Katharine Q. Seelye takes on the Heroin crisis in America head on in her New York Times article “In Heroin Crisis, White Families Seek Gentler War on Drugs”. She starts the article off by discussing how heroin use among white individuals is a growing issue. She then proceeds to share the stories of families directly affected by heroin use. The article comes to a close by providing how drug addiction should be treated as a disease and not a crime. The author use of narration of events and illustration and example to educate people and persuade them to think differently on the heroin crisis makes the purpose of this article both referential and persuasive. The primary purpose of this article is to educate people on the issue of heroin use and the government policy to combat it. Since this article is educating people it would make this type of article, referential. The article uses numerous facts and statistics from a plethora of sources. The article shows the reader immediately about how the rate of heroin use is highest among white people by showing that “nearly 90 percent of those who tried heroin for the first time in the last decade were white.” Another example of how the article focuses on the topic of heroin with facts is when Katharine cites Michael Botticelli in explaining how white families are proving to be more effective in fighting government officials on the war on drugs.
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Michael explains this phenomenon by saying, “They know how to call a legislator, they know how to get angry with their insurance company, they know how to advocate.”. Towards the end of the article she uses a disturbing fact that hits close to home with the personal story given. Katharine discusses how Chris, a small town boy, was the “23rd overdose and third fatal one this year in Plaistow, a town of 8,000 people.” The second purpose of this article was trying to persuade people to take a hard look on the War on Drugs and how it is not only a growing problem for white people but for Americans in general. Since this article is also trying to persuade the reader or at least make them think about the heroin crisis, this article would be labeled as a persuasive article accordingly. The writer is able to use the personal stories of many small town families directly affected by the crisis. Katharine uses the story of Courtney Griffin throughout her article to illustrate this point. She talks about how the parents hid Courtney’s addiction out of fear she would go to prison for the rest of her life. She ultimately died of an overdose at just 20 years old. Katharine also quotes Jeb Bush when he opened up about his daughter, Noelle’s drug abuse saying, “I have some personal experience with this as a dad, and it is the most heartbreaking thing in the world to have to go through,”. To really drive down the point of persuading the reader that heroin users are sick and not criminal is using the testimonial of former undercover narcotics detective, Eric Adams. Eric explains how his experiences have shown him that people who use heroin “are people and they have a purpose in life and we can’t as law enforcement look at them any other way.”. The first pattern used in the article is that of narration of events. The article begins immediately with the story of Courtney Griffin’s death. As the article progresses we learn more and more details about the her story told through her parents. We learn that she not only dies but so does her boyfriend. They both die from the same thing, drug overdose. Courtney’s story doesn’t end with her death though because it continues with how her parents are actively …show more content…
The use of information and persuasive techniques make the purpose of this article both referential and persuasive. Katharine’s ability to make the reader not only informed on the facts but also sympathetic to the stories Courtney or Chris is highly effective. It is incredible how much the reader can not only learn from this article but also be inspired to further their understanding of such a complex and unfortunately common
Michael explains this phenomenon by saying, “They know how to call a legislator, they know how to get angry with their insurance company, they know how to advocate.”. Towards the end of the article she uses a disturbing fact that hits close to home with the personal story given. Katharine discusses how Chris, a small town boy, was the “23rd overdose and third fatal one this year in Plaistow, a town of 8,000 people.” The second purpose of this article was trying to persuade people to take a hard look on the War on Drugs and how it is not only a growing problem for white people but for Americans in general. Since this article is also trying to persuade the reader or at least make them think about the heroin crisis, this article would be labeled as a persuasive article accordingly. The writer is able to use the personal stories of many small town families directly affected by the crisis. Katharine uses the story of Courtney Griffin throughout her article to illustrate this point. She talks about how the parents hid Courtney’s addiction out of fear she would go to prison for the rest of her life. She ultimately died of an overdose at just 20 years old. Katharine also quotes Jeb Bush when he opened up about his daughter, Noelle’s drug abuse saying, “I have some personal experience with this as a dad, and it is the most heartbreaking thing in the world to have to go through,”. To really drive down the point of persuading the reader that heroin users are sick and not criminal is using the testimonial of former undercover narcotics detective, Eric Adams. Eric explains how his experiences have shown him that people who use heroin “are people and they have a purpose in life and we can’t as law enforcement look at them any other way.”. The first pattern used in the article is that of narration of events. The article begins immediately with the story of Courtney Griffin’s death. As the article progresses we learn more and more details about the her story told through her parents. We learn that she not only dies but so does her boyfriend. They both die from the same thing, drug overdose. Courtney’s story doesn’t end with her death though because it continues with how her parents are actively …show more content…
The use of information and persuasive techniques make the purpose of this article both referential and persuasive. Katharine’s ability to make the reader not only informed on the facts but also sympathetic to the stories Courtney or Chris is highly effective. It is incredible how much the reader can not only learn from this article but also be inspired to further their understanding of such a complex and unfortunately common