Gore Vidal Drugs Analysis

In “Drugs” by Gore Vidal, the subject of drugs is used to speak his notions over individual freedom. According to Vidal, “Label each drug with a precise description of what effect-good and bad- the drug will have on the taker.”(412) In his opinion, drugs should be legalized and sold as normal products to consumers. I think that if this were to become legal, each drug should definitely have a label like a nutrition facts label so people would be able to have the total access to what they want and the knowledge to comprehend it. He also explains that if a sane person knows the content and process of a certain drug, he will not become addicted to it. He uses all of this to portray the reality of individual freedom he wants everyone to have. If

The catch is the person must understand the consequences of the taken actions. In essence, “The Total Effect and the Eighth Grade”, by Flannery O’Connor, is about education not being based on the wants of students and not having the right to select what they wish to learn. O’Connor states, “More often than not, the teacher assigns what he thinks will hold the attention and interest of the students. Modern fiction will certainly hold it.”(324) She bluntly believes that our youth is far too ignorant and idiotic because what they are being allowed to read serves no purpose. Teenagers care about reading modern creations due to their reliability and because the diction is fairly easy to comprehend. She wants students to end their stupidity and bring challenges to their mind so they can actually learn something. As a student myself, I understand the frustration of trying to read an essay or a story that is told through a language that is no longer used today and having to re-read lines to fathom everything. I remember reading a few of Shakespeare’s tragedies in high school for the first time and having my mind obliterated by the ancient

Prohibition outlawed the consumption of alcohol during the 1920’s and thousands of people did not care. Bootleggers arose and alcohol was crafted underground and sold in the black market. Thousands of deaths occurred because it was made without inspections or any sort of government regulations. Vidal writes, “...forbidding people things they like or think they might enjoy only makes them want those things all the more.”(412) I agree with this statement because if someone isn’t allowed to do something he or she finds interest in, the curiosity and desire only increase. When my mom ordered me to not excessively drown my milk with chocolate syrup, it only made me want to make it the darkest shade of brown known to man. People will always infringe the laws to feed the needs of others. Likewise, O’Connor brings up the fact that parents are concerned with what their children are absorbing from books and are fearing what is not worth a single worry. Parents want to monitor and place heavy censorship on a book because of a few lines that either talk about sex or vulgarity. A book’s composition should not be dissected by single parts and because of them be judged as the general theme of the book. Schools aren’t allowing classic books from previous centuries to impact the aesthetic education