Blog 4: Consider the Lobster

This piece starts out as a summary of the annual Maine Lobster Fest, and comes across as a typical food review, one that David Foster Wallace is writing to entice readers to join in on the festivities of this event. However, it quickly turns into an in depth look at the lobster itself, its backstory and history, which is not what one expects to be written in a food magazine, which is where this piece was published. He stops putting up what seems to be an initial facade that this is your average fine dining review and tells the truth about the scenes that one witnesses at the Main Lobster Fest, the way that everything is fairly overhyped and commercial. We don't expect this from something like a food review because we expect a food review to mindlessly praise the food, make it seem perfect and make the reader want to go to the restaurant or event and eat it. He also talks about things that seem completely unrelated, like how he hates tourists and the way that they're greedy and imposing, how being a tourist reveals the true nature of the human character, something we cannot escape.

The way that he highlights the fact that lobsters, along with other animals, are live things that we torture and then eat, and the fact that not many people even realize this or care to think too deeply about it, is something that you never see when a food critic is talking about how good a meaty dish is, let alone a festival to celebrate eating that meaty dish. As Wallace states, it is uncomfortable to think about, but this realization is incredibly important. People need to think more about what they eat and the consequences that come along with their actions, and it is so rare for someone working in the food industry to mention this because of the way that it turns people off, even angers them. This stark reality of eating something that was once live and is now dead is most visible in the process of cooking and eating a lobster, as you must boil it alive and watch it die in front of your eyes. It is one of the only things that forces people to think, "Is this okay?" as Wallace writes, because it is so obvious, where the abuse and slaughter of animals in factories is usually so carefully hidden. He goes into such gritty details about the death of the lobster, the ways that people try to make themselves feel better about the whole process by telling themselves lies, making it obvious that no, this is not okay.

Although I obviously agree with what David Foster Wallace is writing about because I'm a vegetarian, I remember reading this piece a few years ago when I still ate meat and the way that it made me feel, which was somewhat like a monster, but also understood. It really forces you to, as the title implies, consider the lobster and all of the other animals that are killed and consumed on a daily basis, along with all the forces that are working against to, trying to stop you from thinking about it too deeply. While it obviously doesn't make an omnivore feel the best about their life decisions and their previous, present, and future actions, it is necessary to cause this discomfort, to force the world to view meat as what it really is. It is difficult to get through to someone who does not want to think about the horrors of the meat industry, but Wallace is extremely successful, as I know that reading this piece definitely made me think about meat different when I first read it, despite my reluctance.

This piece goes to show that genre does not have to be one specific thing, and that any form of media can be used to prove a point and effectively persuade the reader. Authors that focus too heavily on genre rather than using it as a starting point get stuck in that box, and don't leave room for creativity or complex thought. His ability to provide extensive research about the lobster along with a psychological examination of human ethics, all framed within a food review about the Maine Lobster Fest, is impressive, and shows that a piece can be multiple things at once without seeming too cluttered or hastily pasted together if it is done right, which is something that I think we all need to keep in mind while writing.