David Foster Wallace’s “Consider the Lobster” article is structured perfectly in presenting the right amount of background information on the Marine Lobster Festival and offering objections and counter-objections that never come off as preachy or ham-fisted. The first third of this article is used by DFW to present the objective facts about the Marine Lobster Festival and its rising popularity with tourists. I especially liked this part because he gives details such as “Nor do they give you near enough napkins, considering how messy lobster is to eat, especially when you’re squeezed onto benches alongside children of various ages.” to me this perfectly shows the reader that DFW has experienced the Marine Lobster Festival multiple times, by giving the reader details such as this, you build a level of credibility with your audience. After DFW lays the groundwork for what the festival is, he begins offering questions of morality to the audience, questions such is it morally all right to cook lobsters alive? What I liked about this section is that these questions are often answered by both sides of the argument making the article appear objective. In addition, not until the very end does DFW offers his own personal view of these questions and how he thinks he would answers. I really liked that he saves this moment till the very end of the article. I think this article makes a pretty good argument for the need/demand for articles such as this, offering critiques and making observations about our culture and the many things that are done in it.
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