Essays on David Foster Wallace

Introduction Gourmet magazine had originally intended for David Foster Wallace to write a harmless review of the annual Maine Lobster Festival (MLF). As the essay continues, the reader notices the transition of a review of the festival into a topic on to the ethics of…

Introduction The majority of people don’t think about the process that some animals go through prior to becoming their meals. The purpose of “Consider the Lobster” was to shine a light of unethical practices being done to animals, more specifically, the treatment of lobsters at…

The stereotypical idea of a “blue-collar” job is said to be anything but attractive. One often considers blue-collar employees to lack an education. On the other hand, “white-collar” occupations are seen as prestigious. David Foster Wallace’s “Kenyon Commencement Speech” and Mike Rose’s “Blue-Collar Brilliance”, debate…

Despite being written in the early 1990s, Infinite Jest was decades beyond its time. It correctly predicted humanity’s obsession with the internet and the subsequent addiction that came from it. The novel also predicted the ability to call one another while being able to see…

Empathy Dissolving in Society In David Foster Wallace’s renowned speech entitled This Is Water, subjectivity is seen as essential to the human condition. Wallace claims that it is impossible to separate ones prior opinions, thoughts, and experiences from their current experience. Whether we like it…

This excerpt from E. M. Forster’s novel A Passage to India, is fictional, as well as modernist. The purpose of this essay is to enlighten the reader about the relationship between elements of Forster’s fiction and its modern perspective. The essay will show the reader…

In the Wallace short story “Depressed person”, it is eminent the patient does not have the channel of sharing the emotional pain experienced which intensified horror (Wallace). The depressed has a great expression of self-pity, which undermines her interaction with close friends, especially those she…

The Novelist and essayist David Foster Wallace, in the title essay “Consider the Lobster,” finds it curious that lobster is the one creature that is usually cooked while still alive. His observations leads to question our justifications for eating lobster and any other animals we…

Even though David Foster Wallace took his own life, his speech may have improved the lives of Kenyon College’s graduating class of 2005, and many others. In his speech “This Is Water” he argues that the way you choose to think can be a matter…