Analysis of David Foster Wallace's Lobster Festival Essay

Purpose of the first two paragraphs

1.  How would you describe the purpose of the first two paragraphs?

2.  What is Wallace referring to with the metaphor “the nerve stem of Maine’s lobster industry” (235)?  Why use this particular metaphor?

3.  Comment on this phrase on the top of 235:  “. . . Route 1, whose summer traffic is, as you can imagine, unimaginable.”

4.  What is Wallace doing by writing “The assigned subject of this Gourmet article is . . .” and, later in that paragraph, “Your assigned correspondent saw it all . . .” (236).

5.  List any instances of humour in this first section.

6.  In a couple of places, Wallace tries to convey the sense of magnitude of the Festival.  Ex-plain/show.

1.     The main idea of this section contrasts two points of view about lobsters.  What are they?  Sum up the main idea in your own words here.

2.  What does Wallace mean by “the Maine Lobster Festival’s democratization of lobster” (239)?

3.  List any instances of humour.

4.  Note the use of polysyndeton on page 239.  What is it’s purpose or effect?
5.  Explain what Wallace means by “the core paradox of all teeming commercial demotic events:  It’s not for everyone” (240).  (teeming = full of; demotic = common or popular)

6.  Why does Wallace say “Nothing against the euphoric senior editor of Food & Wine, but I’d be surprised if she’d ever actually been here [at the Festival]” (240)?

7.  Check out the footnote at the bottom of page 240.  What argument does it make?  How does this argument relate to the main section?  And why does he compare tourists to insects? 

1.  On page 243, the first paragraph begins with “So then” which means “the consequence of which is” — what is Wallace referring to?  That is, the consequence of what?
2.  This paragraph is also the start of a major diversion from the “assigned subject” of the article.  Explain.
3.  What do you understand about Wallace’s style choice in the following from page 761:  “In fact, one of the very first things we hear about the MLF . . . well, to set the scene:”?  Why write it this way?  Are there similar things happening in footnote 10?
4.  In the first paragraph of 244, Wallace discusses “a kind of brittlely tolerant homeostasis” - what does he mean?
5.  In Footnote 12, Wallace uses the term “manically laconic” to describe someone’s speaking style.  Look these words up, and then try to describe what he might mean.

6.  In the first half of page 245, Wallace refutes a viewpoint about pain in lobsters (he calls it “incorrect in about nine different ways”).  Paraphrase the viewpoint and Wallace’s refutation.
7.  On the bottom of 246, Wallace expresses his personal feelings about the issue.  Why include this?
8.  At the bottom of 247, and again in Fn 15, Wallace uses the word “euphemism.”  What does it mean?  Does this exist in other languages?

9.  Explain the “spirituality-of-the-hunt” idea in the middle of 249 .
10.  What’s the “more unhappy news” in the middle of 250 ?
11.  What are the two ways of looking at the lack of “natural opioids” in lobsters regarding pain?
12.  Why include the line “I, for one, can detect a marked using in mood as I contemplate this latter possibility”?

1.     Wallace ends the essay with many questions.  Why do you think he does so?
2.       Explain the analogies/comparisons he suggests.  Look up allusions you’re not sure about.
3.      Note the ways that Wallace tries to be careful or sensitive to his audience — how does he try to appeal to their morality without turning them off?