemic began in three stages starting in 1991 when the number of deaths increased because of doctors prescribing patients opioid medications for the treatment of pain. Pharmaceutical companies convinced prescribers that the risk of opioid addiction was low and continued to promote the use of opioids in patients with non-cancer related pain. By 1996, eighty-six percent of patients using opioids were using them for non-cancer pain and many communities began to experience an increase in opioid abuse. The second stage of the opioid epidemic started in 2010 when many efforts were made to decrease opioid prescriptions. This caused many patients to turn to illegal opioids once their prescription medication ran out. Common forms of illegal opioids include heroin and fentanyl. Overtime the deaths caused by heroin overdoses increased by 268% from 2002 to 2013. The third stage of the opioid epidemic began in 2013 when many patients encountered a powerful manufactured opioid, fentanyl. Deaths caused by fentanyl resulted in 20,000 deaths in 2016 (Liu et al. 1). With numerous amounts of people becoming addicted to opioids, the number of overdoses is rapidly increasing over the years. Narcan, an opioid antidote, is very effective at reversing the effects of opioids. Many Americans believe that Narcan should be carried by the general public to provide an immediate antidote and decrease the growing number of overdoses. However, others argue that in some states they could face prosecution for administering Narcan in public. Since the opioid epidemic has been declared a public health emergency, Americans should carry Narcan on them every day to save lives.
Narcan is a brand name form of a medication, naloxone, that reverses the effects of opioids by blocking opioid receptors in the brain. Opioid drugs effect the part of the brain that effects breathing so when some overdoses their breathing slows down to a dangerous rate which may result in death (Piotrowski 1). When Narcan is administered after an overdose it works quickly to reverse the effects from the opioids to revive a person’s breath rate back to normal. Narcan begins to work within two to five minutes after it had been released. The public is urged that if an addict does not respond to the first dose it is safe to administer a second dose until an emergency personnel arrives. Narcan is manufactured by Adapt Pharma, a privately held company based in Dublin Ireland. Adapt Pharma is committed to providing treatment options for addiction and has its United States headquarters located in Radnar Pennsylvania (PR Newswire.) Narcan is readily available in a nasal spray device that is used by shooting a dose of spray up an individual’s nostril where the medication is absorbed and transferred into the bloodstream to reverse the opioid overdose (Recovery First). With Narcan readily available for the public to use people who overdose would receive immediate help that could save their lives. In many cities, emergency vehicles may take longer to get to someone who has overdosed. Ford writes that seventy-seven percent of opioid fatalities caused by opioid overdoses occur outside of a medical setting and more than half occur at home (44). This means that it is important for Americans who are the first on the scene of an overdose to carry Narcan on them every day when emergency personnel are not immediately available.
The Opioid Epidemic is a rising concern that the president of the United States, Donald Trump, announced in his speech on October 26, 2017 the importance of fighting this epidemic. Trump states that the United States of America lost at least 64,000 Americans to drug overdoses in the previous year. He further states that 175 Americans lost their lives per day equivalent to seven lives lost per hour in America. Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of unintentional death in the United States which is more than gun homicides and motor vehicles combined (Trump 1). Since the number of overdoses are rising it is important for Narcan to be carried by Americans to help save the lives of those who are in need.
Many communities are being hit by the rapid increase in opioid use and overdoses. The Free Library of Philadelphia’s McPherson Square Branch has turned to Narcan to save the lives of addicts who overdose on their property. Library staff members are being trained on how to discard used needles and on how to reverse opioid overdoses. Staff members prevent drug abuse and overdoses by taking walks through the library daily to monitor activity. Following the Free Library of Philadelphia’s protocol, Denver Public Library’s Central Library turned to Narcan after a homeless man overdosed and died from a mixture of several opioid drugs. American Libraries editor, Anne Ford, writes that “the library bought twelve kits in February and by May it had used seven of them” (47) This proves the need to readily have Narcan available to Americans daily to reverse the growing rate of opioid overdoses in the United States of America.
The state of Maryland has been hit hard by the opioid epidemic. The Maryland Department of Health stated that between 2015 and 2016 the number of heroin related deaths increased by sixty-two percent from 748 to 1212, and the number of fentanyl-related deaths more than tripled from 340 to 1119. More than 2,000 deaths occurred in Maryland in 2016 and 89 percent of them were opioid related. Later, The National Institute of Drug abuse stated that as of February 2018 Maryland is one of the top five states with the highest rate of opioid related overdose deaths. As a result of Maryland being hit hard by this opioid epidemic, public schools are now being required to stock the overdose reverse drug naloxone and have staff available that is trained to use it. (.) Licensed Certified Social Worker of Dorchester County, Lashawnda Leslie-Butler, exclaims the importance of keeping Narcan readily available. Butler states that she began carrying Narcan before schools did because of the high overdose rate in the county. “Narcan is an amazing idea and should be carried by the public just like any other medication.” Butler further exclaims that “Narcan is life saving and gives people a chance.” With many institution taking measures to protect the lives of those who overdose or encounter opioids the public is urged to keep Narcan readily available.
Works Cited
- Ford, Anne. “Saving Lives in the Stacks: How Libraries Are Handling the Opioid Crisis.” American Libraries, vol. 48, no. 9/10, Sept. 2017, p. 44-49. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=124915443&site=eds-live&scope=site.
- "How Does Naloxone Work?" Recovery First Treatment Center. 23 Nov. 2016. 22 Apr. 2019 .
- History of the Opioid Epidemic: How Did We Get Here? 29 Apr. 2019 .
- McCoy, Krisha, MS. “Opioid Abuse.” Salem Press Encyclopedia of Health, 2019. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=94415488&site=eds-live&scope=site.
- "Opioid Crisis." Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2018. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/PC3010999232/OVIC?u=chesapeake&sid=OVIC&xid=3bcf5359. Accessed 22 Apr. 2019.
- Trump, Donald. “Time to Liberate Our Communities from This Scourge of Drug Addiction.” Vital Speeches of the Day, vol. 83, no. 12, Dec. 2017, p. 357. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=128834448&site=eds-live&scope=site.
- Piotrowski, Nancy A. “Opioids.” Salem Press Encyclopedia of Science, 2018. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=89312299&site=eds-live&scope=site.
- PR Newswire. “ADAPT Pharma® Launches NARCANDirect.Com.” PR Newswire US, 29 May 2018. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bwh&AN=201805290700PR.NEWS.USPR.NY06062&site=eds-live&scope=site.
- PR Newswire. “Newly Published Study Finds NARCAN® Nasal Spray’s Concentrated Formulation Rapidly Delivers an Effective Naloxone Dose and Is Readily Usable by the General Public.” PR Newswire US, 20 Sept. 2016. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bwh&AN=201609200700PR.NEWS.USPR.CL95556&site=eds-live&scope=site.
- “Tamera | Rx Awareness | CDC Injury Center.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 22 Sept. 2017, www.cdc.gov/rxawareness/stories/tamera.html.
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America, Europe and Africa
Blake’s engraving “Europe supported by Africa and America” portrays Europe and their descendants as dependent on America and Africa because Europe could have not done the expansion of their dominion of the New World without the aid of the African and the Native people.
Europe's domination of the New World depended on Africa through chattel slavery as it served as “the engine that propelled Europe's rise to global economic dominance,” according to Eric Williams, author of the book Capitalism and Slavery. Without the enslavement of millions of Africans for labor, building the foundation of a prosperous North America would have been impossible.
The emergence of colonial gentry, the very wealthy merchants in colonial America, were made possible because of the slaves who helped meet the demand of labor in the colonies. At the back of slavery, this wealthy class increased their consumption of English goods paved the way for consumer revolution which happened in England.
Conflict between the existence of slavery and the promise of the Declaration of Independence that ""all men are created equal” became a striking contradiction to the nation’s principles of equality and liberty. During the 1787 Constitutional Convention held in Philadelphia, delegates from different states “were split on the moral question of human bondage and man’s inhumanity to man, but not on its economic necessity,” says Greg Timmons, a history writer and educational consultant. Slavery had become ingrained and structured in American society that nothing could topple it, even the law of the land. For them, and during this time, slavery was a necessary evil.
Slavery was crucial to American commerce especially in the labor-intensive agriculture-based economy of the South where white citizens depended on slaves to keep their economic activity going. In smaller scale, slaves helped the slaveholders to gain significant tax break through the Three-Fifths Compromise by counting them as three-fifths of a person.
There was a hope to abrogate moral corruption during the Market Revolution that slavery could be ended by technological advancement. That was when cotton gin was invented. It turned out it would not revolutionize to reduce slavery, but it accelerated the demand because of this machine’s increased capacity. Despite this tragedy, slaves helped fuel the Industrial Revolution in both the US and Europe—of what Blake referred on his art— the economic benefit Europe and its white descendants in America extracted from human slavery.
The Naturalization Act of 1791 framed American citizen as a free white person born or naturalized in United States, and so all others are excluded placing the Native and African Americans as secondary to white male citizens. White Americans, especially the Federalists, feared that equality would destroy the republic. The exclusion of Native and African Americans on the provision of the Naturalization Act of 1791 and the Bill of Rights, made the image of United States as a republic of white men. The new republic’s effort of Indian removal carried out the vision of a white nation—the emergence of a new national identity cementing the United States as an appendage of Europe separated by thousand miles of ocean.
Native Americans once controlled the vast unexplored territories of North America. Their defeat and further loss of their land became an opposite correlation as a victory and further expansion of white settlements. Such as the defeat of the Western Confederacy who lost their land to the United States, paving for territorial expansion to the west under the Treaty of Greenville of 1795. The encroachment of Europeans in North America has become a profound hypocrisy for European-American citizens, on their rhetorics against Native Americans that these “savages” impeded their territorial expansion in North America. White citizens attempted to wipe out the natives for their intrusion of ""their land"" as they have no right since they were not citizens of the republic. Native Americans became foreigners of their own lands.
Besides the never-ending hostility, white settlers made mutual relationship with the natives by the protection they could from them against the attacks of other groups of native enemies. In exchange, natives got access to new technology such as gun powder and ammunition; and trading of goods such as furs and pelts to purchase colonial commodities. The trading network between the natives and white settlers helped flourishing the economic demand of fur and other commodities of Europe.
Native Americans played an important rule for the colonies to expel Europe’s presence in North America. One of the well-known was during the French and Indian War when the outnumbered French colonists depended on Native tribes (Wabanaki Confederacy, Algonquin, Lenape, Ojibwa, Ottawa, Shawnee, and Wyandot) being defeated by the British colonists, who were also supported by other groups of Indian tribes (Iroquois, Catawba, and Cherokee). The British colonists’ alliance with the Indian tribes contributed to the expulsion of the French from the New France.
Across the history of post-colonial North America, white settlers made alliance, treaties, and amiable relationship with the Natives. This timeline also witnessed the realization of some founding fathers that all men are created equal; the moral consciousness of radical leaders who became known as abolitionists and the Northerners to support in the abolition of slavery. The American Revolution gave rise to movement that would abolish slavery, but the evolution of America further prolonged the torment of their subjugation.
Without the corrupted morality of Europe brought by the evilness of wealth-driven, power hunger mercantilism, America and Africa would have not dealt with these tragedies of colonialism. This is what Blake reiterated through his art that since Europe was dependent on and benefited from the exploitation of America and Africa, she must question her brutal and degrading treatment of them under her hands.
The narratives of the Native and African Americans under the exploitation of Europe and its descendants in America were stories of their resistance that Blake represented through his art. America and Africa helped in sailing the European ship to navigate towards global economic dominance at the expense of the lives of the Natives and African Americans.
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