Hamill's Essays: Crack And The Box
Shoo Long
ENG 1010
July 13, 2010 Crack and the Box “Crack and the box” was written by Pete Hamill. In this short essay the narrator explains his thoughts on a very common topic of addiction. He compares crack which is a drug to the box which in this case would be a television. The narrator speaks of his time as a reporter interviewing many different crack addicts some which were his personal friends. He explains that they cannot break free from this addiction and that is very much so like the television viewers. Hamill speaks of television as a form off addiction saying that it occupies most peoples day. He also states that “Television, like drugs, dominates the lives of its addicts. …show more content…
Saying that “Getting news from television, for example, is simply not the same experience as reading it in a newspaper.” He claims that reading is more active. “The reader must decode little symbols called words, then create ideas and make them connect; at its most basic level, reading 'images or an act of the imagination. But the television viewer doesn't go through that process. The words are spoken to him by Dan Rather or Tom Brokaw or Peter Jennings. There isn't much decoding to do when watching television, no time to think or ponder before the next set of images and spoken words appears to displace the present one. The reader, being active, works at his or her own pace; the viewer, being passive, proceeds at a pace determined by the show. Except at the highest levels, television never demands that its audience take part in an act of imagination. Reading always does.” Hamill says that television itself is a consciousness-altering instrument for the reason that with the touch of a button, it takes you out of the "real" world to a world where you can be doing anything that you want or go anywhere you can imagine. Just like the effects of popping a
ENG 1010
July 13, 2010 Crack and the Box “Crack and the box” was written by Pete Hamill. In this short essay the narrator explains his thoughts on a very common topic of addiction. He compares crack which is a drug to the box which in this case would be a television. The narrator speaks of his time as a reporter interviewing many different crack addicts some which were his personal friends. He explains that they cannot break free from this addiction and that is very much so like the television viewers. Hamill speaks of television as a form off addiction saying that it occupies most peoples day. He also states that “Television, like drugs, dominates the lives of its addicts. …show more content…
Saying that “Getting news from television, for example, is simply not the same experience as reading it in a newspaper.” He claims that reading is more active. “The reader must decode little symbols called words, then create ideas and make them connect; at its most basic level, reading 'images or an act of the imagination. But the television viewer doesn't go through that process. The words are spoken to him by Dan Rather or Tom Brokaw or Peter Jennings. There isn't much decoding to do when watching television, no time to think or ponder before the next set of images and spoken words appears to displace the present one. The reader, being active, works at his or her own pace; the viewer, being passive, proceeds at a pace determined by the show. Except at the highest levels, television never demands that its audience take part in an act of imagination. Reading always does.” Hamill says that television itself is a consciousness-altering instrument for the reason that with the touch of a button, it takes you out of the "real" world to a world where you can be doing anything that you want or go anywhere you can imagine. Just like the effects of popping a