Responding to: Consider the Lobster

What genres of writing can you identify in Consider the Lobster?

When it comes to an overall genre of the writing, I would have to say it best fits a casual informative genre. The tone reminds me of a casual travel magazine. David Foster Wallace includes many details with his own writing flare.

What's so important about footnotes in this article? Be specific. Give an example of how David Foster Wallace uses footnotes.

Typically, when I think think of footnotes, I think of extra factual explanations. But, in this piece, David Foster Wallace furthers his readers knowledge of the regions "lingo", adn continues to use his own voice, while providing more personal information to connect with. All the while, it is a footnote providing more detailed information to the readers.

An example is his third footnote, stating, "Midcoasters native term for a lobster, is, in fact, "bug", as in "Come around on Sunday and we'll cook up some bugs."" This footnote showcases his own voice, with information that allows readers a peek into a "non-tourist-y" side of this region.

Does this article shift topics? In what ways? What does David Foster Wallace mean when he says "Consider the Lobster?"

There are article topic shifts within this piece. Wallace shifts from loactional focus, to event focuse, to food focus, then on the lobster itself.

"Consider the Lobster?" to me, seemed as though he wanted peopl to take a moment to realize the a lobster is an animal, is a species, and does share human characteristics, and some of the ways in which these animals are cooked seem unnecessarily harmful for an otherwise unenjoyable event.