Meat In T. C Boyle's Carnal Knowledge

Ever since the beginning of human race, meat has been a primary source of food. From our ancestors hunting animals for meat, to our generation going into a fast food restaurant and ordering a cheeseburger, meat has always been a huge part of our food consumption. Today there are certain groups that look at meat industry as a slaughter house. They do everything in their power to “stop animal cruelty”, as they put it. This story, “Carnal Knowledge” revolves around this dilemma. It’s a story of a man whose perspective on meat changes throughout the story after he meets Alena Jorgensen, a Vegan.
In T.C Boyle’s “Carnal Knowledge,” he uses first person narrator to tell the story of the main character, Jim. Throughout the story readers feel as if
“Bare-legged, fluid, as tall and uncompromising as her Nordic ancestors, she blew me away, in any event. Piss-spattered and stupefied, I could only gape up at her.” This line from the story perfectly states how he felt about her upon seeing her. When a person has feelings of depression and loneliness it can be very easy for another person to come into their life and change their whole persona. The timing couldn’t have been perfect because Jim was very vulnerable at that moment and needed something crazy and exciting in his life. The reader can tell that Alena is a unique character because of her mismatched eyes. When she invites him over her house and starts talking to her, he finds out that she’s a vegan and very optimistic about animal rights. Alena went to a veterinary but then dropped out. This tells the reader that she wasn’t always an animal rights activist. Jim talks about how much he hates his work. Jim lies to her about not eating meat just to get on her good side. The fact that Jim becomes very fond of the dog and feels pity for him when he was with Alena opposed to when he wanted to kill him is evident enough that he was really into her. The fact that he was lonely made him more determined not to lose Alena. He ends up sleeping at her place. The next morning, he accompanied her on a protest march in front of a fur emporium in Beverly Hills. Here’s a guy who, less than 24