Close Reading- 9/11/2013

"Experimenting is what little boys do. What is tragic is that they have chosen to experiment with something you cannot experiment with. Unfortunately, there isn't ever going to be a safer form of suicide, to help save the teenagers of Micronesia. But there can be a safer form of suicide" (252)

This passage is explained very bluntly and is quite upsetting. It helps to tie together the end of the chapter about teenage suicide and the epidemic that it can be quite deadly. Gladwell specifically focuses on the passage about the little boys who decide to experiment with suicide. These little boys are curious as to what it feels like and and as to why so many other boys are doing it. But, as he states, you cannot just try suicide because trying it means death for many of those boys.

There is no safer form of suicide as Gladwell states. There is no alternative to their curiosity  If they are going to want to see what suicide is like, they are risking so much. And Gladwell states this in such a way that it is quite difficult to comprehend. These little boys are experimenting with death and there is nothing we can do. Because there is not a safer way for them to understand what suicide is like, we somehow have to comprehend that this is an alright thing for them to do. That it can be about social acceptance.

Gladwell makes sure in this short passage to include that this is all tragic and unfortunate, which it is, but no way of how to go about trying to prevent it. He explains previously in the rest of the chapter how the suicide epidemic started, but he never proposed some sort of help. He never offered some way that maybe someone could try and get these little boys to stop experimenting, to get them to do other things. He never tried to get some way to keep these kids distracted long enough so that they do not commit suicide, even though on the island, it seems to be a social ritual. These children need to be taught that suicide should not be taken as lightly as they take it. They need an explanation so that it does not happen as often.

In addition, Gladwell ties the two subjects together by including that there can be a safer form of smoking. Even though we cannot help those little boys right now, we can help find a way to make cigarettes less addictive and get people to smoke less. He tries to make the chapter end better by showing how even though one area cannot really be helped another one can. And even though smoking right away may seem less severe, it affects more people and can lead to death as well. If it is possible to help one area. It is better than not being able to help any area at all.

Overall, this short passage that Gladwell uses to conclude the case study relating smoking and suicide together, is full of sadness yet hope. Some epidemics are easier to be helped than others and in both cases, the epidemics need to be brought under control in order to help the people.