Eric Schlosser's The Most Dangerous Job

In the book “The Most Dangerous Job,” Eric Schlosser writes about his most recent trip to a slaughter house where he sees the horrible work conditions that are present. He starts off by setting the scene where the slaughter house is located and describing the building. He recalls that the building had no windows and that there was no way to see what’s happening inside. He then goes on to describe the clothes that he has to put on. He talks about the chain-mail apron and how it’s supposed to protect him from getting cut, even though knives have managed to get past it. When handed a pair of boots, he’s told, “We’ll be walking through some blood.” The author then starts his tour of the slaughter house by climbing some stairs that will take
him into the heart of the slaughter house. He states that it’s a “vast room, a maze of conveyer belts,” all carrying meat. Its 40 degrees in the room and the workers are cutting meat and sweating while they do it. He then visits the kill floor where he states, “its one strange image after another.” One worker cuts the cows in half like they are nothing. He sees one worker pull out cow’s kidneys like its nothing. Next comes the “sticker,” whose only job is to stand there and slit the throats of the cows. The author then talks about the “knocker,” the man that welcomes the cattle. The knocker, for eight hours, just stands there are shoots the cows with a compressed air gun in the head. The author finishes his tour when he sees a steer that has fallen from the chain that it was put on after being shot in the head. He describes how the steer’s head got caught in the conveyer belt and how the workers had to stop working and free the trapped steer. The very end the author describes the one window in which he says, “Through the little window you can see bright red carcasses on hooks, going round and round.” “The Most Dangerous Job” is a description of what it is like to work in a slaughter house. The author uses vivid detail to describe the horrible working conditions. At first the author doesn’t have a problem with what he sees, but after he gets farther into the tour, he can’t take what he’s seeing. At the end, it almost seems like the author is sympathizing with the cows as he watches them walk toward their fate. Many people today work in slaughter houses to make a living. I think that this essay gives a detailed look into their world so we can see what they have to go through every day. By reading this piece, people can see what goes on and maybe someone will be able to change the working conditions. “The Most Dangerous Job” is a great piece that really opens up the eyes of the readers to the horrible conditions that people have to work in.