Vegan Fiction: Political/Philosophical Approaches

There's a strong argument to be made that if we treat animals as units of commerce and deny their right to live and to be happy it makes it easier to treat people as units of commerce as well and deny the intrinsic value of life and living. Also, systems that are brutal to animals also brutalize the men who work within them and weave brutality into the fabric of society. This week, I'm posting about vegan fiction.

• The Jungle, Upton Sinclair (1906) — This is a heart-wrenchingly tragic, empathetically written, and beautifully composed story about a family of Lithuanian immigrants working in the stockyards of Chicago in the meat packing industry. It offers still timely commentary on social justice issues including food production, corporate control and graft, worker's rights, home lending, and prisons. See my review on Goodreads.

Quote: "There is but scant account kept of cracked heads in the back of the yards, for men who have to crack the heads of animals all day seem to get into the habit, and to practice on their friends, and even on their families, between times." Gene Baur also quotes this passage in his book about his work on behalf of farm animals Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food.


• The Ethical Assassin, David Liss (2007) — The assassin in this darkly comic thriller is Melford Kean is a vegan post-Marxist vigilante. There are some memorable scenes that take place at a pig farm. This is a fun book you could probably slyly share with a non-vegan.
  
  Quotes: "You want to hang out with me, you have to give up eating meat."
  
  "No, you're a normal person for eating meat, because the unchecked torment and painful slaughter of animals has become the norm in our culture. You can't be judged for eating meat. Up to this point, anyhow."
  
  "Don't be another automaton, Lemuel, who embraces a false morality while ignoring the real evil all around you."
  
  "Seventy percent of the antibiotics we use go into livestock—meat and dairy that people end up consuming...allowing bacteria to evolve into antibiotic-resistant strains. Even if I didn't care about how the animals are treated, I would still have to worry about the plague that's coming to wipe us all out." See also: The Vegan Revolution...With Zombies by David Agranoff.
  
  Listen with: The Smiths, Meat is Murder
  
  Inspired? Help here: Pigs Peace Sanctuary
  
  
• Animal Farm, George Orwell (1945) — This allegory for how workers are treated features farm animals. The plight of Boxer the workhorse who has labored hard all his life only to be slaughtered at the end (rather than put out to pasture to enjoy his remaining days) is heartbreaking.
  
  Compare with: Ninni Holmqvist's The Unit
  
  Inspired? Help here: Farm Sanctuary