Week #3 Prompt

The first chapter of Eating Animals has many connections with Heinrichs' ideas in Thank You for Arguing. First off, Foer appeals to most audiences: either vegetarians or non-vegetarians, and he does this by explaining how he was raised. He talks about how him and his brother spent weekends at his grandmothers house, and she was always cooking for them. She had lived through the War in harsh conditions involving starvation, which she never wanted others to experience. Her cooking was very important to Foer and his brother; they grew up eating all kinds of food including animals. But this changed when Foer's babysitter mentioned that she was vegetarian because she did not want to "hurt" animals. All of this background info gives Foer a sense of ethos because the audience understands his character, which gives an overall understanding of why Foer goes on to explain why he would go back and forth with being vegetarian. Also, with Foer having faults with sticking to being a vegetarian, it makes him more relatable and realistic. I've known vegetarians to go back and forth its common. On page 6 of Eating Animals, Foer logically talks about how his parents taught him that "We don't hurt family members. We don't hurt friends or strangers. We don't even hurt upholstered furniture," and he goes on to say that animals should be included in this. In my opinion, Eating Animals at first was a struggle for me to read because of Foer's back and forth-ness when talking about being vegetarian. I found it irritating, but when we discussed it in class, I got a better understanding of it.