Consider the Lobster
Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace at first appears to be a article of a man first experience at a lobsterfest but turns out to be an exposé on human cruelty to animals and our insensitivity. Foster in the beginning of the article is just retelling an experience he had in Maine at the festival. Then the article begins to turn into more of a “shame on you” to the people of Maine as they basically abuse these animals for entertainment. Foster obviously has an issue with how this fest is treating the lobsters and the inhumanness of it. His main issue being that the lobsters are still alive when they are cooked as it is the customary way to prepare lobster. I myself understand why he would be upset but I personally don't see it that way. Maybe for some who are just becoming aware that this is how lobster is prepared could have a problem with it but I have been aware since a young age because I love cooking. This is really not very different from other animals that are breed and raised to be slaughtered. As food it is unfortunate but most people actually cook lobster in a much more humane way. Because lobster is such an expensive dish it must be cooked fresh, but one way chefs and cooks are being more humane is by cutting into the lobster so that it doesn’t suffer in the boiling water. Aside from all the biases in this article, this work is actually a pretty good guideline for how we should write our project 2. By exploring a new community and giving our honest thoughts, we create thought provoking work much like David Foster.
