Considering the Lobster Inquiry Analysis

David Foster Wallace is a famous writer that wrote “Considering the Lobster” published in a Gourmet Magazine in 2004. His main question within the piece is whether it is humane to boil lobsters alive for the selfish desires of a human being. Wallace writes, “Is it alright to boil a sentiment creature alive just for gustatory pleasure? Is it all just a matter of individual choice?” This is the question that is geared towards everyone that eats lobsters, especially cooks. David Foster Wallace studies the particular culture of people that eat lobsters and observes their ethics. Wallace portrays in his conclusion that eating lobsters is not ethically humane. Furthermore, he states that people should take into consideration the animals that are being killed and eaten. This article in a magazine studies a culture, whereas the “Unitasker,” written by AJ Jacobs is an experiment. The authors utilize different styles, yet have the same purpose: to inform and persuade their audience. Jacobs’ use of an experiment structured writing results in a more interactive, conversational, relaxed voice, but Wallace’s use of exploration writing leads to a more factual, informal, and mature style. Observing “Considering the Lobster,” exploration styled writings inputs more opinions, ethical, and thoughts rather than a paper written on an experiment which contains more day-to-day factual events. Half of “Considering the Lobster” contains facts and information on the chosen topic and the resulting half are observations and thoughts. Wallace writes many footnotes stating certain ideas and facts, or even side comments. The writer is set on one idea with no new information each day. For example, Wallace conveys the immorality of boiling, torturing, and killing an animal live. He reveals society’s ethics and selfish beliefs of a human being. An exploration writing contains little to no facts and mainly states results of the independent variable. Each day, the writer for this essay has new input and is continually thinking. For example, because AJ Jacobs performed unitasking for a whole month, new ideas, patterns, thoughts, and ways to focus developed. Despite the differences in style, both writings answer their own question and change the way the writer thinks long-term.