Analysis Of What's Eating America By Michael Polla

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In “What’s Eating America”, Michael Pollan starts off his article by providing his audience with a background on the history of corn and its production. Additionally, he goes through both the sinister and positive sides in the history of corn, all while building a connection with his audience through his utilization of ‘we’ pronouns and by having direct conversations with his readers inside parentheticals. He continues to develop this connection throughout the text in order to slowly inch the reader towards his argument, which he presents in the final paragraph of the piece as a climax to the slow buildup of facts that previously followed the main argument. In addition, he surprises his readers by drawing grisly connections between corn and Zyklon B, amongst other images, creating a visual in the minds of his readers of corn as a malicious entity. He does this in order to to bolster his argument against the industrialization of food production, placing it in a gory, gruesome frame, …show more content…

He does this so that his readers experience a rude awakening and realize that the corporations have been lying to them all this time. He first establishes a heavily-controlled relationship with his readers, only showing them what he wants them to see, through cherry-picking and the subtle manipulation of facts. He wants his audience to answer his question, “What’s Eating America?” Pollan wants them to realize that these businesses and farms that claim to be revolutionizing agriculture and saving the world are only looking for short-term profit. In the long run, these corporations are what is eating America. They consume her land, her resources, her peoples’ minds and her environment, all in the name of a measly

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