Analysis of the writing style of David Foster Wallace’s “Consider the Lobster”
Introduction
In David Foster Wallace’s latest collection of essays, Consider the Lobster, it is essential to note conspicuous fact that the author is a strange person. At one point within the collection of the essays, he notes that much of the trauma he underwent, as a child were results of the critical and excessive attention to the concept of the English grammar. This integrates effectively with the concept of unusual biographical resume consisting of 1088 pages, tennis prodigy, mathematical genius, drug addict, and cult hero. These components leave one to wonder on the approaches and styles of David Foster Wallace in the development of the Consider the Lobster essays. It is essential to ask whom the person and his style in the analysis of his work in relation to the development of Consider the Lobster. In this research paper, the focus will be on the writing style and techniques of David Wallace in relation to the presentation of the themes and objectives to the relevant reader. David Wallace implements writing techniques such footnotes, parenthetical, cultural criticism, profound uniformity, effective choice of words, contradictory irony, and narrative skills in the development of the novel.
Analysis
In the analysis of David Wallace’s writing skills, it is essential to compare and contrast the techniques with Stephen King’s in the creation of the stand. King focuses on the promotion of fantasy and fictional themes in the development of the novel following the development of the short story in the form of Night Surf. The novel seeks to demonstrate relationship among the three sections or parts: Captain Trips, on the border, and the stand. The creation of the film illustrates the ability of the author or writer to apply similar setting with reference to the production of the lord of the rings. In this fantasy novel, King integrates several writing techniques and skills thus essential for analysis in comparison to David Wallace’s techniques.
David Foster Wallace adopts and implements various writing skills and techniques in the development of Consider the Lobster. Foster Wallace concentrates on filling the pages of his book through integration of endless array of footnotes, parenthetical notes, and conclusions to various essays within the book (Rodinger p. 18). Other styles integrated in the aspect of footnotes include interpolations and footnotes of footnotes. He has the tendency of over-clarifying concepts and activities within the development of the plot thus essential for effective and adequate description of the situations leading to the folding of the events in relation to the essays. This tendency sometimes seems grating and virtually unreadable. Despite this notion, David Foster Wallace focuses on the provision of rewards to the readers who have the ability to grasp the concepts under illustration. This is through integration of the humorous aspects of the essays in the microscopic print. This is evident in the illustration of the concept of Cannabic Solipsism to refer to the aspect of the adolescent pot-smoker’s terror. David Foster Wallace’s main and genuine desire is to make the reader comfortable through implementation of writer’s authority. The motive behind the implementation of excessive self-annotation is to communicate with the readers effectively and efficiently. This compares to the writing style of Stephen King, in writing the stand, where he indicates that it is essential to read a lot in order to have maximum or sufficient knowledge on the topic of concern. This illustrates the inclusion of the footnotes and interpolations.
David Foster Wallace (DFW) also integrates the concept of cultural criticism in the development of most of his essays in the context of Consider the Lobster. His writing skills and techniques make it difficult to point the America’s woes without becoming too accusatory. This is because of the aspect of incorporating politics and culture in the development of the essays. Few individuals want to read on why political apathy is bad. It is also essential to note that few individuals would like to read why eating animals like in the case of lobster are cruel acts. It is also not effective to focus on the problem with modernity like in the case of David Foster Wallace. This indicates that David Foster applies cultural criticism in the development of the essays in Consider the Lobster. It is also ineffective to focus on the criticism aspect of the essays following the integration of the styles and techniques by David Foster Wallace (Rodinger p. 27). The author adopts this mechanism to enhance effectiveness and efficiency of Consider the Lobster. David Foster Wallace integrates this concept through grasping of the predicament adequately thus failing to express it in the development of the essays. This technique enhances communication with the reader thus grasping of the main content of the essays. This also relates to the concept implemented by Stephen King in writing the Stand. The main idea behind these two novels is the intentional writing for criticism. This enables the writer to enhance his techniques through increased attention by the target audience.
Another concept in relation to the writing skills and techniques by David Foster Wallace in the development of Consider the Lobster is the integration of eclectic and lack of uniform profound in the context of the essays. This is evident through diversity and variation in the subject matters of the essays leading to the development of the plot of Consider the Lobster stories (Kelly p. 271). The topics or themes of the essays range from the aspects of hilarity of Kafka, titular mediation in relation to ethics of carnivorism, and unapologetic garishness to the porn industry, to the trip of the Maine Lobster Festival. Most of the short stories in the novel or in the collection of essays are entertaining. They play critical role in the development of the entire book focusing on the subject matter of Consider the Lobster. One of the essential roles of the short stories such as Kafka and Updike is to facilitate punctuation of the collection with the aim of providing the reader with critical insightful information on the content. This is an integration of variety of concepts to gel towards provision of the critical insight to the reader on what to expect from the subject matter of other relevant essays. This is also a similar concept in the development of the novel, the stand, by Stephen King. It is essential for the writer to avoid unnecessary information in the writing of the novel. Despite this notion, the stand is a little shorter in comparison to consider the lobster.
In the presentation of his ideas in relation to the context of Consider the Lobster, David Foster Wallace adopts and incorporates tow hefty pieces. These pieces include authority and the concept of American usage and the “Up Simba”. Incorporation of McCain’s presidential bid and the concepts of the United States lexicography illustrates this aspect effectively and efficiently hence the opportunity to enhance communication with the reader. In the case of McCain’s presidential bid, the author focuses on the questions relation to his charisma and the turnout of the young voters during the election exercise. He uses this concept with the aim of achieving two goals. The first goal relates to the ability and capacity in enhancing politics of the English language (Rodinger p. 28). The second aspect is to achieve the goal of rhetorical analysis in relation to the delicate argument or subject matter. One of the essential problems identified by David Wallace in relation to the focus of the audience is assuming that it is their job to learn and understand rhetorical concepts. In addressing this issue, David Wallace adopts essential style in entailing footnotes of about a half-page with the aim of enhancing the understanding of the audience in relation to the question or subject matter. He achieves his goals and objectives in the context of displaying the Garner’s ability in the presentation of the imperceptible lines in the context of rhetorical modes. This makes it essential to laud David Wallace in relation to the development of the prose to facilitate the transmission of the information and enhance communication or interaction with the readers of the essays. Stephen King also focuses on the political and economic factors in writing most of his works. An example in this scenario is the publication of the stand. The book focuses on the political and economic background with the aim of highlighting developments within the society.
David Wallace also illustrates his genuine narration skills and techniques through description of authority and American Usage. This essay proves to be longer in comparison to other essays thus the opportunity for the author to demonstrate his narrative skills vital for interaction and communication with the reader. This is also vital for the development of the plot of the story and characterization processes with the aim of displaying subject matter effectively and efficiently. The author also maximizes the opportunity in relation to the available space in order to demonstrate his narrative skills thus improving interaction with the reader. David Wallace indicates that he is a snoot thus sort of being obsessed with grammar. This is an indication of the knowledge he has on the subject matter and vocabularies, but decides to limit the understanding of the reader on the concepts. David Foster Wallace has critical knowledge on the proper application or usage of grammar that might confuse even the technically gifted readers in the context of grasping the concept of the essays. In the process of explaining differences between linguistic prescriptivism and descriptivism, David Wallace adopts and implements comfortable casual language (Kelly p. 271). This is through minimal interference from his colloquialisms in illustration of the realm of the essays. He implements rhetorical analysis effectively and efficiently in the illustration of the concepts of the essays in the development of the novel. Narration is an essential trait and technique for the developers and writers of the novels. All writers integrate this concept just like David Foster and Stephen King in the works such as Consider the lobster and the stand.
David Foster Wallace also focuses on the implementation of various, effective connotations, and word choices thus enhancing expression patters and interaction with the reader. This is also an essential criterion in the development of the stand by King in order to enhance illustration of the themes and subject matter. His ability and obsession with language enables him to achieve quality and clarity in the presentation of the ideas to the reader. This makes it essential in the determination of the goals and objectives of each essay as he integrates clarity to enhance understanding of the concepts by the reader. This is evident in the description of Mrs. McCain’s assistant, Wendy. Wendy “is back here at the beige table eating a large Styrofoam cup of soup” is an expression of choice of words in the presentation of his ideas and illustration or description of events. This ability enables him to add weight to any news of minimal importance to significant concept (Kelly p. 271).
David Wallace also focuses on the development of a persona reflecting contradictory irony in relation to the subject matter. This is through creation of characters other than himself to pass relevant information to the reader in the process of interaction. David Wallace integrates these individuals or characters in the context of the stories thus aiming to communicate and interact with the reader effectively and efficiently. In order to minimize confrontation in the development of the plot, Wallace decides to focus on critical description of the events, but through a reflection of lack of stridency. He also integrates humane tactics to seem less preachy in the demonstration of the subject matter to the relevant readers.
Conclusion
In attempts to meet the needs and preferences of the reader, David Wallace decides to incorporate diverse writing skills and techniques. This is essential in the realization of the goals and objectives such as quality and effective development of the plot. Wallace fills most of his pages through implementation of interpolations, endnotes, footnotes, and footnotes of the footnotes. This indicates extra-elaborative skills in the presentation of the concepts and topics of the relevant essays in the context of Consider the Lobster. He also adopts and implements various subject matters to cover several essays and aspects within the society. This is essential in the process of addressing quality interaction with the reader.
Works Cited
Kelly, A.. Development through Dialogue: David Foster Wallace and the Novel of Ideas. Studies in the Novel, (2012), 44(3), 267-283.
Rodinger, Amanda, “Diagnosing David Foster Wallace” (2008). Senior Honors Project. Paper 79. http://digitalcommmons.uri.edu/srhonorsprog/79
