TOW #4 - The Gilded Razor

In the memoir, The Gilded Razor, Sam Lansky recounts his addiction to drugs and how it affected his life.  Sam Lansky is an editor at Time. He has written for New York magazine, The Atlantic, Esquire, and Out.  He now is living in Los Angeles, California.  Geared toward an audience of people who have not experienced addiction, he illustrates what addiction is really like, how hard it is, and how badly it can affect yourself and the people around you. Lansky utilizes anaphora and analogies throughout this book to fully demonstrate his purpose.  When Sam is planning to attend a prestigious university known as Princeton, he says, “I could do this. It would be easy.  I was sure of it. I would get through this year, and I would go to a great college, and I would be a successful, functional adult. I was wrong” (Lansky 25). The use of anaphora here helps show that even though Sam was addicted to drugs, he thought that he would still be able to lead a successful life and get into the college he wanted to.  It helps to show that when people have an addiction they don’t recognize how bad it really is, and still believe that they can do anything, which again helps his purpose on giving perspective on addiction.  Lansky also illustrates the use of analogies as a way of explaining concepts better to readers who may not know what it is like.  He says, “This was one difference between writing and drugs: with cocaine, after the first line, other lines followed whether I wanted them or not.  When I wrote, I could control exactly how many lines there were, and when it all stopped” (Lansky 62).  The use of this analogy gives a better explanation of what it is like to be addicted.  It explains two separate subjects by contrasting them in a way that is fully understandable.  I believe that so far, he has fully achieved his purpose by giving his own perspective on addiction from a person who went through it all.  It is a great book!