ipl-logo

Consider The Lobster By David Foster Wallace Summary

686 Words3 Pages

Abiral Mainali
Elliot Kaiser
ENG 101-I3
10/11/2017
Lobster do feel pain
The article Consider the Lobster, by David Foster Wallace is an excellent article because the author is considering the pain of the lobster and he is trying to show the pain it experiences. Lots of festivals are held every year in which people celebrate by having lobster as main food. Lobsters are brought fresh and then are killed alive by keeping them in boiling water or in hot vessels. This has been a part of culture now. People have been enjoying this from decades. The author has argued that lobsters, that were considered as a very low-class food back in the decade, are now one of the major dishes in the American society. The writer tries to persuade the audience that …show more content…

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 until the early 1800s lobster was a low-class food that was only eaten by the poor and institutionalized and discusses how now a days lobster is seen as a delicacy or even posh. The paper then takes a turn when Wallace begins to question the ethical background of boiling lobsters alive. Wallace brings up many points that are made on both sides of this moral battle, discussing how some say that because a lobster doesn’t have a cerebral cortex it doesn’t feel pain. He then goes on to prove that wrong by discussing how lobsters exhibit preference and graphically paints the picture of what exactly happens when you boil a lobster alive, speaking on the way lobsters attempt to escape the boiling water as you or I would do. For the remainder of this writing Wallace just continues to discuss the ethics behind eating lobster. He ends the paper on a very discomforting note finishing off by just saying that it’s best to stop the public discussion there, pointing out that there are limits to what even interested persons can ask of each

Show More
Related
489 Words | 2 Pages

The author also said lobsters require no cleaning or plucking, but are relatively easy for sellers to keep alive. Wallace then begins to question if it is right for lobsters to be boiled just for human tasting pleasure. He then said his own opinion that lobsters are extremely sensitive and shouldn’t be eaten. Wallace also discusses how some people say that because lobster have no cerebral cortex-the area of the brain that gives the experience of pain, they feel no

Read More
334 Words | 2 Pages

“Consider the Lobster,” by David Foster Wallace, explains in great detail how the lobster industry is celebrated in Maine and many other mid-coast regions. David F. Wallace mentions the region’s two main communities are Camden and Rockland whom host the festival every summer at Harbor Park with a pleasant view of the water. Camden is described to have a many five star restaurants and phenomenal B&Bs to enjoy and feast upon. Tourism and lobster are the two main industries in the mid-coast region and brings joy to people and is very lucrative. The article “Consider the Lobster” was going on its 56th Annual MLF on July 30 – August 3, 2003 and was themed “Lighthouse, Laughter and Lobster” (Wallace, 2004, Para 2.)

Read More
251 Words | 2 Pages

The essay I chose was “Consider the Lobster” by David Foster Wallace published in August 2004. The purpose of the essay is to point out the consideration and suffering of the lobster and more specifically, he uses the Maine Lobster Festival as an example. His introduction begins with the background and culture of the MLB. He even goes in to detail about the paid attendance of the festival, all the festivities that are held. From carnival rides to a parade and he even stated the amount of fresh caught lobsters (25,000).

Read More
303 Words | 2 Pages

David Foster Wallace in the article, “Consider the Lobster,” argues that the way people treat lobsters is horrible. Wallace supports his argument by questioning whether lobster can feel pain, listing and describing the different ways to cook a live lobster, and telling the origin of the lobster. The author’s purpose is to inform people that the way people treat lobster is horrific in order to report about the Maine Lobster Festival. The author writes in a sarcastic and casual tone for the readers of the Harper’s Magazine and to the public. If we look at Wallace’s question in black and white

Read More
507 Words | 3 Pages

In David Foster Wallace article “Consider the Lobster” (2004), is about his attendance at the 2003 Maine Lobster Festival. Wallace elucidates about the inevitable real question behind capturing, cooking and eating the Homarus Americanus or all the more regularly called, the Maine lobster. Furthermore, he elaborates on whether it is inhumane to boil the lobsters while they are still alive. Before we move on any further, how about we recognize that the inquiries of whether and how various types of creatures feel torment, and of whether and why it may be reasonable to torture on them keeping in mind the end goal to eat them, end up being a significant degree perplexing and troublesome. Since pain is a subjective mental experience, we don't have

Read More
542 Words | 3 Pages

Wallace also states, “It is difficult not to sense that there are unhappy, or frightened, evenif it is some rudimentary version of these feelings, “showing his way how lobsters feel when place in pot of boiling water for cook. No matter what pain is felt, from high to low, people should change their way, and realized what they are doing with the lobsters this metaphor makes the reader to feel very bad. Writer proves his point people can truly feel for the lobster that is being cooked alive. Another way Wallace gets his point across to his audience is use of ethos, where he describes MLF, when he discussed the animal’s right with

Read More
996 Words | 4 Pages

Rhetorical Analysis Essay: Consider the Lobster The lobster is a disgustingly beautiful creature, known for its delicate taste, menacing shell and controversy. In his essay, “Consider the Lobster”, David Foster Wallace describes the events and festivities of the Maine Lobster Festival and the history of the lobster to deliver a poignant message about the moral implications of killing and eating animals. Wallace is able to develop his position and vividly capture the audience’s attention through a strong use of humor, deliberate tonal shifts and a unique structure. David Foster Wallace, and “Consider the Lobster” in particular, are known for their footnotes- and for good reason.

Read More
151 Words | 1 Pages

Based off of David Foster Wallace’s essay, I believe that the only limits of a written discussion is to stay on the topic of argument. In Consider the Lobster, David Foster Wallace goes in depth on all aspects of lobster. Including, the scientific history of lobster and how it is broken down to be classified. He includes a far fetched idea of the origin of the lobster to seem to grab the readers attention and curiosity. Also, in each aspect of the lobster that was covered whether it was the MLF to the 1800s history of the lobster or the ethical system to defend suffering animals, Wallace would ask a question to include the reader into his essay.

Read More
867 Words | 4 Pages

An essay written by David Foster Wallace titled with” Consider the Lobster” reflects his own opinion and experience in the Maine Lobster Festival. Which tells the reader to consider the lobsters and their life with their feelings. The writer is mentioning some important points of consuming lobsters and how its related to an ethical issue, methods of cooking lobsters, low class food in 1800s, how lobsters are feeling pain, how lobsters behave, and their nervous systems. So in this essay, I will clarify the main points that Wallace mentioned in “Consider the Lobster”. First of all , Wallace talking about the festival and showing that Maine Lobster festival takes place in late July yearly on the western side of Penobscot Bay (midcoast trigon).

Read More
767 Words | 4 Pages

We are all familiar with the notion of “pleasure.” Simple pleasures are ever-present in our lives but complex, extended pleasures are fulfilling yet fleeting. They bring about intense experiences to gratify our desires, although they are not a necessity, in the same way slaughtering and plating an overhunted species is not absolutely imperative. However, despite my own belief that an endangered species is not to be poached upon, I commend Liz Alderman for completing “Chefs Fight for Songbird” in a way in which she successfully set key points from both sides of the arguments while also discreetly and strategically establishing and backing her own position in the feud. For those completely unfamiliar with the topic, Alderman might be able to

Read More
1736 Words | 7 Pages

Likewise, he demonstrates his discomfort about society’s acceptance of lobster’s pain and dismissal of their essence. However, in order to understand Wallace’s real intention in the essay, it is necessary to know his perspective towards modern society. By reading the Incarnation of Burned Children, it is possible to relate the society issues displayed, with considering the Lobster issues. The inability of lobsters, or the child, to communicate their pain of our careless acts is what disturbs Wallace. Therefore, he displays different examples to persuade the readers that society’s morality is corrupted and that the whole industry of boiling lobsters alive is accepted under a false premise that some animals are not deserving of protection, or are not ‘highly developed’ to feel pain.

Read More
959 Words | 4 Pages

Through our feelings, Wallace is trying to appeal to our softer side that not many get to

Read More
1527 Words | 7 Pages

“Consider the Lobster,” by David Foster Wallace, published in the August 2004 edition of Gourmet Magazine explores the morality of the consumption of lobsters through the analysis of the Maine Lobster Festival. Foster Wallace guides his readers through his exploration of the festival and general circumstances of lobster eating before evoking a sense of obligation to the creature’s well being. His gentle slide into the ‘big picture’ through his causal argument wades readers into the depths of his thoughts through the power of storytelling until they are left with no choice but to engage with their own perception of the act with skepticism. Ultimately, the passage commands readers to reexamine their own consumption of lobsters regardless of

Read More
991 Words | 4 Pages

When I read this sentence in David Foster Wallace’s essay “Consider the Lobster”, I felt a distinctly physical sense of repulsion and empathy: “Lobsters don’t have much in the way of eyesight or hearing, but they do have an exquisite tactile sense, one facilitated by hundreds of thousands of tiny hairs that protrude through their carapace.” The phrase “exquisite tactile sense” is what really struck me, not because it’s a particularly special phrase in and of itself but because it was placed in the passage after terms like “live dismemberment” and “knife-in-the-head method” had been thrown out for the reader’s consideration. I can’t help but think that Foster Wallace did this intentionally as a way of emotionally skewering the reader; all I

Read More
1205 Words | 5 Pages

The anonymous boy reveals his illiterate, ignorant, and underprivileged attributes as he struggles to realize the definition of oyster. He hollers, “A strange word! I had lived in the world eight years and three months, but had never come across that word.”, to indicate the unfortunate inability to purchase or be educated. ‘Eight years and three months’ describes a long period of time where the boy by now should realize the meaning of oyster already because oyster is a common food that people generally consume it. The boy then curiously asks his father what oysters mean, but his father lethargically answers, “It is an animal . . .

Read More

More about Consider The Lobster By David Foster Wallace Summary

Related Topics

Open Document