Week 4 Gordon

This week I read the Words Meaning chapter of Eating Animals.  I found it extremely interesting that Jonathan Safran Foer chose to write this chapter in the form of an encyclopedia.  The section of this chapter that stuck out the most to me was Downer.  Downer explains how some animals are not taken care of properly and they can become so ill that they collapse and are not able to stand back up.  Foer uses descriptive language to appeal to the audience in the form of pathos.  For some of this book I have felt that Foer’s credibility is lacking because he seems to talk at the audience and not explain his own struggles.  Although he might tell stories he often tells stories about relatives or friends and not himself.  In Downers he explains that he really did go to the farm.  For me this built his credibility because he was telling the tory first hand and not repeating someone else’s experience.  He explains that some of the animals he has never seen besides dead and chopped up on his plate.  This made me reflect on my own life. I have had the opportunity to see animal that I eat alive and free, but it made me think of it differently when Foer explains the difference between being raised on a farm and dead on your plate.  I have still not changed my thoughts on eating meat but this chapter did make me think deeper into why I really do want to eat meat.