Wendell Berry Analysis

Submitted By slillysally
Words: 625
Pages: 3

Samantha Solari
George Smith Albert
ENGL101 - 041 : Writing Rhetorically
7 October 2014
Journal Writing 2: Berry
Biography: Wendell Berry is a successful American novelist, poet, author, environmental activist and farmer. Berry’s nature poetry, novels of America's rural past and essays on ecological responsibility grew from his experiences as a farmer. He is the author of more than thirty books of poetry, essays, and novels. The New York Times has called Berry the "prophet of rural America." In1979 he participated in non-violent civil disobedience against the construction of a nuclear power plant in Marble Hill, Indiana. Berry’s writes about environmental awareness, agriculture, and the ways people interact with nature. In 2009 Bringing it to the Table: On Farming and food was published a book of many collections and was on food and agriculture. Some of his honors and awards include fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations, National institute of Academy Arts and letters in 1971, and most recently the T.S Eliot Award. Berry graduated from the University of Kentucky with his bachelors in 1956 and his masters in 1957.
Summary: Berry writes a clear selection on the way people misuse and take food, farming, and agriculture for granted. He states that people believe they are consumers, consumers who know nothing about where there food came from, how it was grown or made, and if any chemicals were used. “The industrial eater is, in fact, one who does not know that eating is an agricultural act, who no longer knows or imagines the connections between eating and the land, and who is therefore necessarily passive and uncritical – in short, a victim”(65). Berry then gives a list of, “What can one do?”(68). He lists, “participate in food production to the extent that you can; prepare your own food, learn the origins of the food you buy, and buy that is produced closest to your home; whenever possible, deal directly with a local farmer; learn the economy and technology of industrial food products; learn what is involved in the best farming; and lastly learn as much as you can by direct observation”(68-69). Berry is saying people need to be more aware of what they are eating, and realize all the work that goes into farming. Everything is handed to them without them even thinking of all the hard work it took to produce it.
Response: