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Literary work has always made up a crucial component of any country history, and the American history is no different
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Introduction
Literary work has always made up a crucial component of any country’s history, and the American history is no different. As much as there are variations as to the exact time within which the literary works of any country can be traced, there is no doubt that different forms of literary works existed in any country since time immemorial. In addition, it goes without saying that these literary works outlined or chronicled the society as it was or rather as the writers saw the societies in which they were living. The American literature has its roots in the oral traditions pertaining to the indigenous tribes that inhabited the continent prior to the arrival of the Europeans. However, most of this literature remains unstudied simply because the tribes incorporated no written language. The same case applies to numerous other tribes or countries throughout the entire world. Most of the earliest examples pertaining to American literature are narratives that record the experiences and adventures of the early settlers (Sova, 23). As much as there were variations in the literary works, they were fundamentally the same category of literature that recounted events as seen via the eyes of the participants. This, however, made way for relatively more creative works such as poetry, fiction works, as well as commentaries on the numerous changes that the country was experiencing during the transition from being just a conglomeration of English colonies into a unified nation (Sova, 12).
Either way, literary works have always been a way of chronicling the events of any society. In quite a number of instances, individuals put down some literary works in an effort to trigger some thought in the minds of the inhabitants of that society and trigger a change in the way of live in that society. This is the case in two of Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories, both of which are meant to trigger some thought in the minds of readers and, therefore, instigate a paradigm shift. These are “The premature burial (1850)” and the “The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841)”. These two stories are similar and different in various aspects.
In the “The Premature Burial”, the author outlines a popular tradition that used to be carried out in London. He starts the fictional tale by mentioning a number of extremely disgusting, horrific and terrifying events that resulted in immeasurable suffering to many people. He, however, states that as much as these events are extremely crucial, events that caused an immeasurable pain to a single person at any time bear some heightened importance. This is the case for individuals who were buried alive after being thought of as dead. The narrator comments that there are instances where a sick person appears dead, while he or she is, in fact, alive. In such instances, the person may be buried simply because all parties think that he has died. It is not until sometime later that the person awakens only to find himself locked in a coffin and is unable to get out. The narrator also chronicles a number of fictional stories of people who were buried alive, only for them to wake up later and even be dug out of their graves. Next, the narrator outlines his own fears that he may even end up being buried alive himself. This is because rarely do people have it within their power to sense the occurrence of such instances, in which case the incidents may occur frequently without the people’s cognizance. In fact, rarely do people encroach on graveyards for any purpose whatsoever. In this case, most of these cases go undetected as there are no chances that the posture of the skeletons will be found awkward as to lend credibility to the fearful suspicions that the person was buried alive (Poe, 64). Admittedly, the narrator suffers from an illness known as catalepsy which renders the muscles rigid and stiff. At one time, the narrator falls into a trance for a number of weeks alone and upon waking up wonders what would have happened had his relatives discovered him in that state. They surely would have thought of him as dead and even buried him.
The “The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841)”, on the other hand, is a detective story that aims at unraveling two gruesome murders that involved a woman and her daughter. A bank clerk has been charged and convicted for the murders. However, the nameless narrator takes an odyssey to find out the truth and comes to realize that the murders may have been committed by an ape. He, however, has to prove that that is what happened and, therefore, places an advert for a lost ape in the newspapers. A sailor from Paris responds and later on admits that he saw the ape kill the two people, but failed to come out as he feared that people would blame him for the deaths of the two people. He ends up selling the ape and offers to pay the detective and the narrator, which the later declines.
One of the key similarities between the two stories lies in the fact that both stories were written in first person. It essentially appears that the narrator was chronicling some adventures or experiences that he has gone through in the society in which the narrator or the author lives. This is obviously the case in the case of “The Premature Death” as the burial of sick individuals was a common occurrence especially in cases where they were thought of as dead. It is worth noting that the two stories call for a clear analysis of the circumstances. For example, “The Premature Death” is essentially a call for repelling of these practices where an extremely sick individual is buried, without clearly ascertaining that he or she is truly dead. “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”, on the other hand, aim at outlining how possible it is that an individual will be convicted for a crime he never committed simply because shoddy investigations were done. This is the case for the bank clerk, who had been convicted for the two murders simply because the prefect of police was not willing to dig deep into the case and carry out some comprehensive investigations. In addition, the plot of both stories falls under the category of “The quest”. In “The Premature Burial”, the narrator is driven by the quest for the abolition of the tradition of burying people simply by assuming that they are dead (Booker, 34). The assumption is based on the thought that an individual who cannot respond is dead, whereas this may not be true. In the case of “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”, the narrator and the detective aim at unraveling the truth about the murder of a woman and her daughter. They realize that the police are uninterested in digging up for more details and investigating the murders in a comprehensive manner. This is because they think that they have the culprit in custody, based on a transaction that the banker had carried out for the woman a few days prior to her death (Booker, 49). In essence, the narrator has accompanied Dupin who feels obliged to solve the mystery. He owes the convicted bank clerk an unspecified that piques his interests in solving the case.
However, the two books differ in not only in their content but also in the style of narration. First, it is worth noting “The Premature Burial” uses numerous stories to put across the main point. Various fictional tales of individuals buried alive are given in an effort to outline the narrator’s fears of being buried alive. This is, however, not the in “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”, where the tale revolves around one mystery, which the narrator and Dupin (an investigator) wish to unravel.
In addition, it is worth noting that the two stories are in different categories. “The Premature Burial” may fall under horror story that aims at triggering a change in a certain inappropriate custom in the society. On the other hand, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” is a mystery story that has the sole goal of coming up with a solution. In essence, once Dupin has proved his theory that an ape carried out the murders, he has unraveled the mystery. All that is left is mopping up where the banker is released, the ape is caught and sold, and the investigator mocks the prefect of the police.
Works cited
Booker, Christopher. The Seven Basic Plots. London: Continuum (2004). Print
Sova, Dawn B. Edgar Allan Poe A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work (Paperback ed.). New York: Checkmark Books. 2001. Print
Poe, Edgar Allan. The Murders in the Rue Morgue. 1849. Print
Poe, Edgar Allan. The Premature burial. 1850. Print
Dangers of Smoking Tobacco (2)
Dangers of Smoking Tobacco
Assignment 4
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Dangers of Smoking Tobacco
This paper approaches the conversation on cigarette smoking with the resolve that all kinds of smoking are harmful to the human body. Cigarettes are the only legal substance whose intended use and sales campaigns are known to cause harm to the users and including cancer. The conversation is about how to tame this increasing menace and change the perception of people on the idea that there are certain smoking habits that are less harmful. Some people are of the idea that shifting from high-tar and high nicotine cigarettes to low ones make it safer for them to continue with the practice of smoking. When smokers switch to these low tar and nicotine cigarettes they tend to smoke more or combine one low nicotine and tar cigarette with one regular to achieve the usual nicotine dose.
Marketers and other people with special interests have led smokers to believe that “light” cigarettes do not have a huge health risk and create a path for quitting. However, usually, the reverse effect is achieved because a low tar cigarette has the same health implication as to the regular one mainly due to the smoker taking deeper puffs, smoking until almost to the butt length or puffing more often. In addition, there is that perception menthol-flavored cigarettes make the cigarettes less dangerous, which is a complete misconception since menthol only adds flavor to the tobacco. In fact, menthol cigarettes are a greater health hazard combined in a cigarette because of the cooling sensation it provides when the smoke is inhaled. It interferes with the natural cough reflex and covers the parched sensation smokers often have meaning people who smoke menthol inhale deeper and hold their breath longer.
Here are the real effects of smoking that contradict all these assumptions. Cigarette smoking (nicotine) is very addictive and compares to hard drugs like heroin and cocaine in this regard. A smoker is still at risk even if they puff the cigarette without pulling the smoke in since cigarettes are made of various chemicals that can go into the body through the skin, the mouth, and the nose. These are the chemicals that cause what is referred to as “smokers cough” when a smoker inhales the chemicals that combine to make the cigarette, they irritate the air passage as well as the lungs and the mucus and coughing is the body’s retaliation. These chemicals then over time cause the noxious chemicals that cause severe conditions such as bronchitis, pneumonia, emphysema and lung cancer. The smoke that is not inhaled stays in the air around the smoker and when the next breathe is taken, then it moves right into their lungs without them noticing.
Smoking causes a tone more health defects that call for action in order to remedy the situation and prevent manufacturers from taking advantage of the vulnerability of addicts. This research on the various aspects of smoking most importantly its effects and what can be done to remedy the problem is a contribution to the development of policy and regulation for the tobacco industry and sales measures. The research relies to a certain extent on the opinions of smokers and non-smokers and whether they perceive this as a problem and whether it should be remedied. According to the WHO, it is one of the few marketable products that have no regulation in terms of emissions and its ingredients. That said, tobacco is the only legally available product that kills up to 50 percent of its regular consumers who use the product as recommended by the producers. In the United States, President Barack Obama signed a law in 2009 giving the U.S. Food and Drug Administration a full mandate to regulate the manufacture, marketing and sale of tobacco products. This law can be considered the most sweeping action yet in dealing with the leading preventable cause of death in the country.
Before the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, there was no regulation for tobacco products, in fact, under the U.S. federal health and safety laws such as the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, tobacco products were exempted from regulation. The FDA has for decades been regulating consumables but not tobacco products, in exemption to those rare cases when manufacturers made unequivocal health statements. President Obama in the same year also added the Tobacco Control Act. These new laws added these regulations (Tobacco Control Legal Consortium, 2009):
Restrictions on the advertisement and promotion of tobacco products in pursuit of the wellbeing of the general public.
Prohibits the illegal sale of tobacco to minors
Restricts the flavors that can be added to cigarettes only to menthol and prohibits fruit and candy flavors in tobacco products.
Prohibits statements that suggest reduced risks from using certain tobacco products without scientific proof or any such claims that would cause public health concerns
Mandates the manufacturers of tobacco to disclose the ingredients, any alterations to their products and any findings from research with regard to their health effects
The health warnings on packages are required to be larger, more graphic, more visible and with informative health warning tags.
The use of terms such as light, mild and low-tar are prohibited from packages and in promotional messages while giving the FDA the ability to restrict additional terms in the future.
Although the Federal government has done a great deal in the past two decades considering more than a decade of little action on the smoking phenomenon, there are still more things to do. According to the FDA, the Tobacco Control Act has made a significant milestone. The “The Real Cost” campaign for instance which was launched to prevent youths between the age of 11 and 18 years from smoking recorded that 350,000 teens were kept from tobacco between 2014 and 2016 which translated to $31 billion saved in costs related to tobacco use (Cancer Action Network, 2019). The other milestones do not really matter in my opinion because the main reason for the legislation is the reduction of smoking habits for the entire generation.
What the FDA can do to augment the protections under the Tobacco Control Act is to fully exercise its authority in protecting the public and regulating tobacco products. The agency considering the effects discussed earlier concerning the effects of menthol should remove this flavor and any other. Although cigarettes can only have a menthol flavor, other products still can be flavored. There is no doubt that these products attract youth. There is evidence that menthol in cigarettes makes it more desirable to young people and facilitates addiction. It is fair to mention that the FDA has made it public that it is considering the removal of all flavors from every tobacco product but it is yet to do so.
After the regulations were enacted, the FDA is yet to conduct a review of tobacco products and their health effects on the public. The FDA will not achieve much by allowing products like e-cigarettes which are favorite for the youth to remain on the market without an assessment. The lack of review is the reason behind the current vaping epidemic. The graphic warning labels that were issued by the FDA were removed by the courts and the agency is yet to act again (Chaloupka, et al 2015).
The FDA’s promise to reduce the nicotine levels to standards that are not addictive is yet to materialize. The FDA as promised should strike a product standard that will ensure that the amount of nicotine in combustible tobacco is not at a level that can cause heavy reliance. With such a regulation and others considering manufacturing standards, a track and trace system is required. There should be a way that the products can be traced from the manufacturer to the supplier and to the retailer to ensure the integrity of the supply chain. Deterring illicit trade of tobacco products helps with the enforcement of regulations of the products.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is the main agency that can deal with this issue and create a bigger impact considering its exclusive authority over the regulation of tobacco products. However, there are other players that can contribute to the taming of the smoking menace. The states can control the use of tobacco through taxation. On average, all states have $1.74. All States should have a standard policy to curb the consumption of tobacco (Truth Initiative, 2019). In 2017, the state of New York vowed to raise cigarette prices to $13 per pack from $10, which was still considerably high compared to many states across the country. The State of New York prior to this decision still had one of the highest cigarette taxes at $4.35 for each pack. Chicago is the only city that had a higher tax at $6.06 including state and local taxes. Meanwhile, in other states, the average price of a pack of cigarettes was $6.16, which included federal and states taxes at an average of $1.01. In short, the price of a pack in the rest of the country was only equivalent to the taxes in Chicago. This price would also be less than half that of New York. If New York and the City of Chicago can set such higher taxes, it means that regulators in other states can enact similar tax provisions to curb the use of tobacco products.
There are various forms of appeals that can be used to influence the decisions of the FDA and lawmakers in dealing with the issue of tobacco use. Before launching petitions, however, petitioners should collect enough evidence to convince the appropriate audience why certain actions should be taken. A good example is a report by the National Academy of Medicine formally the institute of medicine that concluded raising the legal age of smoking to 21 would result in a significant impact on public health and save lives. Because most adults (95 percent) begin the habit before they reach the age of 21 prohibiting among youths below that age would mean a significant reduction (Kwan, Stratton, & Bonnie, 2015). Also, almost 50 percent of adult smokers shift from experiential to full-time smokers between the ages of 18 and 21. So using research to speak to policymakers creates a more compelling petition that would be hard to ignore considering their mandate to protect the interests of citizens.
The other way of speaking to these audiences is by using the right to petition as provided in the First Amendment. There is a large number of people out there that are bothered by passive smokers and would be willing to append signatures to the quest. In addition, there are organizations that are willing to push the course and become signatories to ideas they have an interest in. A good example is the Tobacco-free Kids Campaign that was co-signed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Lung Association, the American Cancer Society, the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, Cancer Action Network, and Vital Strategies (American Academy of Family Physicians, 2018). These petitions wanted the Free Trade Commission (FTC) to stop social media campaigns that were conducted behind the scenes by tobacco companies. These campaigns included young, energetic and desirable people living their best lives and using captions that were attractive and shared mostly by teens in the United States.
References
Kwan, L. Y., Stratton, K., & Bonnie, R. J. (Eds.). (2015). Public health implications of raising the minimum age of legal access to tobacco products. National Academies Press.
Chaloupka, F. J., Warner, K. E., Acemoğlu, D., Gruber, J., Laux, F., Max, W., … & Sindelar, J. (2015). An evaluation of the FDA’s analysis of the costs and benefits of the graphic warning label regulation. Tobacco Control, 24(2), 112-119.
Tobacco Control Legal Consortium. (2009). Federal regulation of tobacco: a summary. Saint Paul, Minnesota.
American Academy of Family Physicians. (2018, August 27). Petition Demands Stop to Big Tobacco’s Social Media Deception. Retrieved from https://www.aafp.org/news/government-medicine/20180827tobaccopetition.html
Cancer Action Network. (2019, January 22). Tobacco Control: At the Federal, State, and Local Levels. Retrieved from https://www.fightcancer.org/policy-resources/tobacco-control-federal-state-and-local-levels
Truth Initiative. (2019, June 27). A Decade of the Tobacco Control Act: Where Are We Now? Retrieved from https://truthinitiative.org/research-resources/tobacco-prevention-efforts/decade-tobacco-control-act-where-are-we-now
Insecurity results from fragmentation between students, the administration and security, in which case it can only be resolve
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Security is one of the most crucial aspects in any part of the world. It is no mistake, that almost every government in all parts of the globe spends a considerable proportion of their budgets on defense and security. This is especially because security safeguards almost all rights in which case all other rights would be inexistent without security. Unfortunately, insecurity always rears its ugly head in countries in general, and institutions in particular. This is the case in the college environment.
Thesis statement: Insecurity results from fragmentation between students, the administration and security, in which case it can only be resolved through collaboration between the three arms.
Students have known their fair share of problems as far as insecurity in their halls of residence is concerned. There have been quite a large number of cases involving robbery, loss of property and break-ins in the halls of residence both during the day and night. In the last three weeks, seven students have had their houses broken into and even lost property worth thousands of dollars. The culprits quite a lot of time to do that, at least, going by the thoroughness of the job that they carry out. It is worth noting that these break-ins involve the use of master keys or even breaking the doors. This, therefore, breeds the notion that the cases are inside jobs, where some students or even security agents are the key culprits in the crimes, or are working in cohorts with the key culprits. In addition, there have been cases where students have been mugged in areas close to the halls of residence. Of course, it is expected that students would be in their rooms in normal hours. However, it is also inevitable that some students will be late in getting to their rooms in which case they may fall victim to such criminals. As much as the security agents may not be expected to be patrolling every single part of the compound, the fact that the muggings occur close to the halls of residence means that they some people are lax or are sleeping on their jobs. In addition, it goes without saying that some people may have information that may lead to the resolution of this issue but do not speak out. This serves as an indication that cooperation is deficient between the various components making up the university community.
Needless to say, insufficient security far-reaching and negative consequences as it threaten the peace of the university. It goes without saying that insecurity cripples students’ capability to pursue their academic goals. In fact, it will only be a matter of time before the disruption of peace boils over and disrupts other aspects of the community. In addition, insecurity leads to tremendous loss of resources. It is worth noting that quite a large amount of money is used in replacing the lost property, as well as repairing any infrastructure that may have been destroyed. In the case of muggings, students have been lucky enough to lose their property only. It is common knowledge that individuals may be injured or even have fatal results. All these effects revolve around disruption of academic discourse of the student, in which case the fundamental pillar of the academic institution is at risk. This underlines the seriousness of the problem, as well as the need for a comprehensive and all inclusive solution to be devised so as to bring the problem to a close.
Numerous and different suggestions have been made as to the appropriate way in which security in the halls of residence could be beefed up. These solutions have varying levels of effectiveness, costs and take different durations to implement. This underlines the importance of being cautious with the solution as it has to be cost effective, efficient, as well as effective and take a short time to install. Obviously, only a combination of strategies would meet these requirements. The halls of residence must develop their own security plan that is tailored and customized for that hall. Professional security consultants should be contacted to help in making well-targeted, physical improvements to the halls of residence to improve security. It is imperative that multiple monitoring cameras are installed in every hall of residence and especially in the entrances. In addition, the security lock system must be changed so as to recognize the thumbprints of the occupants or a secret code known only to the occupants of that room. It has been recognized that, as much as the crime rates have been on the rise the institution has a sufficient number of security guards. This means that the guards have either been participating in the crimes, or they did not undergo sufficient training to cover the halls of residence effectively. This could, however, be remedied through constant rotation and training so as to equip them appropriately. On the same note, students and the school administration must play their role in exhibiting vigilance in so as to ensure that security is beefed up. Obviously, the various players in the school community must be involved, both in devising the appropriate mechanism for their halls of residence, as well as apprehending the culprits of this menace.
The advantage or benefit of this method lies in the fact that it incorporates technology in which case it is safe and secure. In addition, all stakeholders are involved in which case they will own the process. They can always hold meetings to appraise on the progress and the effectiveness of the solution, and rectify any loopholes. In addition, no system would be similar for all halls of residence in which case the customization ensures that the systems are suitable for the needs of specific halls of residence.