The first article I read was Both Errol Morris’ New York Times three-part blog essay “Which Came First, the Chicken or the Egg?". Yes it was hard to get through at times but once you finish and think about it, it is crazy how people went through so much trouble just over a pair of similar historical photographs. This article explained that Roger Fenton, a war photographer, went to the Valley of the Shadow of Death during the Crimean War and took two photographs of a road littered with cannon balls in one, and a clear road in the other. For two simple photographs; who would think it would start such a controversy in the future? I bet Fenton didn't. The problems that arose were: Which photograph was taken first? Was the one with with the cannon balls ON the road tampered with and posed? Did Fenton physically move the cannon balls onto the road to create a sense of danger to make him seem fearless or brave? Many other interesting points and questions were brought up but the author Both Errol Morris was determined to find out the truth.
The second article I read, I enjoyed much more. For one it was not as long, but also it was an easier read that left me hungry! David Foster Wallace’s “Consider the Lobster” was a dramatic difference from Morris' "Which Came First the Chicken or the Egg?" and appealed to be more, as I am a young Jersey girl, who just so happens to walk around holding 5 lb plus lobsters to display for auctions on summer nights in Sea Isle City, New Jersey. Nothing seems better then cracking open a steaming lobster fresh out the kitchen, plastic bib and all, on those warm summer nights. Although the topics and writing levels are dramatically different, that does not mean the two authors did not apply to me as being oddly similar.
Again a simply topic was taken and investigated by an author who wanted to gain as much factual knowledge as he possibly could exploring all subtopics. Wallace starts off by applying to the readers senses using great imagery discussing the famous Maine Lobster Festival that to the unsuspecting eye sounds absolutely amazing! I mean, we're talking about MAINE LOBSTER! After I read the first few paragraphs I proclaimed aloud that I would, one day, go to this Lobster Festival and consumer as much sweet crustacean meat as possible. Yet as I continued reading my idea of this wonderful Lobster Fest filled with smiling faces, sweet meat, and butter buckets as far as the eye could see, quickly changed to a grey town filled with hicks and PETA members.
We go from happy festival to, dirty-low-class-over-crowded event, to now the growing PETA people that are showing up and proclaiming that lobsters are being killed unjustly and are there to take a stand. Wallace really shows his newly found information in this section and goes into great detail about the lobster's anatomy, claims of lobsters feeling pain, and how they are being killed inhumanly. This section I did not like at all, not because I do not care weather lobsters feel pain or not, but because Wallace goes off on a tangent about "lobster rights" that I felt was somewhat away from the overall topic, even though it was a great deal important to the Maine Lobster Festival.
Both Wallace and Morris fully examined their topic and used outside sources to gain a better understanding. They both went to the actually location and talked to people there. They went to see the location of their topics so they could draw their on conclusions while also consulting many others with different backgrounds. Both authors consulted people with different views from their own so they were able to get a better understanding. Weather it was someone who believed the photos were staged, or a person who thought the Lobster Maine Festival was a cruel event that tortures helpless animals.
Both authors showed me what it really means to write about a topic and fully understand everything about it. When you explore an idea from different angles you are able to not only write a better article but you develop ideas fully and are able to grow from them.
Works Cited
Morris, Errol. "Which Came First, the Chicken or the Egg? (Part One)." Opinionator Which Came First the Chicken or the Egg Part One Comments. N.p., 25 Sept. 2007. Web. 01 Feb. 2014.
Wallace, David. "Consider the Lobster." : 2000s Archive : Gourmet.com. N.p., Aug. 2004. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.