Here is the essay that the class has begun to write, combining an independent thesis with text/film/etc presented in class:
Far From the Tree: Exploitation in the Modern Food Industry in Ursula K. LeGuin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” and Tarsem’s The Fall
Food is essential for human life. In times of war and times of peace, in times of mourning and times of joy, people need food. What if one could no longer trust that the food one eats is safe? What if the food on one’s plate is grown by people who do not make enough money to maintain a decent standard of living? Behind the majority of the food on one’s plate is an industry that exploits its workers and produces food that is not safe. This essay will focus on destructive practices used in industrialized food production and the consumer practice of looking the other way in Ursula K. LeGuin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” and Tarsem’s
The Fall.
These practices are often accepted, ignored or reconciled not only by corporations, but also by consumers. One sees this in action in LeGuin’s “Omelas.” This particular society depends on the suffering of a child in a dark cellar so that its utopian society can thrive. Every citizen at some point of his or her life is made aware of the suffering child, and therefore must find a way to deal with that knowledge. Some seek the comfort of reconciliation for their own sake, acknowledging the child's suffering but ignoring it at the same time because they find comfort in their lifestyle and fear its destruction, for "they know that if the wretched one were not there snivelling in the dark, the other one, the flute-player, could make no joyful music" (LeGuin 588).
