Sample Essay On Consider The Lobster

Consider the lobster essay was authored by Wallace David and was aimed at creating awareness on the constant injustices that have been done to the lobsters. This is in efforts to eat the delicious delicacies that are prepared from lobster’s meat. The targeted audience for his essay is the readers of the famous Gourmet magazine. This is because the magazine is quite common among people who like their food yet they never fail to stop and think about the food that they are consuming. It is due to this reason that led to the idea behind the publication of this essay. In the essay, there is the discussion on how they lobsters are acquired among other procedures that relate to harvesting. Storage is also discussed in the essay. This is due to how the lobsters are stored in various markets specifically to how they are prepared for consumption.
In the essay, Wallace conducts a thorough research that states how the lobsters are harvested and the area at which they are recovered which is in relation to the depth that they are found at the sea (Wallace, 2005). Specific details about the lobsters include how they think and festivals that are held for lobster eating. The festival that is however highlighted in his essay is the Maine Lobster Festival that he is seen to condemn in his essay. In his essay, the festival is compared to a torture-fest where the lobsters are tortured in terms of harvesting leading to how they are eaten. The manner in which they are treated is of great concern to him since he finds it disturbing.
The research conducted is well conducted since it is put in a way that enables the readers to fully understand the detail provided and the different areas of complaint. This is evident in the details provided where the research establishes how the lobsters’ brain works (Wallace, 2005). Further details state that despite the lobster feeling pain, they are not able to show pain since their do not have a central nervous system that enable their body to show pain despite them being in pain. This is seen to be the most disturbing part of the research despite it being a very credible point in his argument. Through the research that he provides, he proves that the lobsters are quite sensitive to heat. This leaves many questions since it clearly indicates that boiling the lobsters is inhumane. This is because it is obvious that they are exposed to extremely high temperatures that result to their death. All this inhumane action is done in order to ensure that the targeted consumers enjoy an appetizing meal.
Further inhumane behavior is also exhibited based on how people may place the lobsters in fresh water leading to a quick death since they cannot breathe in fresh water. It is common sense that lobsters are sea creatures and require salty water in order to breath. Therefore, it is clear that the unjustifiable mistakes that some people make in placing them in fresh water is very bad. The lobsters, when placed in fresh water, are slowly smoother till they can breathe no more and die.
Ignorance is also seen in other preparing methods where the lobsters are placed in cold water before boiling. Through this method, the chefs assume that there will be a better or less painful death since they will with time adapt to the changes in temperature up to the required boiling point that will eventually kill them. This method is even likely to be more painful since the accumulation in water temperature will result in serious pain since it will be forced to wait for its death longer. Other methods that have been used to cook the lobster include stabbing them on their head with knives (Wallace, 2005). This is thought to some as being an effective method that can used to put the lobsters to death.
The central message of this essay is to simply state that people need to think about the things that they eat. This is in the sense that they should consider the pain that the animals and other creatures that are being eaten have to endure to satisfy their selfless desires. It should also be made clear through this essay that there is no appropriate manner in killing a lobster since it endures a significant amount. This has been clearly elaborated through the research that the author has provided where he states that the lobsters may fail to react to pain as expected. This is not because they do not feel pain but rather because their bodies do not react to pain as expected. This is illustrated through the information that is provided regarding their central nervous system whereby they cannot send the signals to the intended areas.
It is also clear that another message that is being passed is that people should become vegetarians. This is because plants do not ensure any form of pain when they are being harvested and prepared. This is because they are not living organisms and do not have cells that react to pain compared to animals that have to be prepared. Through the essay, he tries to convince the readers not to consider different methods of preparing lobsters but rather to just consuming the lobsters. This can be clearly established through appropriately analyzing the given essay. This is due to the reasons that he provides as he finds the preparation inhumane. He further states on how he was brought up. This is how he describes his father who was a butcher and how he was brought up eating animals that his father had killed. This to them was a cheap livelihood since they did not have to purchase meat. This does not justify the killing of the animals while compared to lobsters. This is because the animals also have a centralized nervous system making pain inevitable.

References

Wallace, D. (2005). Consider the lobster. In Williford, L and Martrone, M (Eds.), Touchstone anthology of contemporary and creative nonfiction: Work from 1970 to present (pp. 525-541).  New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, Inc.