#2 Chewing gum: The Fortunes of Taste by Michael Redclift- pg #35-70

Summary:

Thomas Adams tried making gum for months, but it took too long so Santa Anna stopped talking to Adams. When Adams went into a drugstore in New York, he overheard the shopkeeper trying to sell a young girl a penny’s worth of chewing hum. He was told that Curtis White Mountain developed it, and Adams invited a gum vending machine. He made $2 million, which would be $30 million today. When the population of people started to increase, there were higher demands. Chewing gum was mondine, yet enjoyable. It provided cheap, unalloyed pleasure and it could be shared. It celebrates a function in an immediately pleasing way. Chewing gum makers and sellers made huge profits. In the late 19^th century in American, chewing gum made a massive social transformation. William Wrigley made the marketing of gum into art. His father had manufactures soap, and it was sold from store to store. He struck the idea on having his soup, so he offered two packs of gum in the product. He then introduced a series of different branded gums in 1863 and they became Wrigley’s trademarks: Juicy fruit and Spearmint. He began to send small samples of gum to millions of people. His aim was to make chewing gum popular. He became a multimillionaire. The resin for chewing gum was fought over the jungles of the Yucatan Peninsula. The Caste War was between the Mayan Indian and the Mexicans. In the beginning, Mayan armies were winning until they took a surprising turn. During one of the wars, the Mayan armies turned around and left the battlefield. They rebelled because gum was from their land and they weren’t getting profit. They soon lost because they were affected with diseases.

Quote:

"If the chewing gum story owes something to the American interest in chewing, it also owes a great deal to the developing taste" (Redclift 38). 

Reaction:

In all grocery stores, packs and packs of gum are sold, and many of Americans buy it. As time passes by, there are more and more flavors made. I agree with this quote, because William Wrigley made the first flavored gum which was Juicy fruit and it has always been popular. Because of it's great taste, many people bought it and Wrigley became a multimillionaire.