Daniel Frederick

Honors 1000
Doctor Hudson
10/14/2015
Too Much To Handle
I woke up in a hospital bed hooked up to more machines than I could count. I began to
piece together what had happened. America had made me wealthier than I had ever imagined;
wealthier than I could manage. I was also lonelier than I could handle. Americas prosperity
combined with the individual citizens lack of tolerance to ruin my existence. To tell the story
best, I must start with my journey to America.
I held onto the railing of the massive steam boat to steady myself and avoid becoming
sick again. My journey to America was proving to be a difficult one, but hopefully not one taken
in vain. At that point, I didnt think anything could have been worse than continuing to live in
Italy under the rule of the tyrannical Mussolini.1 I couldnt help but imagine how the journey was
for my father, who traveled to America when I was a child to get extra money for our family.
He worked in New York on a shipyard. The money wasnt exactly pouring in, but everything
helped. My family and I often received letters from him about the poor living conditions.
Whenever the other Italian Americans got sick, they rarely got better, he said.2 He also couldnt
help but notice all of the young children working on the street corners.3 It seemed like they were
out at all times of the day regardless of school or curfew. The most striking thing he shared with
1 Philip V. Cannistraro, Fascism and Italian-Americans in Detroit, 1933-1935, The
International Migration Review 9, no. 1 (Spring, 1975): 29-40.
2 John Horace Mariano, The Second Generation of Italians in New York City (Boston: The
Christopher Publishing House, 1921), 41. Italians in New York City had nearly double the
mortality rate of Americans from respiratory diseases and diphtheria.
3 Mariano, 50. Children were found to start working as early as 3 years old, and mostly women
were working at a young age.
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us was the great number of fellow Italians that were unable to read. Italians were everywhere,
they were unavoidable, but half the time you met one they couldnt read!4 No matter what I
remembered from my fathers letters, I couldnt resist what America had to offer. After all, I was
going to Detroit, not New York, to work in the Henry Ford Automobile Factory.
Soon, we began docking. The ship docked in New York, and, fortunately, I was able to
move through the immigration process fairly quickly. I got on a train destined for Detroit and
become lost in the landscape as it flew by outside the window. Before I knew it, I had arrived at
my destination.
I went to the automobile factory as soon as possible, stopping only to drop off my luggage at my
new apartment. Only once I arrived did I feel how truly enormous the factory was. As I was
taken on a tour of the factory, the leader told us exactly how enormous. The factory in total
consists of, ninety-three buildings covering more than fifteen million square feet.5 The tour
leader also gave out manuals to all job seekers. The manuals provided information for basic
living and how to get the most out of the job. However, the most incredible information was
about the profit sharing. It is stated that if an employee can simply lead a, clean, sober and
industrious life, he is eligible to receive a share of the profits starting after six months of work.6
This profit sharing totals to five dollars a day!

44 Mariano, 57. Italians had not only the highest number of immigrants over the age of 14,
1,690,376, but also the highest rate of illiteracy, 53.9%.
5 Scott Martelle, Detroit: A Biography (Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2012), 101. Henry
Fords River Rouge plant is the plant this quote refers to.
6 Ford Motor Company, Helpful Hints and Advice to Employes (Detroit: Ford Motor Company,
1915), 8.
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I began work immediately. Luckily, I already had a rudimentary knowledge of English so I did
not have to take the additional year long course Ford offered to workers.7 During my first six
months I made plenty of money to survive, however, I was hungry for more. I couldnt have
waited a second longer to be part of the profit sharing. The money was all I had.
The Americans seemed to detest all immigrants, they claimed they only came to, dilute
tremendously [the] national stock, and to corrupt [the] civic life.8 It was nearly impossible to
have a social life, or even to leave home for that matter, without having dozens of eyes glued to
you. Society as a whole claimed to desire a melting pot, a meshing of all cultures, but individuals
didnt seem to reflect this principle.9 I dressed, behaved, and talked like an American as best as I
could but I was still seen as a dumb Italian. So, unfortunately, I filled the social hole with greed.
I worked as much as possible. I followed the instructions in my Ford manual and stored my
money in the bank where it generated even more money. I had more than double the amount of
money compared to anyone I knew, even though I hardly knew anybody. I was content to watch
the money pour in for some time, but eventually even greed subsided and only boredom and
sadness were left. That is, until I met the friend I couldnt get rid of.
Heroin. Heroin was gaining popularity in the city for being a cheaper, better alternative to
morphine.10 I tried it for the first time while visiting a small Italian community. It was an
amazing experience unlike anything I had ever felt before. We took it in the afternoon and I rode
7 Ford Motor Company, 31-32.
8 Ellwood P. Cubberley, Changing Conceptions of Education, edited by Henry Suzzallo
(Cambridge: The Riverside Press, 1921), 15.
9 Erica Moretti, Teaching to be American: the quest for integrating the Italian-American
child, History of Education 44, no. 5 (2015): 652-653. This article says there were essentially
three schools of thought on how to handle immigrants. First was to completely remove their
culture, second was to blend all of the ethnicities, and the third was to selectively include cultural
heritages. It is my belief that most individuals utilized the first school of thought and this made it
difficult for immigrants to fit in.
Frederick3

the high until I went to bed. Then I woke up the next morning. As soon as I got out of bed I
wanted more heroin, I needed more heroin. I began using heroin every day. I would often buy
copious amounts of it at once, expecting it to last me some time, only to use all of it the day I
bought it. Heroin was so cheap it was impossible to resist buying all I could. Even with my new
dirty secret, I still had more than enough money to thrive.11
I initially limited my use of heroin to my home, but soon I was even using it at work. My
daily routine began with an early rise, a coffee, light breakfast, and an injection of heroin. I
would do some chores and relax before I prepared another injection and left for work. At work I
usually managed to last until lunch break before I felt the need to inject again. I would finish my
work day and return home to eat and relax with a third and, usually, final injection of my beloved
drug,
One particular day I woke up late, late enough to rush out of the door without getting my
first injection. I compromised this problem by preparing a much larger injection for my lunch
break. Work was hell, and I hastily ate my lunch as it was the last thing separating me from my
injection. I readied the vein, and slowly injected the wondrous drug into my body.
And thats all I remember.
The five dollar day made me incredibly wealthy but the citizens made it all worthless. I
turned to drugs because of the pleasure and accessibility. The city had no shortage and the drug
was cheap. The citys riches and citizens disgust was my eventual downfall.

10 Jill Jonnes, The Rise of the Modern Addict, American Journal of Public Health 85, no. 8
(August, 1995): 1157-1162. This article states that heroin was getting more popular in the early
20th century and that most of the users were young men working ordinary jobs.
11 Megan E. Patrick, Patrick Wightman, Robert F. Schoeni, and John E. Schulenberg,
Socioeconomic Status and Substance Use Among Young Adults: A Comparison Across
Constructs and Drugs, Studies on Alcohol and Drugs 73 (September, 2012): 776-778. This
study shows that people with higher income are more likely to use drugs.
Frederick4

My character began his journey with wonder and excitement at America only to settle in
and become depressed at his inability to assimilate. His depression caused him to turn to drugs
which he used to solve his problems. The risks with drugs are often high and through his abuse
he overdosed, barely surviving. His career is over and to the city he becomes only another
statistic.
Works Cited
Cannistraro, Philip V. Fascism and Italian-Americans in Detroit, 1933-1935. The International
Migration Review 9, no. 1 (Spring, 1975): 29-40.
Cubberley, Ellwood P. Changing Conceptions of Education, Edited by Henry Suzzallo.
Cambridge: The Riverside Press, 1909.
Ford Motor Company. Helpful Hints and Advice to Employes. Detroit: Ford Motor Company,
1915.
Jonnes, Jill. The Rise of the Modern Addict. American Journal of Public Health 85, no. 8
(August, 1995): 1157-1162.
Mariano, John Horace. The Second Generation of Italians in New York City. Boston: The
Christopher Publishing House, 1921.
Martelle, Scott. Detroit: A Biography. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2012.
Moretti, Erica. Teaching to be American: the quest for integrating the Italian-American child.
History of Education 44 no. 5 (2015): 651-666.
Patrick, Megan E., Patrick Wightman, Robert F. Schoeni, and John E. Schulenberg.
Socioeconomic Status and Substance Use Among Young Adults: A Comparison Across
Constructs and Drugs. Studies on Alcohol and Drugs 73 (September, 2012): 772-782

Frederick5