123 School Work

Fast Food Nation

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  Exiting the highway, the golden arches of McDonalds' symbolize a quick, tasty meal only minutes, maybe just seconds, away. These arches are just one example of the predominant mass marketing of fast food establishments that are adding to the rise of an instant consumer oriented culture in America. The news reports that it is estimated that over fifty percent of Americans stop for at least one fast food meal each day. As American people see a trend of obesity and a decline in health, they can only wonder where they went wrong. Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation attempts to answer this question by going back to the forefathers of the fast food industries, sighting people such as the Mcdonald brothers. As he follows the history of numerous fast food chains, it becomes apparent that America is a world filled with over consumption and instant gratification. Fast Food Nation implies that this trend has been culminating since the invention of the first hamburger; however, Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, written in 1906, sharply questions this assumption. Although The Jungle does imply that the meat packing industries have always had shockingly low standards, it does show that America has not just recently fallen into its consumer mind-set, but instead has almost always been leaning in that direction.
       Fast Food Nation addresses the impact fast food chains have had on all aspects of Americans' lives, from their agricultural systems, to their social interactions. Schlosser credits the lack of self respect among many fast food workers, especially needy foreigners, to the demeaning working conditions that are set upon them...