blog post no. 6

Consider the Lobsters is an interesting piece. It was a lengthy mix of a research paper and an argumentative essay. The writer started off talking about the history of the lobster, how it got its name from the Old English language, goes into the scientific labels of lobsters, touches briefly on how they are meant to be cooked, then dives into the controversial topic of animal cruelty. It was a bit of a whirlwind, but upon further inspection, everything flows together seamlessly and every point Wallace hits has a purpose.

When he talks about how lobsters are meant to be alive when they are set to cook, and compares the way they scrape against the lids trying to escape to the way any human would react to being put into a pot, it gave me some perspective on something I had never really thought about before. It is so easy for people to be inconsiderate and assume that nonhuman lives are not really lives at all. While this is not an argument against eating meat, as I am a fan of it, Consider the Lobsters does open the eyes a bit to things that no one ever thinks about, like the ethics behind eating lobster or any other animal.

The facts presented in the piece give Wallace the credibility he needs to go one about lobsters for 7 pages, and the attention-grabbing claims sandwiched between them are what make the seemingly unimportant fun facts necessary to complete the work. Reading the piece thoroughly was required, but I’m glad I did, because I had never before considered the lobsters.