Writing Homework Help

Readings [3]: 
1. “The Mega-Marketing of Depression” by Ethan Watters [NHR 512-32].
2. “Son,” Andrew Solomon, NHR 369-90. 
You may choose the third reading from the following: ( only choose one)
3. “An Elephant Crackup?” Charles Siebert, NHR 351-67; OR “The Power of Context: Bernie Goetz and the Rise and Fall of New York City Crime,” Malcolm Gladwell, NHR 148-164; OR “Homo Religiosus,” Karen Armstrong, NHR 1-23

This semester, we’ve had the opportunity to investigate a range of human behaviors, many of which we evaluated according to whether those behaviors seemed “appropriate,” or “normal.” In our latest article, “The Mega-Marketing of Depression,” Ethan Watters describes how an American pharmaceutical company went about changing cultural attitudes toward depression that were prevalent in Japan at the time (Watters 520). As a result, many Japanese people have now taken a drug prescribed for an illness that only recently Japanese society largely disavowed. You must use Watters, Solomon AND one [1] of the first three [3] authors we read, i.e. Siebert, Gladwell or Armstrong, to construct an essay that responds to the following question:

How do shared assumptions about what constitutes 
normal behavior affect the daily lives of human beings?

The following questions are only meant to help you get started, not to provide you a road map.

» Who or what determines what normal behavior is?
» How would the different subjects of Watters’ article define abnormality?
» Do human beings construct illnesses or do illnesses exist independently of humans? 
» Do Japanese people experience depression?
 FOUR FULL PAGES

Required: Your essays must a) be stapled; b) be double-spaced; c) have one inch margins; d) be written in 12-point Times New Roman font; e) have page numbers;