If you haven't noticed by now, I am the type of person who likes to compare what we are reading to things that are going on in this day and age. By relating things to present day I am able to make deeper connections to the text and overall have a better understanding of both the reading, and why the issue is still apparent today. Hope this makes some things clearer for you too!
One of the parts that stood out the most to me from the Cecilia Valdez reading was when Cantalapiedra forced himself to throw up all of his food that he had just eaten in order to be able to eat even more, just because he wanted to. As many people know, the same thing happens in the book/movie "The Hunger Games," where the rich people of "The Capital" eat so much that it is a normal action to empty your stomach many times just so you can eat all that you want. I find it quite horrifying in both instances that the people well-off in society are so wasteful and careless. In both places there are people of lower societal status that are going hungry and often starve to death. People are living day by day while the rich eat and eat, all in close proximity to each other.
I also see that same connection in today's society. While it is definitely not on the same scale as in the two previous examples, there is still a lot of wastefulness in society. Everyday people, especially those of us in the U.S., take for granted that we always have fresh water and food available to us. We go to restaurants and order more food then we can eat, where it then goes into the trash. I myself am guilty of this, which disturbs me as I think about it. People all over the world are going hungry everyday, yet we throw food out because it goes bad. Overall, it really makes me think about how society has really hasn't changed over time. Granted right now we do not waste food in that extreme of a way, but we make up for it in other places. During that time, it was a socially acceptable thing to do, but as we look back we see it as cruel. Many believe people nowadays to be better educated and successful than those of that time, yet we do just a much careless wasting.
"The Hunger Games" was the first thing that came to mind when I read that part about Cantalapiedra. And, I have to admit, earlier I threw away half of my dinner and didn't think twice about it.
ReplyDeleteYou said, "During that time, it was a socially acceptable thing to do, but as we look back we see it as cruel. " I would argue that it still is socially acceptable. We do it all the time, and nobody criticizes somebody else for throwing away the leftovers. Everybody knows it's wrong and everybody wants to end hunger, but food gets wasted just as much as it did back then, and nobody does anything to stop it.