Lejla Jasarevic

Professor Nichole Harken

Cornerstone
13 November 2015

In the book, Orange is the New Black, Piper Kerman is arrested for drug trafficking and
money laundering 10 years after she committed her crime. In Pipers memoir she conveys how

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her crime has affected most of the women in her prison. In the musical, Rent, one of the main
characters, Mimi, is a Heroin addict and she suffers horribly from it. Two different stories from
two different views, but they both grasp the concept of how drugs almost ruined their lives.
Kerman, Piper. Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Woman's Prison. New York:
Spiegel & Grau, 2010. Print. Piper Kerman may not have been a drug addict, but she may have
helped individuals to feed their addiction. Piper was just your average women. She had a
wealthy loving family, a degree from Smith College, and the love of her life, Larry. Piper did not
want to be average, she wanted to be exciting and have all these adventures. Her new and
exciting life had costed her and she was convicted for drug trafficking and money laundering 10
years after she had committed her crime with her ex lover, Nora. Piper served 13 months of her
15 months sentence in Danbury, Connecticut. During her stay Piper influenced many of her
inmates and she also learned from them too. Piper had learned what it was like to lose all her
rights and privileges. She received many books to make her time go by fast and shared them with
the other inmates. Her relationship with Larry was difficult but yet manageable. Piper had many
things the other inmates did not and it truly showed her how blessed her life was. She had a
degree, money, visits from people that loved and cared for her, gifts sent to her, a home to go to,
a short sentence, and a job ready for her. For many inmates prison was their home and all they
had.

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Piper informs her readers of how the majority of the women are in prison for being drug
addicts. Later through her experience in prison she realizes how trafficking drugs has had an
impact on most of the women in prison. She feels guilty because she gave them what they
wanted and now they are suffering in prison for it. They walked around like zombies because of
the meds they needed to take to function. It is as if they had no souls and were walking around in
empty bodies just to make it through another day caged up.
Rent. By Jonathan Larson. Iowa, United States, Cedar Falls. 30 Oct. 205. Performance. In
the musical, Rent, Mimi is a 19 year old girl and works at the Cat Scratch Club as an exotic
dancer. She lives with many struggling artists who are having trouble paying their rent, because
the owner raised it higher. Heroin has taken control of her life and how she functions. She soon
meets a struggling musician, Roger, and develops a relationship with him. Rogers last
girlfriend, April, was a junkie too and committed suicide when they both found out they were
HIV positive. Roger has been depressed ever since the death of April and does not want to relive
it again with Mimi. Roger and Mimi have an on/off again relationship throughout the show.
When Mimis transgender best friend, Angel, dies it pushes her over the edge and she overdoses.
Mimi goes through many challenges in her life and relies on heroin to get her through it.
The strain of being in a complicated relationship pushes her back to numbing herself. She loses a
close friend and she really does not have anyone to turn to that will help her. After she overdoses
Roger confesses he wants to be with her and Mimi truly realized she had a group of friends who

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cared for her and worried about her. Heroin almost killed Mimi and she figured out she did not
need it to survive, all she truly needed was someone there for her. After she overdosed Mimi
started to going to a self-help group to get her life back on track.
Ethos or the ethical appeal, means to convince an audience of the authors credibility or
character. Kerman, Piper. Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Woman's Prison. New York:
Spiegel & Grau, 2010. Print. In her memoir, Piper credibly wrote, I would have argued that the
governments drug laws were at best proven ineffectual everyday and at worst were misguidedly
focused on supply rather than demand, randomly conceived and unevenly and unfairly enforced
based on race and class, and thus intellectually and morally bankrupt. Piper uses true
information based on the War on Drugs to state the government is not getting the results they
want to stop drugs from spreading, but instead focus on the lower class who do drugs and arrest
them.
Pathos or the emotional appeal, means to persuade an audience by appealing to their
emotions. Rent. By Jonathan Larson. Iowa, United States, Cedar Falls. 30 Oct. 205.
Performance. The term junkie is a drug addict and used throughout the show to signify the weak
people who compulsively rely on drugs. Mimi goes through many emotional changes in Rent.
The term junkie is a drug addict and used throughout the show to signify the weak people who
compulsively rely on drugs. Mimi believed her one and only love could be Heroin, because it
could never hurt her. Mimi later discovers how what she believed was untrue when she almost
died from overdosing. Heroin only brought her pain and suffering when what she truly needed

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was love to get her through her dark time. Mimi discovers love from her friends when they were
all in search of her and found her nearly dead. They saved her and stood right by her side until
she recovered. Mimi even went to a support group payed by her landlord to begin her new sober
life.
"Need Self-Help Programs." The Science News-Letter 87.24 (1965): 374. Web. An
estimated 23 million Americans struggle with addiction. Recent research conservatively
estimates that 10 million Americans are currently using self-help groups, and as many as 25
million have been involved in a group sometime in their life. Many addicts seek Alcoholics
Anonymous (AA) or Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meetings for their road to recovery. 12 steps is
a self-help program where individuals feel confident and safe to share how drugs has impacted
their life, and not feel discouraged for expressing their feelings. Numerous research studies have
shown how self-help groups are effective in helping group members, both short term and long
term. Self-help activities have also been found to prevent the long-term disorders resulting from
common and traumatic events. The program is effective in maintaining treatment effects for
substance abuse and preventing relapse. Self-help groups are cost-free and cost-effective. Many
rehabilitation centers focus on 12 steps and urge those in recovery to attend the meetings to
maintain their hard earned sobriety. The 12 steps program has benefitted many lives, but the
program is not effective for everyone. Substance use disorder patients have a high rate of
posttreatment relapse and additional episodes of specialized care.

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As human beings, our judgement is not only imperfect, but it is prone to fail in highly
predictable ways. Our brains are wired for addiction. If a substance can trigger that addiction, it
can overthrow all the reasoning and moral capability of the mind. When an illegal substance has
taken control of anyones life they lose everything they have, they lose money, friends and
family, but most importantly they lose themselves just to get pleasure out of being high.