Animal, Vegetable, Miserable Analysis

Gary Steiner writes “Animal, Vegetable, Miserable” to address the questions around animal treatment. Steiner essay originally appeared in the New York Times in 2009. He wrote this essay in hopes to communicate with the general public. This is clear because it was published in a newspaper article which is intended for a variety of readers due to the company large audience. Steiner’s main claim that he is trying to make is “most people just don’t care about the lives or fortunes of animals” (771). What he means by this is that people in today’s society don’t really worry much about where their food is coming from. In fact, some people may have gotten to the point where they don’t even think about the meat they are eating was once a living animal.

He uses a lot of anecdotal evidence to prove his point in this essay. He finds that a mouse “possesses the same dignity that any conscious being possesses” (qtd. in Steiner 771). Steiner uses this example to show that animals have the same feelings and emotions as humans. He also uses some personal examples to better prove his case. One personal example is that he talks to many people who are vegetarians that are eating meat at a restaurant, but they claim to not eat red meat at home. This example makes the readers think about how crazy some people are. It’s hard to believe that some people don’t believe in eating meat but when they go to a restaurant it’s okay. This shows that society has involved into a world where everyone uses excuses which further proves his point of a “meat-crazed society”

It’s serious because he feels so strongly about the subject. The readers can determine how serious he is about the treatment of animals when he informs them that he has been a vegan for fifteen years. He also shows signs of being fed up with people when he asked “[h]ow can intelligent people who purport to be deeply concerned with animal welfare and respectful of life turn a blind eye to such practices” (771)? By him referring to people as intelligent and then countering their intelligence with that question it shows that he is a little angry. The author uses a plethora or challenging vocabulary to show that he is well versed on the topic. Some word he uses include: “purport” (770), “excoriated” (770), “scruple” (770), “anthropocentric” (770), “linguistic” (770), “abhorrent” (771), “forswear” (771), “panoply” (771), “headlong” (772), “seitan” (772), “candid” (772), “prerogative” (772) and “servitude” (772). By using all these challenging words, it makes the reader believe that he knows what he is talking about. The author uses some mental images such as when he talks about the Thanksgiving turkey never getting to see the sunlight. This paints a mental image to the reader to make them feel sympathy for the