“The Most Dangerous Job”: A Look Into The Dangerous Jobs In America
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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