Summary Of Considering The Lobster By Alice Water

Do we eat to live, or live to eat? Food is essential for our survival, but people do not pay attention to the ethics behind the food that they consume. In “Considering the Lobster”, David Foster Wallace aims to regard and think about what people consume. Similar to the idea of Alice Waters, the famous American Chef and owner of Chez Panisse, he explores that eating is a political act that is present in every single choice that people make about food matters. He attempts to criticize the actions of MLF, the Maine Lobster Festival, and open people’s eyes to the cruelty that happens to lobsters. He emphasizes the pain of the lobsters and focuses on their cooking process. In addition, Wallace writes describing the agonizing pain that lobsters feel when they are boiled alive. In addition, he argues that through people’s eyes, lobsters are not considered meat. Wallace brings up some controversial topics about animal rights that so many people tend to avoid. In other words, Wallace is asking people to be aware and think of what they eat. He uses some of rhetorical strategies that get the reader thinking of the feelings of the lobsters.

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Wallace describes the pain in which the lobster may experience. He writes, “Lobsters do not on the other hand, appear to have the equipment for making or absorbing natural opioids like endorphins and enkephalins, which are what more advanced nervous systems use to try to handle intense pain. From this fact, though, one could conclude… that lobsters are maybe even more vulnerable to pain…” (Wallace 7). He writes this to make us think that the food that we sometime consume, can experience pain. Like politics, we must understand what hardships took place to get to the point for example where a law is passed. He wants the reader to be aware of what he is eating and not just eat it for the pleasure but rather be considerate and open minded to what the food on his plate