Sociology

Drinking, Driving and Paying

            The article is about the consequences of driving drunk. It is a classic case scenario where the author puts the reader in a fictional imaginative mood showing a flow of events that would occur if one were to partake of excessive amounts of alcohol. It gives the flow of events from when one is in a party, how much alcohol they drink, ’as per family custom, you enjoy hors d’oeuvres and several glasses of wine over a lovely meal full of conversation and laughter’ (Updike, 2010). It also tells of how they drive and get arrested, how they are held in jail, who bails them out, how they are taken to court, the fines they pay and overall, the amount of loss they go through, physically, financially and psychologically. All this happens just for a few drinks.

 

Smoking during Pregnancy

            The article is about the dangers and effects of smoking during pregnancy. It gives the effects of smoking during pregnancy and compares them to taking alcohol or drugs. The article states that the baby inside its mothers womb is dangerously affected since the baby is exposed to nicotine, carbon monoxide and tar, which are harmful chemicals, ‘When you smoke during pregnancy, your baby is exposed to dangerous chemicals like nicotine, carbon monoxide and tar (March of Dimes, 2010)’. The effects of this are ectopic pregnancies, vaginal bleeding, abruption of the placenta from the walls of the uterus, an abnormal placenta and/or a stillbirth. If these do not occur or even if they do, the baby born might experience birth defects, premature delivery, low weight at birth and/or underweightness when the baby is still in the womb. Secondhand smoke and third hand smoke is also highly dangerous and both have the same effects as the first hand smoker. Smoking women are advised to quit before they get pregnant and a year or two after the baby is born.

The second article is related to the first article by virtue of both talking about the dangers of drug abuse though the drugs are different. They both warn on the use and abuse of drugs, the first one talking of alcohol and the second one of cigarettes. The first one is open and is meant for both women and men but the second one is strictly meant to address the women and more specifically, those that are pregnant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References:

Updike, David. (2010, Dec 3). Drinking, Driving and Paying. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/drinking_driving_and_paying.html

March of Dimes. (2010) Smoking During Pregnancy. Retrieved from http://www.marchofdimes.com/pregnancy/alcohol_smoking.html