Analysis Of Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation

On January 17, 2001 Eric Schlosser, a contributing editor at the Atlantic Monthly and author of Reefer Madness, depicts “The Dark side of the All-American Meal” in his novel Fast Food Nation, one of TIME’s 100 best nonfiction books. In the novel, Schlosser employs many different rhetorical strategies throughout the chapters to inform and convince his audience of the scandalous nature of the fast food industry. Schlosser describes the unseen truths of industry in order to dissuade not only the American public, but all supporters of fast food. He writes to all members of society who eat fast food, so that he can alert them of what is happening beneath the surface of one of America’s most profitable and private industry’s. Chapter five is divided

“-dependence upon public land and resources”(Schlosser 112) is an understatement. Schlosser starts by stating that Simplot’s father was a homesteader, and his family was provided land by the U.S. government (Schlosser 112). By making the audience aware of the fact that Simplot’s family was given free land, Schlosser embeds the idea that Simplot is dependent on the government for his success. This theme is subtly repeated throughout the section. Simplot built his home on federal land “built a cooker in the desert” (Schlosser 112); He used federal resources to further advance his business “When J.R. Simplot needed timber for a new warehouse, he and his men would just head down to Yellowstone and chop down some trees.” (Schlosser 113); He capitalized on the United States entrance in World War II by selling food to the military (Schlosser 113); He used his inside relations with the U.S. government to buy potato farmer’s land and mining outposts (Schlosser 113). Schlosser emphasizes on Simplot’s ability to create such a vast empire and seemingly resents Simplot and other pioneers of the fast food empire for having the opportunities the people of today do not

Schlosser repeatedly stresses the idea that the Idaho potato farmers are so economically dependant of the fast food industry that they are essentially slaves. Schlosser compares the relationship to feudalist “rural England”(Schlosser 118). Schlosser also notes that potato farmers are losing their land (Schlosser 118), and also has a professional in the topic claim that they will “‘wind up sharecroppers*’” (Schlosser 119). Schlosser’s quote from an expert helps establishes credibility in the claim that the farmers are essentially slaves. Schlosser use of the hourglass metaphor (Schlosser 120) is extremely powerful because it demonstrates how much much influence the fast food industry has on the suppliers and consumers. Schlosser includes the ambiguous statistic within the hourglass of “two million ranchers and farmers”(Schlosser 120) to “two-hundred and seventy five million consumers”(Schlosser 120) in order to further prove that the corporations have all the power in this