"To be a mass tourist, for me, is to become a pure late-date American: alien, ignorant, greedy for something you cannot ever have, disappointed in a way you can never admit." (Wallace 2) Wallace feels alienated from the Maine society for which eating lobster is traditional and unquestionable; he identifies with the desire of tourists, who are also alien to this experience, to enjoy it without having to deal with or consider consequences; and he also points out that humans are alien from lobsters and therefore cannot understand the extent of their suffering.
