Russell Brand’s “My Life without Drugs”: In-depth Analysis
Russell Brand is a well-renowned actor and writer as well as a comedian. He has been
sober and clean for ten years after battling his addiction to the schedule-one drug heroin. Russell
Brand uses his own experiences with substance abuse to relate readers to his words of support
and opportunity for help. “Russell Brand: My Life without Drugs” covers the mentality and
behavior of drug addicts or alcoholics through an array of effective appeals, strategies, as well as
literary devices. In using these strategies, he shows an excellent example of a persuasive
narrative to promote a positive drug abstinence program of his “Comic Relief, Give it up”
program. Brand effectively narrates his struggles in an essay that utilizes complex language and
persuasive appeals.
Brand describes not only his own dark past of heroin use, but also includes raw examples
such as Amy Winehouse’s death, a friend’s addiction to illegal anesthesia, and a friend’s brother’s
struggle with alcoholism. Russell was extremely affected by the death of Amy Winehouse
describing it as “painful” wishing there was something that he could have done in order to help
her with her addiction problems. He brings this same sense of empathy and compassion to every
individual that can relate to his essay. Brand continues by using an effective quote about a
friend’s addiction to illegal anesthesia. This quote provides the reader with personal examples,
“The gutter will not release its prey. The gutter is within. It is frustrating to love someone with
this disease.” The harsh comparison of addiction to “the gutter” opens the mind to visualize and
understand addiction as the horrible disease that it is. Not only is gutter a harsh sounding word,
but it is associated with filth, waste, runoff, and disease. This kind of comparison allows for
vivid and effective imagery that helps the audience to visualize intangible concepts such as
human emotion. Brand continues this creative use of language in other examples. To be precise,
the brother of his friend’s alcohol addiction shows you a more broad side of the situation wherein
the family takes more of the blame for the continued alcoholism. Not only does he include
haunting examples such as this, he uses literary tactics and appeals that give the essay an original
and personal tone. Russel uses an eloquent style of an experienced narrator as well as a first-hand
recovering addict. As far as persuasion goes Brand primarily uses two of Aristotle’s three
appeals. He also uses devices such as description, narration, claims, examples, contrasts, and
transitions to form an effective and diverse argument.
In his persuasive appeals, Russell Brand relies on ethos and pathos while equally
foregoing logos in his essay. He uses ethos in the form of primary and secondary examples to
establish the credibility of his claims and his program. He uses pathos in the form of haunting
and painfully dark descriptions and narrations of the suffering that both addicts and their loved
