In the essay entitled “The Sacred Conspiracy” by Georges Bataille, there is a text that says, “A world that cannot be loved to the point of death—in the same way that a man loves a woman—represents only self-interest and the obligation to work. If it is compared to worlds gone by, it is hideous, and appears as the most failed of all. …Men today profit in order to become the most degraded being that have ever existed,” (Bataille 179). Interestingly enough, the comment can be applied to the problematic relationship of the human and the animal as seen in Byron Haskin’s film The Naked Jungle.
The quote mentioned above can be applied to The Naked Jungle because when the villagers heard about the army ants coming to attack the cocoa plantation,
In Upton Sinclair’s novel “The Jungle” the use of animalistic terms and connotations in the depictions of both the people and the politics created persuasive arguments for socialism and against capitalism.
from our animality is a large question, but surely the human fear of death figures in the answer” (6). From this quote, Pollan conveys the idea that we as humans believe we are superior to animals in all aspects of our lives and deaths. Humans are not only the top of the food chain in most cases, but when it comes time to experience death, we jump to an unprovable conclusion that we experience death in a different and unique way. However, as humans we must justify the superiority of human death, otherwise the death of an animal by human hands would make that individual hunter a murderer. Pollan references the quote anticipating that most of his audience feels the same way, but he also references it because it is unlikely that a majority of his readers have actually given a deeper consideration to this thought. By highlighting this uncertainty it leaves his audience no choice, for a moment, to face this reality that mankind has formed. In his article Pollan guides his readers down the path of uncertainty by allowing his readers a glimpse into his personal convictions. For example, the comparison he forms between “stumbling upon some strangers pornography” (6) and the “trophy portrait”(6) of him posing in front of the slaughtered boar shows the disgust he felt after having time to reflect. The
The most obvious rhetorical device in The Jungle is its powerful imagery. Sinclair offers repulsive anecdotes of work in the packinghouses. His description of the killing beds in winter vividly lingers in the mind of the reader. During winter, Sinclair says, the vicious cold of the beds caused the men to “tie up their feet in newspapers and old sacks.” By the end of the day, the frozen blood of slaughtered cattle soaked through their improvised boots so that “a man would be walking on great lumps the size of the feet of an elephant.” Sinclair also claims that when workers fell into the open vats on the floor in “tank rooms full of steam,” their absence passed unnoticed, often “over...
In which he describes the encounter between a man and a mouse, consequently, the writer determinates that there is certain connection between them, and that the mouse has also capacity to have thoughts, feel love and compassion. The connection between them is compared “a child of God” and the “holy creature” (Steiner 846). The writer concludes that as conscious beings, both individuals have the same level of dignity, therefore, the use of animals as food is considered an “unforgiveable”
“In spite of today’s materialism, the love for animals has steadily increased.” (Podhajsky). Alois Podhajsky begins his book about his time with
Upton Sinclair’s often quoted remark about aiming for the heart and hitting the stomach definitely rings true when reading The Jungle. Most readers mistook it for another muckraking effort, on unsanitary conditions in the packinghouses. If Sinclair had not written the last three of four chapters of the book then it would have read much more like a social protest novel.
The Jungle portrays the many injustices that result from capitalism; including terrible working conditions, child labor, political corruption, prostitution, drinking, cheating, and crime. The title, The Jungle, acts as a symbol for Upton Sinclair’s views of capitalism as a system in which only the most corrupt can thrive in.
We have closed our hearts to animals, Costello concludes, and our minds follow our hearts (or more strictly speaking, our sympathies). Philosophy, (Costello argues) is powerless in its ability to push society in the right direction as it fails to engage with one`s sympathies. Ironically, the burden is placed on something other than one`s rational dimensions, in which philosophy so frequently refers to. Our sympathetic imaginations, to which poetry and fiction appeal more than philosophy, should extend to other animals. As readers it is our duty to be continually vigilant to the methods in which fiction and discourse structure our view to omit acts of evil that we find ourselves subconsciously engaged in.
In “A Change of Heart about Animals”, by Jeremy Rifkin, he attempts to argues that we should protect animals because of the suffering and pain they experience. While merely glazed at the surface, this article does point out that animals do experience pain, but while dissected at a deeper level, Rifkin’s hypocrisy is exposed.
""The Art of Cruelty"" The New York Times Book Review, 31 July 2011. Web. 27 Nov. 2011.
The monkeys in Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book are a very unique group of characters. They are viewed by the other animals of the jungle, or the Jungle People as they call themselves, as outcasts and outlaws. The most prominent chapter they occur in, “Kaa’s Hunting”, shows their lawless, shiftless, and uncivilized way of life. This image in itself does not give off any racist undertones.
Throughout history, it has always been said dogs are “man’s best friend”, but what would happen if we started to hunt man’s best friend? The following two texts revolve around the controversy of hunting animals as a sport, and present themselves as two opposing sides of the human spectrum. The African Safari advertisement is persuading “clients” to come to Africa and to experience a unique safari, which revolves around the opportunity to hunt many magnificent trophy animals in the vast beauty of the country. On the other hand, the League against Animal Cruelty advertisement is informing the general public of the dangers and effects that animal cruelty can have on a society, and asks for support in their endeavor to end the sport of hunting. Though the two texts may have different purposes, in the following commentary each text’s significance of context, audience, and use of stylistic features will be analyzed and compared to one another.
(i) Plumwood tries to provide a rational for environmentalism by saying that nature, in her experience with the crocodile, provides “a humbling and cautionary tale about our relationship with the earth, about the need to acknowledge our own animality and ecological vulnerability” (Plumwood, p. 271). Maintaining an ecosystem’s integrity is important because it entails the preservation and respect of animals that may prey upon us (acknowledging our ecological vulnerability), which acts as a test for the strength of our identity of being just another animal on the earth (acknowledging our animality). She says that maintaining the environment is important because it humbles and reminds us of our place in the world—we are not above the rest of the animals, and we must be conscientiousness of the inaccuracy of our own internal narrative, which provides this illusion (Plumwood, p.
The world constantly reminds us there are practices that exceed the limits of animal cruelty. Some acts committed by man against animals are so heinous that it makes us rethink the concept of human intelligence;
Kenneth Grahame’s use of personification by having animals represent humans in many of his stories can be interoperated as an analogy for how making selfish and rash choices, can cause humankind to look barbaric and primitive, just as animals.