The Butchers Shop and Eating Out Comparative Essay Essay Example for Free

The Butchers Shop and Eating Out Comparative Essay Essay The poems I am going to explore are ‘The Butchers Shop’ and ‘Eating out’. The two poems are loosely based around the idea of food. The Butchers shop focuses on the cruel process of killing animals to put food on our plates and Eating out looks at how the narrators’ relationship with food is affected when going out for a meal with family. In ‘The Butchers Shop’ it’s says â€Å"your cold and soggy paper parcel bleeds† The fact that the parcel is bleeding suggests that the narrator believes all meat eaters to be murderers. This is only further emphasised by use of â€Å"cold and soggy† like the cold, damp flesh of the animal who was brutally massacred just so you could have something to eat. In addition to murderous accusations, the use of direct speech â€Å"you† connects informally with the reader and makes it more personal as if by being familiar with the reader it will help them understand the narrators’ morbid views on food, specifically meat. This use of direct speech is also used in ‘Eating Out’. â€Å"I never accustomed myself to this humble I’ll have whatever your having, dear.† and just like ‘The Butchers Shop’ it’s used to show the attitude the narrator has toward food and dining and it’s also trying to get readers to empathise with their views by being familiar with them. Another similarity between the poems is in false representation of food. Whilst ‘The Butchers Shop’ false image of â€Å"playing farms† is quite transparent to anyone who has reached adulthood and can see past the cute illustrations to the gruesome blood stained butchers apron. However, in ‘Eating Out’ is a more elaborate charade of false representation. You don’t see the preparation of food in a restaurant only the artfully arranged end result which is bound to look extremely appetising. Except the pressure of controlling parents and expectations of perfect behaviour make the food â€Å"indigestible† and an outing not to look forward to. Overall, both poems have a negative attitude toward food which I believe stems from the theme of oppression. The butcher and the parents share the same role – as cruel, controlling keepers – both pigs and the narrator of ‘Eating Out’ suffered cruelty at the hands of their keepers which in turn, affected the relativity to food and what attitude is associated with it in each poem. For example, by describing how much the pigs suffered and the evil characteristics of the butcher (â€Å"smiles a meaty smile, white apron stained with who knows what†) it provokes emotion from the audience and persuades them into realising animal cruelty is wrong and therefore, whenever you buy meat you could have just killed a defenceless animal.