Professor Corryn Smith 

American Literature

October 16 2017

Whitney Houston, A figure that is still impacting the world even though  she is not living any more. Whitney Houston has been an influence for everyone, no matter the gender, the age or the color; she has been the light in the darkness of many. She inspired everyone to look forward to their passions, to pursue their dreams and most of all to never leave faith behind. Winner of two Emmy trophies, Grammy’s and Billboard awards really make her be a known public figure. Houston was in the peak of her career, but sometimes being at the peak means being alone. Whitney Houston felt alone for many years, she tried to find a solution for it and her solution was drugs. Her downfall was due to drugs, the excess use of them to her to be at the front cover of many news articles and magazine. Until one day, the front cover was of Whitney Houston’s death due to drugs.

Success has been part of Whitney Houston life since being a little girl. Houston sang frequently at her church; Whitney has been known for her great voice, a talent that her family and her considered that came from God. Houston made a change in the USA; On January 27, 1991, while the United States was at war in the Persian Gulf, Houston performed "The Star Spangled Banner" at Super Bowl XXV to a record 79 million viewers.

During a time when the country seemed divided by the war, her searing, heartfelt performance seemed to unite a nation at least for a few minutes. (CNN) Touching a heart with music is not that easy, this means that touching a whole nation is some of the biggest challenge, and we can proudly say that Whitney Houston was able to do that. Successful  was always present in her career, but sometimes she was not in the front page because of her music. Whitney Houston was slowly falling from the peak of her career.

Media, the responsible in how your point of view to an event will be. Whitney success took her to be in the spotlights. Media many times covered various events in Houston’s life;  One that had the biggest impact was the one of her death.  Many people ask the question about the way in how the media handled Houston death. Before her death media had already done an extensive record in Whitney’s drug abuse. “This is something that everybody saw coming,” Tompkins said. The media influenced her death because they were showing and telling the audience how Houston was becoming addicted to drugs; that with time they were killing her.  "The biggest devil is me. I'm either my best friend or my worst enemy." Whitney Houston said. Whitney knew she was harming herself, but that was the only solution she found for depression. Even though Houston was in rehab several times she was not able to control her addiction. (People Celebrity). Her downfall was covered by media by looking at her past, by looking at her addictions and mental states.

Allusion as a literary device is when an author brings another event, character from another story to be part of his story. In Hamlet, by Shakespeare we find the literary device of Allusion being used. We find frequent use of Allusion in the play of Hamlet; a case of Allusion is when Shakespeare talk about an event of the Bible. The character that bring the literary device of Allusion is Hamlet’s Ghost.  Hamlet Ghost’s quotes the bible when he spoke about the serpent and eve. The purpose of Allusion with this quote is to compare the character of Gertrude and Claudius. He said  “As the serpent seduced eve and brought death to Adam”.The use of the word ‘as” is the key of telling us that he is comparing both characters. Meanwhile, Houston in many part of her life talked about events  in the Bible. She was even a gospel singer and many times she performed in her church as a kid. Whitney Houston lead a bible study during 1999. Whitney death was because of drugs, she caused her own destruction. The apple were the drugs, depression and loneliness was the serpent and she was eve.

Life sometimes will not end as how we expect; but isn’t it about to live life away from expectations? Being successful in music brings many negative aspects, loneliness is one. Not handling depression and loneliness are going to be downfalls to singer/artist career and life. That happened to Whitney Houston, she was not able to manage the loneliness that came with her career, she striked rock bottom with the addiction to drugs. Drugs took her to her death, the same day she had a Grammy event. Even though her tragic downfall was due to drugs; her music was left to touch and inspire everyone. At the end people and media have to focus in her positive aspects, because they are greater than what lead her to her tragedy.