Controversy

David Foster Wallace visits a controversial and “uncomfortable” topic in the piece “Consider the Lobster”. Initially, I felt like the first couple of pages were kind of unnecessary or dragged on since he did not dive into his actual argument until page 670. After reading it over again and taking a closer look, however, I realized that the background information was important to his purpose.

Wallace builds credibility through his introduction with facts so readers can see that he knows what he’s doing. He slowly approaches his argument rather than jumping right into the discriminate ethical tendencies of our society. He does not want to scare readers away before he even gets a chance to share his point of view. This is especially crucial considering the fact that his targeted audience is the Gourmet Magazine. He knows that if he stated pointblank that their practices were unjust or that they were not considerate about their choices, the readers would feel attacked. He also relates with the reader by admitting that he is “confused” and feels “selfish interest” just as anyone else would.

While his lengthy use of footnotes might seem a bit excessive, I noticed that he brought up an interesting point on the footnote on page 674. He pushes out of the boundaries of lobster and connects to other animals that are also consumed. He questions if “euphemisms like ‘beef’ and ‘pork’ help us separate the meat we eat from the living creature the meat once was”. Although some may be unopen to the ideas that Wallace wonders of our society, his techniques of writing this piece were effective in at least making them question the morals involved in their actions.