How can you ope rationalize the concepts of the theories with direct examples from the episode

Directions:

Answer the following essay question in a 1-2 page double spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font

composition with 1 inch page margins.

After watching the Breaking Bad Season 1 Pilot Episode, How do can Strain Theories be applied to

Walter White’s cancer diagnosis, his family situation, and decision to become involved in the illicit drug

trade? How can you ope rationalize the concepts of the theories with direct examples from the episode?

Do you think crime via strain occurs in real-life, can you find a real case example?

Breaking Bad Episode Recap

Walter White,  a high school chemistry teacher, learns he has terminal lung cancer.  Desperate to secure the financial future of his family — his wife Skyler is pregnant, his son Walter Jr. has cerebral palsy — the 50-year-old leaves his second job at the car wash and teams up with a former student named Jesse  to make and sell meth. “You know the business. I know the chemistry,”  he tells his new partner, who declares Walt “a damn artist” after  sampling the first batch cooked in their Winnebago/mobile-drug-lab.

Jesse takes said sample to Krazy-8, cousin to Jesse’s recently busted  drug-dealing partner Emilio. Emilio, out on bail and convinced Jesse  ratted him out, sets up a double-cross. When a desert rendezvous with  all four turns nasty, Walt creates a chemical explosion that leaves  Emilio dead and Krazy-8 struggling to survive. Krazy-8 escapes only to  have Walt recapture him then lock him to a pole in Jesse’s basement.

Jesse and Walt then flip a coin to determine who’ll dissolve Emilio’s  body in acid (Jesse’s job) and who’ll kill Krazy-8 (Walt’s job).  Skyler, meanwhile, uses *69 to trace a suspicious call from Jesse. When  Skyler asks who this is, Walt says that Jesse is his pot dealer.

Skyler visits Jesse to tell him to stop selling her husband  marijuana. After she leaves, Jesse gets to work on disincorporating  Emilio’s body. Because he ignores Walt’s specific instructions to use a  certain type of plastic container, opting instead to pour acid on Emilio  in the bathtub, the acid completely eats through the tub, which  collapses to the floor below leaving Walt and Jesse with a bloody mess  to clean up.

At Walt’s house, Skyler poses vague questions about marijuana to her sister Marie, who thinks they’re discussing Walter Jr. Shortly thereafter, Marie persuades her husband, Hank,  a DEA agent, to scare the boy straight. Marie is breaking the law  herself, however, having stolen a pair of shoes from a store where she  felt the sales clerk was ignoring her.

In another part of town, Jesse bolts from his house after Walt  berates him for divulging personal information to Krazy-8. Walt says  they have more work to do, but Jesse begs to differ: “Coin flip is  sacred! Your job is waiting for you in the basement.” A heart-to-heart  with Walt leaves Krazy-8 confident that Walt will spare him, but when  Walt realizes Krazy-8 is conning him, he strangles the dealer.

At a family barbecue, Walt reveals his illness to Marie, Hank, and  Walter Jr. Walt balks at spending $5,000 to see a renowned oncologist.  Walter Jr., frustrated by his dad’s lack of emotion, blurts out, “Then  why don’t you just f—ing die?” Walt relents, using drug profits to pay  the bill.

Jesse, haunted by recent events, flees to his parents’ house. There,  the maid discovers a joint. Jesse denies it’s his, but his parents kick  him out. As he leaves, his younger brother, Jake, thanks Jesse for not  telling on him.

At a birthday party at his fancy home, Elliott,  Walt’s Nobel-prize winning former colleague, offers Walt employment,  saying his company provides excellent health insurance. Walt declines  the offer, later accusing Skyler of putting Elliott up to it.

Jesse attempts to cook meth but can’t match Walt’s quality. At a  family pow-wow about Walt’s cancer, Walt tells everyone, “All I have  left is how I choose to approach” having cancer; he chooses not to have  chemo. The next morning, though, he says he’ll accept treatment and  Elliott’s help.

At a chemotherapy clinic, Walt tells Skyler he’s taking Elliott’s  money but in fact, he’s using the drug-dealing profits. His chemo bills  mounting, Walt tells Jesse they need to sell meth in bulk.

Having discovered a gas mask (labeled property of Walt’s high school)  in the desert, Hank inventories the storage room of Walt’s chemistry  lab and concludes that “some meth monkey had a feeding frenzy” there.

Jesse finagles an interview with Tuco,  Krazy-8’s “badass” replacement as a distributor. Tuco loves Walt’s meth  but refuses to pay for it up front, beating up Jesse and swiping the  meth. Walt returns to face down Tuco, deceiving him with what looks like  meth, but which is actually an explosive compound Walt uses to demolish  Tuco’s office. “You got balls,” Tuco allows, and they make a deal for  more meth.

Jesse becomes outraged upon learning that Walt is doing business with  Tuco. Things turn tenser still when Walt can’t produce Tuco’s meth  order. Walt talks Tuco into a loan, albeit at high interest, so that he  and Jesse can procure the proper supplies.

Walt tells Skyler he’s going to a sweat lodge but instead heads to  Jesse’s house. He congratulates Jesse for scoring the supplies, though a  key chemical is missing. Jesse knows thieves who can steal it, but they  want ten grand. Walt suggests he and Jesse pinch it themselves.

Meanwhile, Skyler heads to a jewelry store to return a baby-sized  diamond tiara Marie gave at her baby shower. When she approaches the  owner with the gift she is apprehended and informed it was stolen.  Faking labor pains, Skyler avoids arrest and confronts Marie, who is  evasive.

Walt and Jesse pull off their heist and cook in Jesse’s basement. At  an auto junkyard, Walt delivers the new meth to Tuco, who is ecstatic  about the results. When one of Tuco’s henchmen presumes to speak for  him, Tuco viciously beats the guy to a pulp. Walt and Jesse look on in  shock. Finishing up, Tuco laughs and tells Walt he’ll see him next week.