Fast Food Nation Chapter 10 (pgs 229-252): Global Realization
Respond to the following questions as you read Fast Food Nation. You do not need to write in complete sentences, but you do need to be clear and complete in your responses. These questions will serve as a basis for class discussion and may be picked up for an unannounced homework grade every few days.
1. (pg 225-229 What is the Schlosser’s purpose for telling the story about the history of Plauen, Germany?
UNCLE MCDONALD:
2. (pg 229) Why do you think McDonald’s “earns the majority of its profits outside the United States”? How is this possible when they make such a huge profit each year in America?
3. (231) Respond to the following quotation: “Simply eating at a McDonald’s in Beijing seems to elevate a person’s social status…‘we will become taller, our skin will become more white, and our hair will be blonde.’”
4. (pg 233) Comment on the McDonald’s located down the road from the Dachau concentration camp. In your response, consider this quotation: “The McDonald’s Corporation denied that it was trying to profit from the Holocaust and said the restaurant was at least a mile from the camp.”
AT THE CIRCUS:
5. (pg 234) What is the epiphany that Schlosser has about the fast food industry while visiting Las Vegas? In what way is it an epiphany, and how does it influence your understanding of Schlosser’s purpose for writing Fast Food Nation?
6. (pg 238) Consider the following: “Robert Nugent, the head of Jack in the Box and honorary chairman of the Twenty-sixth Annual Chain Operators Exchange, broke the cheery mood with an ominous, unsettling speech. He essentially accused critics of the fast food industry of being un-American.” How do you define American? What, in your opinion, does it mean to be un-American? What does this term mean in the context of the quotation?
7. (pg 238) What are “activist fearmongers”? For what is the media being blamed for, and do...