Analysis Of Sugar Love By Richard Cohen

951 Words2 Pages

Is blood as sweet as sugar? In “Sugar Love,” Cohen delves within the history, demand, and the repercussions of sugar. He investigates the origin and the disclosed secrets of it by entailing the behind scenes of how sugar was collected, the location and the environment as well as the behaviors of others. He then ties in the popularity of sugar; how it spread like wildfire throughout the islands and how all social statuses craved it. Furthermore, Cohen embodies the kickback of sugar being blindsided by the blood of slaves and its sweet taste.
Cohen expresses the process of individuals changing their lives from bad habits to good habits. The poor health status of a school and its surrounding community is based off of the effects of sugar. A community …show more content…

For example, Cohen provided the time frame of which sugar was domesticated 10,000 years ago by the natives of New Guinea. He also explained how it rooted from island to island serving different purposes as well as how it was refined and industrialized (82-86). Additionally, he allowed the readers to connect on a personal level with Nick Scurlock by sharing some of his background, home life, and goals (82-97). As well as tying in the darker side of sugar, Cohen gave voice to the lives that were taken for sugar. He informed the readers of the 100,000 slaves harvesting sugar. African Americans replaced Native Americans when they all died out. Mutilation was a punishment and dying was a way to be free (86-87). Furthermore, Cohen obtained information regarding sugar from Dr. Richard Johnson, a Nephrologist, from Aurora, Colorado. The text states that more Americans are suffering from health issues than they were in the 20th century and 35 years ago. An increase of sugar relates to an increase risk of heart disease and diabetes. Limiting the amount of sugar can lead to a healthier status …show more content…

The possibility of neglecting to give specific detail about the violent side of the sugar industry may have caused readers to feel misinformed. For instance, the Middle Passage sounds like a cruise from one location to another. When in actuality, the so called cruise was a slave ship harboring thousands of slaves when the ships were built for a few hundred. The demand for slaves made the owners more narcissistic because they were worried about their profit instead of the slaves’ wellbeing. Cohen fails to elaborate on slaves dying in the fields, pressing house, or escaping. He overlooked going into detail about whether slaves died on the field from natural causes or whether or not their owners killed them. As well as overlooking the pressing house and escaping, did slaves die naturally or was death conflicted upon them? One may never know due to the lack of evidence and detail with the

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