Discovery is inherently a challenging and transformative process that predicates personalised enrichment, broadening one’s perception of self and the world governing them. This is evident in Robert Gray’s poetic anthology Coast Road: Selected Poems (2014), as “The Meatworks” (1982) and “North Coast Town” (1985) congruently explore the transience of nature in commercialised societies, and expose the abhorrent reality of industrialisation. Similarly, Ursula Le Guin’s short story The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas (1973) captures the culmination of humanity’s immorality in the provocative discovery of human sacrifice, presenting substantial psychological and ethical dilemmas. Therefore, both texts reveal the didactic nature of discovery, whereby adversity ultimately expedites our understanding of the human condition. [112] The transformative capacity of discovery testifies to the indispensability of capitalizing on seemingly detrimental confrontations to refine discernment on social practices. The hellish setting of the “Meatworks” is vicariously exemplified in the synaesthesia of “the hot, fertilizer-thick, sticky stench of blood,” denouncing the industrial indifference to scruple shown in the degenerated standards, facilitating the confronting discovery of humanity’s culpability. Gray criticizes the consumerism of the late 20th century as he delineates the extent of Australia’s flourishing consumerism and avarice, where “working with meat was like burning-off the live bush
Being confronted with the reality of a desensitised society advances one’s self to a heightened awareness of that reality. ‘The Meatworks’ exhibits this idea through the disregard for non-human life as seen when directly exploiting pigs to earn a living. The enjambment Gray employs within “But I settled for one of the lowest paid jobs, making mince, the furthest end from those bellowing, sloppy yards. Outside the pigs fear”. Along with first person and high modality expresses how both physically and mentally uncomfortable the persona is with being more involved with the slaughter, revealing his standpoint as a humanist, empathising with the pigs. Gray delves further into this empathy, directly describing the result of desensitisation in “arm-thick corkscrews, grinding around inside it, meat or not… using a
In the short story “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” by Ursula K. Le Guin the theme is that in order to be truly happy, one must stand up for what’s right, even if it means leaving everything that they know. Society creates traditions and ways of thinking that are not easy for everyone to follow. In Omelas, the citizens have the choice to ignore the suffering of a child locked in a cellar, or leave the life and the city they are familiar with. The people of Omelas must ask themselves whether it is better for a child to suffer for the city’s happiness and wealth, or should the city suffer, just to give the child a shot at happiness? It is ironic because Omelas is a
In addition to his solutions, Pollan’s modern narrative sheds light on the façade of our food industries; asking us to rethink what we know. Despite the mention of certain inhumane acts in All Animals are Equal, Pollan takes us one step further to uncover the reason for which we continue to purchase our corrupt food. We all know animal abuse exists, but the average consumer like myself is more worried about the best price and the fastest way to get a burger rather than how fairly the animals are treated in the process. Whether it be the confined living space of chickens or the mental and physical torture of pigs, we continue to blind ourselves from reality. Is it purely out of selfishness? Or are we too ignorant to come to terms with our wrong doings? Like Pollan explains, it takes seeing the abuse before the shame of our disrespect can be felt (pg.6). After seeing Pollan’s truth, I might now think twice before eating out and the choice to support organic produce can make a dramatic difference for those farmers who promote the ethical lifestyle.
Alienation, starvation, neglect and abuse are all words that invoke unfavorable connotations and are treatments that no person would ever want to be subjected to. Living in those conditions is something that most people choose not to think about let alone witness with their own eyes. By not seeing it, they find it easier to pretend it doesn’t exist. In the short story “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” Ursula Le Guin writes about a city that from the outside looks like the perfect utopian society – a rich culture that is full of laughter, joy and peace, devoid of any violence, poverty or social inequities. Beneath the surface though hides a very dark secret that bares the true nature of Omelas. The citizens of this ostensibly flawless
The process of discovery refers to the perception created upon experiencing the unfamiliar and redefining what is familiar. Discovery can be achieved through unexpected means or deliberate expeditionary, whether it be tangible or a fragment of our thoughts/imagination/emotions. Poems ‘The Tiger’ and ‘Young Girl At A Window’ by Rosemary Dobson and poem ‘Invictus’ by William Ernest Henley thoroughly explore this concept via their ideology of human nature and its effect on discovery.
Robert Gray is an Australian poet whose work is closely linked with nature. He grew up in the post ww11 era, and lives on the north coast. The poems ‘The Meatworks’, and ‘Flames and Dangling Wire’, express how he feels about life, his experiences and his beliefs. His poetry has such an enduring nature because it can be understood in so many different contexts, and includes universal themes which remain relevant to societies past, present and future.
Ursula le guin's the ones who walk away from Omelas brought us an issue about happiness: could the happiness built on the suffering of the other be called as happiness? morally speaking, this utilitarianism mind-set of majority's interest over the sacrifice of individuals idea is wrong because human beings can not be evaluated like an object: the life of every individual is meaningful and it is the freedom of himself to decide his own destiny. however, in the daily practice, we find that people keep calculating the strength and weakness in order to achieve the best outcome. unfortunately, we have to reluctantly admit that life is a trade-off itself.
Discoveries can be confronting and provocative. From this, we can be exposed to disturbing images that make us question our societal values. In ‘The Meatworks’, Gray quickly establishes this unwelcoming nature of discoveries through the explicitly derogatory description of the abattoirs processes and it’s accompanied workers. This is evident through the use of provocative imagery in “arm-thick corkscrews, grinding around inside it, meat or not”. From this depiction, we are exposed to the merciless treatment of the of the +pigs as they lose their identity. The fact that the machine never stops grinding whether there is meat in there or not denotes such a sense of insensitivity towards the process, causing the reader to feel distressed and guilty of the slaughter. A degree of insensitivity is also presented to the reader through the recurring motif of blood, an idea that is central to the poem. “Stench of blood…chomping
Despite almost a century separating two publications on the meat industry in the United States, the works of Upton Sinclair and Eric Schlosser contain eerily similar accounts in attempt to expose the dangers behind our food. These shocking revelations exposed by Sinclair and Schlosser have forever changed the way our nation views its food. Sinclair 's The Jungle and Schlosser 's Fast Food Nation discuss the topics of factory conditions and their safety, prevalence of immigrant workers, the conditions of animals and their health, and the corruption behind large corporations and the federal government. These overwhelming similarities have caused Schlosser to be compared to his predecessor Sinclair. Although each reading contains many similar elements, Sinclair and Schlosser had different intentions for the public reaction to their works.
Have you ever been in a rush, low on cash, and looking for something to eat so you didn’t really have a choice but to grab a burger with fries at your local fast food place? Have you ever paused or stopped to think about where the burger really came from, or the process that went in to be made? The Food Inc documentary investigates and exposes the American industrial production of meat, grains, and vegetables. Robert Kenner the producer of the film makes allegations in this film and he explores how food industries are deliberately hiding how and where it is our food is coming from. He emphasizes that we should find out where our food comes from and why is it that the food industry does not want us to know. Food Inc. does not only uses compelling images, such as hundreds of baby chickens being raised in spaces where they do not see an inch of sunlight, it also includes the speeches and stories of farmers, families, government officials, and victims of the food industry. The four current problems facing today’s food industry are the reformed usage of the false advertisement within the labeling of products , mistreatment of farmed animals, and the harmful chemical in our meats. The documentary Food Inc uses very persuasive tactics that demonstrates strong elements of pathos, ethos, and logos make an effective appeal, while uncovering the dark side of the food industry.
In “The Way of All Flesh” the author Ted Conover describes his experience working as an undercover USDA inspector in a meat packing plant. He shows how extremely grotesque the industry really is by providing numerous examples on the health and treatment of animals, the conditions of the meat, and the health and treatment of the employees. Conover shows the reader what it is really like in the slaughterhouse by using descriptive language. Throughout the article Conover brings up the treatment and the conditions the animals are put in. Conover supports his arguments by appealing to the reader’s emotions, by making the readers feel sympathetic for both the animals and workers.
In the early twentieth century, at the height of the progressive movement, “Muckrakers” had uncovered many scandals and wrong doings in America, but none as big the scandals of Americas meatpacking industry. Rights and responsibilities were blatantly ignored by the industry in an attempt to turn out as much profit as possible. The meat packers did not care if poor working conditions led to sickness and death. They also did not care if the spoiled meat they sold was killing people. The following paper will discuss the many ways that rights and responsibilities were not being fulfilled by the meat packing industry.
In “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” by Ursula Le Guin, the informally-speaking narrator depicts a cookie-cutter utopia with perpetually happy citizens that sing and dance in the music-filled streets during the Festival of Summer. However, under one of the beautiful public buildings lays a child, no older than ten years-old, who lays in its own excrement. Although the citizens know the emancipated child is there, they refuse to act upon the child’s suffering, for their happiness depends entirely on the child’s abominable misery. Through ethos, the narrator illustrates this utopian society with a casual tone and frequently asks the audience for their input. Le Guin’s fairy-tale introduction of the story establishes her credibility through her extensive knowledge and understanding of the people of Omelas. Le Guin utilizes logos through the narrator’s second person point of view which incites the audience to draw their own conclusions about the city of Omelas and question their own justifications of the child’s existence. The concept of the happiness of many relying on the necessary suffering of one forces the reader to question their own morals and their justifications for the child’s physical and mental condition. Through ethos, logos, and pathos, Le Guin presents the contrast and divide between the citizens of Omelas and the child in the cellar in order to challenge the reader’s capacity for moral self-conception.
To truly understand a great novel and its author, the reader must dig deep inside the life
The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas is a short story written by Ursula Le Guin. In her story, Le Guin creates a model Utilitarian society in which the majority of its citizens are devoid of suffering; allowing them to become an expressive, artistic population. Le Guin’s unrelenting pursuit of making the reader imagine a rich, happy and festival abundant society mushrooms and ultimately climaxes with the introduction of the outlet for all of Omelas’ avoided misfortune. Le Guin then introduces a coming of age ritual in which innocent adolescents of the city are made aware of the byproduct of their happiness. She advances with a scenario where most of these adolescents are extremely burdened at