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. The footnoted structure of the essay is very deliberate and very …show more content…
He also distances himself from an argument by presenting factual information, but reiterating his position as an observer rather than an expert. Throughout the essay, Wallace keeps himself at the forefront of of the argument; he uses names like “your correspondant” to emphasize his position as the eyes and ears of the reader- creating a relationship between the author and audience. “For 56 year the Maine Lobster Festival has been drawing crowds with the promise of sun, fun, and fine food. One visitor would argue that the celebration involves a whole lot more.” David Foster Wallace places himself in the essay before it even begins. The consistent appeal to the audience and their relationship to the MLF affirms their belief that he is a reliable source- and Wallace makes sure the audience understands he knows his own biases and misunderstanding in both the main portion of the essay as well as the footnotes. Footnote 6 is particularly important for judging the ethos of the writing. The audience sees the clear bias in the observations but rather than ignore his own preferences, Wallace explicitly states why he holds these views and that the audience should be aware of this, strengthening the trust between author and audience. He also uses the footnotes to build his own understanding and awareness of the topic. The footnotes serve as a both a break from the essay, …show more content…
The beginning of the essay, the tone and diction are both lighthearted and inconsequential- full of basic observations and details. As the argument progresses, the tone shifts to be much more serious, even the footnotes hold a more serious perspective and address more insightful issues. Even in the moments of sincerity, Wallace builds a place of non-threatening engagement, reassuring the audience that he is not an expert either and any decisions about the consumption of meat is an individual one. Such is evident in Footnote 14; Wallace explores the linguistic trends in naming food, then immediately identifies himself as a non-expert by restating that is is just a theory and asking about “biblio-historic reasons” that could unravel his whole
Rhetorical Analysis of Jon Krakauer’s “Into the Wild ” Jon Krakauer ’s purpose in writing Into the Wild is to recount Chris McCandless’ journey, physical and metaphysical, from college in Georgia to his death in Alaska, through the use of factual, and anecdotal evidence. Krakauer uses factual evidence to establish that he is a trustworthy narrator capable of giving the reader a realistic scope on the events in the story. Jon uses anecdotal evidence to see into Chris’ psyche from the various perspectives found in the book’s excerpts, including how Jon understands the events.
Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals is a book about persuasion. Foer seeks to convince his readers to take any step in reducing what he believes is the injustice of harming animals. To achieve this, Foer employs many persuasion techniques and often changes his approach when he targets specific groups. His strategies include establishing himself as an ethical authority and appealing to his readers’ emotions, morals, and reason.
Wallace, David Foster "This is Water" Kenyon College Commencement Speech 2005 The general argument by David Foster Wallace in his work "This is Water" is that sometimes the most obvious realities are the hardest to comprehend. More specifically, he argues that thinking negatively is not a choice but a natural setting and we need to start thinking cognitively and outside the box. Wallace performs this speech for a group of graduating college students to prepare them for the future life they are about to embark on. He includes the grocery store example so that the reader's can connect to the story because they have gone through that situation themselves; he is trying to connect to the audience.
Emily Montes de Oca Professor Donaldson SPC 3230 June 14, 2016 Rhetorical Analysis: Finding Nemo Disney movies are really well known for teaching kids valuable life lessons in a way that they could understand. Finding Nemo teaches the importance of family and how to face your fears for those that you love. The movie focuses on two fish, Marlin and Dory trying to find Marlins lost son Nemo after fishermen took him. Since Nemo is the only family Marlin has he is very protective over him, and before he was born he grabbed on to, what was only just an egg at the time and said, “I will never let anything happen to you”.
Ericsson tries to reference values or experiences that she has shared with the reader to try and connect our arguments, to help show that the reader shares the same beliefs
David Foster Wallace uses a combination of rhetorical literary devices and modes of persuasion to convince his audience, Kenyon College’s graduating class, that in their adult life it is not only important, but necessary to look past themselves and view the world without themselves at the center. If they do not do so, it will cause them daily misery and pain when having to interact with people when they are tired or bored. Wallace is able to persuade his audience by first gaining credibility with them, so they are more willing to listen to what he has to say. Then, he uses logical reasons as to why they should not put themselves above others in their lives, and solidifies the lesson through emotional appeals that most of the class can relate to and use to grow from. Throughout his speech he uses a variety of rhetorical tools to persuade the audience further, such as his use of anaphora, and syntax in the way he presents his ideas.
For example, Wallace attempts to place his audience
In a future totalitarian society, all books have been outlawed by the government, fearing an independent-thinking public. Fahrenheit 451 is a futuristic novel, telling the story of a time where books and independent thinking are outlawed. In a time so unenlightened, where those who want to better themselves by thinking, are outlawed and killed. Guy Montag is a senior firefighter who is much respected by his superiors and is in line for a promotion. He does not question what he does or why he does it until he meets Clarisse.
In the essay, “The Death of the Moth”, Virginia Woolf uses metaphor to convey that the relationship between life and death is one that is strange and fragile. Woolf tells the story of the life and death of a moth, one that is petite and insignificant. The moth is full of life, and lives life as if merry days and warm summers are the only things the moth knows. However, as the moth enters it’s last moments, it realizes that death is stronger than any other force. As the moth knew life seconds before, it has now deteriorated into death.
“What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages? (79)”, this quote is from the book, Lord of the Flies by William Golding.
Katha Pollitt, in her essay, “Marooned on Gilligan’s Island: Are Women Morally Superior to Men?” addresses the topic of how difference feminists actually weaken women. Difference feminists believe that women are morally superior to men. Pollitt was invited to sign a peace petition, but realized it was actually demeaning to women.
“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
In Animal Farm, George Orwell warns how power will often lead to corruption. Napoleon was placed in a position of power after Major died, and he slowly starts to lavish in his power and become addicted to the lush life of a dictator. When Napoleon first becomes a leader, he expresses how everyone will work equally, but as his reign goes on, he shortens the work hours. At the very end of the novel, the observing animals even start to see that pig and man had become the same. The irony present in the above example, illuminates how regardless of how much a ruler promises to maintain equality and fairness, the position of power that they hold, will corrupt them.
The complexity of the essay relies on determining if Wallace is only against
In the excerpt from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, rhetorical devices such as appeal to pathos, imagery, and simile helped create suspense when Christopher had found out about his undead mother. By creating suspense, it gives the reader a certain feeling of wanting to read more to figure out what would happen next. The author appeals to pathos by announcing Christopher’s undead mother. As Christopher had said, “Mother had not had a heart attack.