T.C. Boyle’s “Top of the Food Chain” is a narration about man’s selfish mistakes. The narrator's tone is used to show man’s disregard for organisms that have little to no benefit to them or are considered a nuisance. “The thing was, we had a little problem with the insects…” The narrator’s tone is quickly shown as selfish and works for only his comforts and is indifferent to the chaos that his choices make. The narrator, who is in charge of a group that brings healthcare to a third-world village, is shown as selfish from the first sentence. His choices to make the lives of the villagers better actually only leads to chaos on the local food chain. The “improvements” start with poisoning the flies. And then it's a chain reaction. When the geckos
that feed off the flies die, the cat population starts to diminish. When the cats are gone, the rat population is left to grow, allowed to spread disease to the humans and ruin their crops. The narrator’s tone towards these disastrous events is the most important factor used to develop his theme. The narrator assumes he is at the top of the food chain, without considering the other species, and he has no problem getting rid of what doesn’t suit his comforts. However, he is too indifferent to realize that by hurting the lower members of the food chain, he is also hurting himself. The narrator claims the “no one could have foreseen the consequences, no one” However, his tone implies that he simply does not care about anything other than what he wants. The narrator’s arrogance and belief that he can do whatever he want without it hurting himself reflects his idea the he is at the Top of the Food Chain. Unfortunately, he learns the hard way that his selfish actions turn around and hurt him in the end. T. C. Boyle uses the narrator's uncaring tone and the consequences to illustrate the idea that perhaps the food chain isn't a chain at all, but a circle.
Under the microscope of Ewen’s theory, A Bug’s Life changes from an everyday kid movie to a film riddled with identity issues. The first connection between A Bug’s Life and The Chosen People occurs when Ewen is explaining the rise of industrialism in the United States. He asserts that “For those laboring in many of the factories, industrial conditions systematically trampled upon their individuality and personhood” and that “artisan craft and small-scale manufacturer fell to an emerging economy of larger scale.” (187)
Berry does not hesitate in using harsh words and metaphors like “the hamburger she is eating came from a steer who spent much of his life standing deep in his own excrement in a feedlot”(Berry 10). This provokes the readers to feeling horrible about industrial eating. He uses our pride while pointing to the lies of the make-up of industrial foods. He plays on human self-preservation when writing about chemicals in plants and animals which is out of the consumer’s control. He tries to spark a curiosity and enthusiasm, describing his own passion of farming, animal husbandry, horticulture, and gardening. The aspect of feelings and emotions is, perhaps, the strongest instrument Berry uses in making his
“A Modest Proposal” and “Let Them Eat Dog” have a common argument that we are dealing with over population of humans and animals. Swift uses satire to make us think that he really wants us to eat babies. Foer tells us of people eating animals were not accustomed to. This can put an economical strain on everyone if we don’t use our resources wisely. Both of these articles may be elusive for some to read. Both papers touch on the topics of eating animals, economic issues, and culture.
In the book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan challenges his readers to examine their food and question themselves about the things they consume. Have we ever considered where our food comes from or stopped to think about the process that goes into the food that we purchase to eat every day? Do we know whether our meat and vegetables picked out were raised in our local farms or transported from another country? Michael pollen addresses the reality of what really goes beyond the food we intake and how our lives are affected. He does not just compel us to question the food we consume, but also the food our “food” consumes.
In the article “The Six-Legged Meat of the Future”, authors Marcel Dicke and Arnold Van Huis explain that due to the environmental effects that is caused by meat, people should begin to consume insects instead of meat. They also argue that due to the rise in production costs of livestock, the rise of human population and using insects in our food would solve some of the problems that are “associated with livestock” (Dicke and Van Huis 345. In addition, the article is not persuasive because even though both Dicke and Van Huis use statistics and evidence to establish their credibility and to build a bridge to their audience and make the audience emotionally involved, their argument is weakened by the use of fallacies.
Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle,” gave the most in-depth description of the horrid truths about the way America’s food companies, “the only source of food for people living in the city,” are preparing the food they sell. “The Jungle” describes the terrible
In “Omnivore’s Delusion,” Blake Hurst, a veteran famer, calls attention to the “agri-intellectuals” who are critiquing farming when having no experience. First of all, the author wants “Agri-intellectuals” to take a walk in a farmer’s shoes. Throughout the article, Hurst throws jabs at the people criticizing choices a farmer makes, for example, he says, “It is important, though, that even people riding in airplanes know that there are environmental and food safety costs to whatever kind of farming we choose” (4). The author says this to show his anger and suggest to these critics they should know what they are talking about before they talk about it. Secondly, Hurst points out the food animal endangerment. The author tells his readers
When viewing the atrocities of today's world on television, the starving children, the wars, the injustices, one cannot help but think that evil is rampant in this day and age. However, people in society must be aware that evil is not an external force embodied in a society but resides within each person. Man has both good qualities and faults. He must come to control these faults in order to be a good person. In the novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding deals with this same evil which exists in all of his characters. With his mastery of such literary tools as structure, syntax, diction and imagery, The author creates a cheerless, sardonic tone to convey his own views of the nature of man and man’s role within society.
Time is another big struggle for college students. I know the feeling of applying for classes because it’s tough to decide on if there’s time to get from one class to one another; also if there’s time to get a bite to eat. Wendell Berry’s “The Pleasures of Eating: In What Are People For?” article suggests taking pleasure in eating a few ways to help anyone be a healthier eater, but “time” is an obstacle for the solutions. First off, both Berry and actually Pollan suggest students grow their own food in gardens. Specifically, Berry says to “Participate in food production to the extent” and “You will be fully responsible for any food that you grow for yourself, and you will know all about it. You will appreciate it fully, having known it all
...society. Yet, bleakly and ironically, he observes that the very accomplishments that civilize us, and progress us beyond the likes of animals, indeed allow for a greater range of possibilities within human savagery. However, the Lord of the Flies is not a fatalistic statement on the insurmountable nihilism of humankind. At the novels open-ended conclusion, a thread of human diplomacy remains, however close to extinguishment by the barbarian. This fraction of hope is an invocation to humankind, so that it can find its humanity. It is a conjuring of the goodness that lies within all of us, and a plead to examine the path that we have chosen to take as a species. But above all, the Lord of the Flies is a conjecture about our future downfall made by a man who has witnessed in his life the atrocity and carnage that is potential at the hands and in the souls of people.
David Foster Wallace, and award winning novelist, student of Harvard University, essayist, and professor, is the author of “Consider the Lobster,” which is an essay that was posted in Gourmet Magazine in 2004. This essay observes the yearly Maine Lobster Festival and explains how it can and possibly is a violation of animal rights, but more specifically , lobster rights. The article has a very broad audience, which can include animal right activists, gourmet food eaters, lobster hunters, chefs, scientists, tourists who want to know about the festival, magazine readers, and even people who eat food. This is because of the fact that all of these people tie in together with eating or cooking lobster, which is the main idea of the annual festival. The class can be lower or middle class, for the people who catch and cook lobster, as well as upper class for the scientists and gourmet eaters who may eat lobster daily without knowing how they are killed. As Wallace goes more in depth with his thoughts and findings, he grasps the readers attention by mostly using footnotes, pathos, and makes the readers think about the questions he asks order to keep them informed and thinking to help process his thoughts about the Maine Lobster festival, lobster killing, and animal rights as a whole.
Many people in America love to get greasy, high calorie fast food from many places such as McDonalds and its competitors, but in the article “Don’t Blame the Eater” by David Zinczenko, he reveals the health problems associated with these fatty, salty meals. His articles are affective with its well organized layout, rhetorical appeals and tone which give it a very convincing argument. As you read through the article the author reveals the underlying problems with eating fast food and how there are no warnings of such problems posted. As a former obese child who grew up to diet and watch what he ate he sets a credible stance for the argument.
One point Berry makes about people’s ignorance is that they do not recognize their connection to the agricultural cycle. He appeals to the reader’s sense of logic when he describes the process food goes through to reach the consumer, and how eating ends it (3). He uses their sense of reason to persuade them as he continues to point out how oblivious eaters are by saying that “food is pretty much an abstract idea” to them even though they should realize it does not magically appear in the local store (4). Berry mentions that not only do they ignore how it gets to the store, but also the location and type of farms their food comes from (4). He says ...
...hy, disgusting insects. If the villagers knew what the small, disaster-riddled pests were capable of doing, then they would fear the swarm’s return instead of praising and rejoicing it.
“Don’t Blame the Eater” is an article by David Zinczenko that explains to Americans, specifically overweight young Americans, about the risks eating at fast food restaurants and its cause of affecting one’s health. In his article, he tries to address the issue about America’s food industries by using literal devices such as tone, logos, ethos, diction, and organization in order to spread his message. He begins his article by addressing the topic and as he continues writing, he supports his topic by writing about personal experience and moves onto the reasons why his topic in a serious issue. Although he shows an overall clear progress, he does tend to have a few problems with his writing that could be improved.