Last Night At The Lobster Analysis

In Stewart O’Nan’s novel Last Night at the Lobster, the evident distinctions between socioeconomic classes correlate to the ability of societal status to either increase or limit individual agency, thus the fulfillment of the glorified American Dream. Middle-to-upper class individuals’ judgements of lower class people, particularly Manny and his employees at the Red Lobster, emphasizes the natural human inclination to make assumptions based on the superficial characteristics of appearance, profession, and presumed education level. Their unfair conclusions about Manny and his coworkers convey the societal ostracism and limitations that lower class people face. Accumulation of judgments often results in the development of one’s societal status, …show more content…
Frequent outsider judgment of the Red Lobster workers based solely on outward appearance, profession, and assumed education alludes to the tendency of these characteristics to define public perception of them. The arrogant way in which customers, particularly one mother, address Manny though he holds the manager position of the restaurant implies capacity of an unideal outer appearance to elicit less respect. Manny, physically defined as “easily thirty-five [and] double-chinned [with] cocoa skin [and] a wiry goatee and sideburns” (2), struggles to gain the recognition he deserves as a manager both from his coworkers and customers. His disheveled and flawed looks characterize his unsatisfactory and unprofessional appearance; as a result, those with whom he interacts dismiss his authority easily. Due to the inclination of human beings to judge based on looks alone, Manny’s scruffiness evokes others’ disrespect and results in his assumed inferiority. Possessing an acceptable appearance, unfortunately, often prevails over situational reality in determining a person’s respectability. One customer in particular, the pretentious mother of an uncontrollable toddler,