A Comparison of Appalling Meat in The Jungle by Sinclair and Fast Food Nation by Schlosser Essay

Appalling Meat Most people in this country eat meat for 2 out of 3 meals each and every day. Would you continue this practice if you knew about the horrendous conditions at meat packing plants? To understand these conditions look at two sources- Sinclair's The Jungle, written in 1900 and Schlosser's Fast Food Nation that verify that conditions in meatpacking plants are atrocious. Though they were written 100 years apart, these sources show us that not much has changed in the meatpacking industry if fact, some conditions are even worse nowadays. Though The Jungle and Fast Food Nation were written almost 100 years apart, many similarities can be found in the meatpacking plant conditions as chronicled in the two works. First a crowded work place causes problems. In The Jungle this is shown when the author describes the small space the slicers have by " a line of dangling hogs a hundred yards in length and for every yard there was a man working as if a demon were after him." (Sinclair 2). In fast food nation this is shown where they talking about meatpackers often work with in inches of each other wilding large knives (Schlosser, 174). Second the fast pace is dangerous. In The Jungle Sinclair notes that the pace is like that of a football game. "They worked with furious intensity, literally upon the run" (Sinclair 2). In fast food nation the author talks about injuries from the fast pace. " I could always tell the line speed by the number of people with lacerations coming into my office (Schlosser, 174). Also the set up of the plant is not safe. In the jungle Sinclair talks about hogs hanging above people's heads, " There was a double line of them each dangling by a foot and kicking in frenzy and squealing (Sinclair 2). In Fast Food Nation the steer were also hanging overhead. " Carcasses swing so fast along the rail that...