Consider The Lobster By Davide Foster Wallace Summary

In his article “Consider the Lobster”, David Foster Wallace uses the Maine Lobster Festival as a medium for his argument regarding the ethics of eating lobster. Wallace frames his article as a conversation just to get people thinking, but a deeper look at his rhetoric shows that he is arguing against the inhumanities of eating lobster, while doing everything he can to avoid sounding like he is taking a stance.

Everyone has an opinion when it comes to animals being killed and eaten. If a person agrees or not is completely their own opinion and will not be the focus of the essay. David Wallace’s essay “ Consider the Lobster,” is used to address perspectives of varying opinions while trying to persuade the reader. The author accomplishes this throughout the essay through the excellent use of multiple rhetorical techniques. Rhetorical devices such as ethos, lothos and pathos are all used in the essay to convey the author's opinion and try to convince the reader to choose a side.

Wallace’s use of changing viewpoints adds to what he originally wants to do, which is to give the reader a chance to pick which side of the argument they want to be on. The author not only gives the reader different views, but he also changes his tone throughout the piece. By adding dynamic shifts in his writing, he includes the reader and gives a better feel for what this article is really about. This sentence stands out due to the fact that Wallace talks about the positive aspects of what occurs during the festival throughout the beginning of the article. This includes not only the amount of lobster that is being

In Consider the Lobster David Foster Wallace discusses the morality behind consuming Lobster. He opens this reading by discussing the Maine Lobster Festival where over 25,000 pounds of fresh-caught lobster are consumed each year and continues with Maine’s lobster industry. Wallace advances by defining the word lobster and points out that lobsters are basically giant sea-insects. He also goes on to explain the history of the lobster, describing how up

“ I contemplate this latter possibility: It could be that their lack of endorphin/enkephalin hardware means that lobsters’ raw subjective experience of pain is so radically different from mammals’ that it may not even deserve the term pain.”(63). In this example Wallace is using reasoning and research to uncover pain as a lobster perceives it. His use of research as well as controversial views really invigorates the reader and convinces him to think more deeply about his views of pain and the pain experience. “Ultimately, the only certain virtues of the home-lobotomy and slow-heating methods are comparative, because there are even worse/crueler ways people prepare lobster.”(63). Wallace also argues the point that our pursuit of cooking lobster humanely is rather pointless when most of the world outside of America cruelly breaks the lobsters apart while they are alive and cook them. The technique of comparing the issue throughout the world greatly changes the tone of the essay and makes the logic of boiling lobster seem much more sound. “After all, isn’t being extra aware and attentive and thoughtful about one’s food and its overall context part of what distinguishes a real gourmet.”(64). Here Wallace changes his focus from the lobster to the gourmets who speak so highly of this food. He is trying reason as to why these people who pride themselves on being experts are being so ignorant to an issue which is relevant to them. Changing the focus also puts the reader in a different mindset where he is considering himself as the gourmet and trying to reason as to why ignoring this issue would be

In “Consider the Lobster,” David Foster Wallace asks his readers to consider if eating lobsters or other animals is ethical. He describes how lobsters show a preference to not be boiled by their efforts to avoid or escape the pan. He argues that this preference is proof that the lobster suffers or feels pain. However, he ignores the fact that the same argument can be made about plants. While working in landscaping, I discovered that grasses produce a chemical in distress right before they are cut from a lawnmower or attacked by insects. This shows that the grass prefers to not be cut or eaten just as the lobster did. As humans, we must eat either plants or animals to survive. If both plants and animals feel pain and show a preference to live,

In the essay, Consider the Lobster, by David Foster Wallace, a point about morality with regards to animal abuse is brought up. Much like minorities in America, lobsters are considered to be the lowest tier of the animal society. The main point about the essay is to alert people about the issues of torturing animals just for the sake of our humanistic pleasure. What is socially acceptable as normal behavior is not always the most ethical or moral behavior. At the beginning of the essay the author describes an annual tradition in Maine, the Lobster Festival.

I was approximately 7 or 8 years old when the smell of gambling and blood was the air, thrilling the expectations of the spectators. The ear piercing sound of a rooster begging for mercy from his opponent. Like savages we cheered on the winner, I found myself in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. Years later, when I sit down to read, “Consider the Lobster” by David Foster Wallace, the feeling of guilt that ran through my mind made me feel uncomfortable. the Lobster are boiled alive at these festivals and as the author mentioned that, the lobster was moving in agony as he was trying to get out the pot while he was boiling alive. For the people that do not care, it is not about individual conscience but on a moral perspective. I have a simple question to ask them, can you imagine getting into a boiling pot and boiled alive for approximately 35-45 seconds? Because that’s how long it takes the lobster to die in the boiling pot. Animal Cruelty has to be stopped in both cockfights in Puerto Rico and the lobsters being boiled alive in New England or at least force people

In “Consider the Lobster,” Wallace talks about the ethical side of cooking lobsters alive. He starts his passage by talking about the Maine Lobster Festival where people are consuming a lot each year. After pointing out that lobsters are basically giant sea insects, he goes on and explains the history of lobsters. Then the focus of the passage shifts to the discussion of morality behind consuming lobsters. Wallace goes on views both side of the debate on whether eating lobsters is ethical. In the passage, he discusses how it is ethical because lobsters do not feel pain because they don’t have cerebral cortex. And he debunks the fact by discussing an experiment that lobsters attempt to escape the boiling water. Then he goes on and continues

In the writing “Consider the Lobster” by author David Foster Wallace, Foster explores, while also informing, readers about the specific animal

Throughout the course of David Foster Wallace’s essay, Consider the Lobster, he uses many different methods to try and convince his audience in fact it is seemingly inhumane to boil lobsters. Wallace proves to the reader that the proponents of the Maine Lobster Festival, home of the World’s Largest Lobster Cooker, support their style of killing the lobster by falsely arguing that lobsters do not feel pain, when in fact they do. By examining the essay, it is apparent that Wallace is writing to more than one audience. One audience that he is writing to is the readers of Gourmet, the magazine that this essay was published in. However, it is important to note that this essay is also being written to those people who would not have read the magazine otherwise, that is the people that who are purely reading this article because it was written by Wallace. Because there is such a broad audience, it is nearly impossible for every piece of evidence given to effect each read the same way. Below I will examine a piece of evidence that appeals to only one audience, as well as evidence that does in fact appeal to both.

Nonetheless, it can be debated that taking care of innocent creatures commands an even higher level of social responsibility. As a result, Alan’s animal crimes are perceived

Lobster, launched at TechCrunch Disrupt 2014 in London as a marketplace for social Instagram and Twitter photography moves forward to help anyone with a public social media account be potentially discovered by media and bloggers.

Despiteall of the differences and diversitieswithin the human race, we all share one universalflaw: We’re selfish.Throughout the history of human existence, people have been strivingto satisfy their own personal needs at the expense of others. Judas sold out Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, Europeans enslaved Africans for productivity, Columbus seizedAmerica fromtheNative Americans, etc, etc. Human selfishness is the reasonwhy youbuyanew pair of Nike’s, but ignorethe fact that children in sweat shops suffer for your fashion preference.Or why your wife wants a diamond ring, while knowingthat families in Africa are slaughtered in diamond mines. As members of an individualistic society,weare brought up with the notion that our own well being must be our first (and sometimes only) priority. As a result, mostof our daily decisions are purposed for our own satisfaction. For those of you who doubt this, ask yourselves: What would I rather spend thirty dollars on? A few gallons of gas to fill my car, or the homeless manbegging for change next to the gas station?If you identify withthe first, my point is proven. Selfishness even controls the simpler processes of our lives, such as how we prepare and eat ourfood. David Foster Wallace, in Consider the Lobster, explores this example of human greed throughthe Maine Lobster Festival, where lobsters are captured and cruelly boiled as a tradition to entertain tourists. He poses a sarcastic, in-depth discussion of the brutality of this

Is it morally right to boil a lobster alive for culinary enjoyment? David Foster Wallace displays his confusion on this subject in his informative essay titled “Consider the Lobster.”. He informs you about the famed Maine Lobster Festival, where more than 25,000 pounds of fresh-caught lobster is prepared and consumed. He then goes into detail about the debate on the morality of such an event. There are a lot of questions raised in this essay, and the lobster is the focus of all of them. Wallace asks people to investigate their own feelings when he asks them to consider how comfortable it is for people to boil lobsters alive, how much pain the lobster is in when it is being prepared, and what it is like to be in the shoes of this crustacean. The purpose of this essay was to inform the people and get them to consider the integrity of our most common cooking method when it comes to the lobster.