Critical Analysis Of Consider The Lobster By David Foster Wallace

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Advanced, creative, and superior are characteristics that are synonymously associated with humans. Through the creativity and advancement of the human brain people have achieved the impossible. Humans have been able to travel in space, design machines that can break the sound barrier, and present hundreds of moving images on a screen. However, despite their advancements humans forget at times that they are just a type of animal like all the other creatures that inhabit the planet earth. In “Consider the Lobster” by David Foster Wallace he pokes the reader to take a look at the way humans treat what is not only a source of nutrition but a source of festivity. Through, the eyes of Wallace the audience gets an inside view on the celebration of …show more content…
The narrative goes as far as to examine the anatomy of the lobster to determine if it is truly alive. Just as the title proclaims Wallace’s true intentions for writing the article are not to focus on the lobster but rather the way humans view the lobster and their relationship with other living things. This is just one narrative of many that exhibit guilt and critique on the relationship between humans and animals. This narrative demonstrates the worst aspect of this relationship by showing how despite holding festivities, events, and procedures to enjoy certain animals to the fullest human beings struggle to determine whether it is correct to view the harming of animals as morally correct. By analyzing “Consider the Lobster” by Wallace one can conclude that although people may enjoy celebrating, consuming, and cooking large amounts of animals they do not seem to enjoy thinking about the suffering and conscious of the animals they consume. Wallace demonstrates this first characteristic of celebration by narrating his view on a nationwide …show more content…
The event is enormous with attractions such as “concerts by Lee Ann Womack and Orleans, annual Maine Sea Goddess beauty pageant, MLF main eating tent, amateur cooking competition, and the William G. Atwood Memorial Crate Race” (Wallace 498). The festival also emphasizes the lobster by having over “25,000 pounds of fresh-caught Maine lobster consumed after being prepared in the World’s Largest Lobster Cooker” (Wallace 498).These attractions serve as a great source of revenue and tourism for the state as according to Wallace “Total paid attendance was over 100,000 due partly to a national CNN spot in June during which a senior editor of Food & Wine Magazine hailed the MLF as one of the best food-themed galas in the world” (Wallace 498). This allows the reader to visualize the enormity of the event and see just how much the lobster means to the citizens and tourists of Maine. The reasoning behind including this however may not be to idolize and praise the Maine Lobster festival it may be to show how despite all these attractions and events the main being celebrated is treated very poorly by

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