Questions for David Foster Wallace in regard to his essay Consider the Lobster:
- What are some factors in which you look highly upon to perused someone that killing lobsters may be a mistake in the eyes of some people?
- When looking at the different ways in which someone could kill/cook a lobster which way do you think is best for the lobster? Best for the human? Worst for the lobster? Worst for the human?
- Was there one thing that sent you over the edge that allowed you to look more deeply into why we kill lobsters the way that we do?
- Why do we look so far into the consequences of killing lobsters, when each and every day we take eggs from chickens, and kill cattle and pigs and other animals for meat?
- Would you question someone or think of them differently if you saw them cooking/eating lobster? If so, would you bring it to their attention that what they’re doing is wrong in your eyes, or would you just leave it be and keep your opinion to yourself?
- There is a lot of back and forth when talking about the fact that lobsters may or may not feel pain… if they did or didn’t would it change your view on whether or not we should be killing them for food?
- Why is this such a popular topic of conflict in new England? Are the number of lobsters substantially dropping to the point where they are going to become extinct?
- You tend to look at all of the negatives about cooking lobsters and show your favoritism to one side of this argument… would you consider foreseeing the pros in the fact that maybe killing lobsters is a good thing? Maybe it is an easier way to find a meal for some families, or maybe because there is such a large number of lobsters that killing the amount that we have isn’t putting a damper on the population left over.
Limitations of a written discussion:
Writing your thoughts on paper is a completely different experience then being eye to eye with someone and allowing your thoughts to be heard and your expressions and emotions to be seen. You begin to limit your range of thoughts because you base each thought off of what you currently just said. And yes, you may do that when speaking too, but when you are having a face to face conversation with someone you allow yourself to receive feedback or answers right away which then leads you to more, in depth, on the spot thoughts or questions. When preparing a written discussion, you cannot observe the audiences body language, or see their reaction to a specific part in your piece. On the other hand, you cannot fully understand the emotion the reader has behind his or her argument. Another limitation is you tend to lack foreseeing both sides of an argument and lean towards one side more than the other because again, you are focused on what you believe and miss out on the importance of receive on the spot feedback to your own thoughts or opinions. One way I might anticipate my audiences’ questions when I write may be to go over the pros and cons to my argument but also overlook the other side of the argument that I may disagree with. This will allow me to point to both sides of the problem and understand why they may see it a different way. Another way may be to use specific evidence and facts to back up your claim so you can have another reason for your argument to be strong.
