4th Honors Assignment

Michael Pollan separates his Omnivores Dilemma into three main sections: Industrial, Pastoral, and Personal. Each of these separate sections were created to show us the different types of meals Americans have, such as industrial (corn), organic, and hunter-gather meal. The reason he did this is because of the common question us omnivores have daily, "What should we have for dinner?" Each and every one of our meals falls into one of these categories.

He uses a first person perspective throughout the book. Hes the main character and goes to different places such as a farms, mills, forests, and talks about the meals he prepares. We get to take an inside look of his mind and what he thinks about when presented with different sets of information.

Honors Assignment 3

Michael Pollan comes at the situation from a food critic perspective. He strives to get the facts about what our food is really made from and inform the reader. He does a great job of manipulating the tone of the book to raise mystery and the want to learn the truth. He constantly relates new information to previous stated facts to help prevent the reader from getting loss in a sea of information.

This book is intended for the average American whose interested in what they're eating. Anyone can read this book if they're curious about the process corn has from the farm to our stomach. There is so much involved and this book can either have you proud of accomplishments with corn or shocked.

Thesis/Purpose

In Omnivores Dilemma, Michael Pollan's purpose is to cause Americans to ask themselves, "Do they know what they're eating?" and answer the question "What should we have for dinner?" Most people don't know what they're eating and the process behind it. Therefore Michael goes into detail to inform the reader about what they're really eating, and that is corn. This crop is grown in the thousands on a single plot, and plays a major role in the all of our foods.

I believe its important that we have books like this to inform our society about what goes into our food. Its sad because for the most part, humans eat everyday but more than half of them can't identify what they're eating or where it came from. This is when a book, such as this one, can enlighten people about truth about what their food.