Summary Of A Dissertation Upon Roast Pig

Joseph Cooper

ENGL-1100

Prof. Ryder

10/25/15

“The Chronicle of Roast Pig”

“A Dissertation Upon Roast Pig” by Charles Lamb is a tale about a swineherd named Ho-ti, who left his oldest son, Bobo to watch over the pigs. Bobo, of course, likes to play with fire.(coincidence?) Bobo then goes on to set the pig cottage on fire and it burns down to ashes, cooking all nine pigs with it. He began smelling something he had never smelt in the air. His mouth began to water and salivate. Bobo started searching for any alive pigs, to no avail; although, he did find a dead pig, which he stuck his fingers in. Bobo burnt his fingers and human nature took over as he put them in his mouth. He soon convinced his father Ho-ti to try it and he tasted the amazing

Here is a good example of the sensory details that were used by Lamb,

“A premonitory moistening at the same time overflowed his nether lip. He knew not what to think. He next stooped down to feel the pig, if there were any signs of life in it. He burnt his fingers, and to cool them he applied them in his booby fashion to his mouth. Some of the crumbs of the scorched skin had come away with his fingers, and for the first time in his life (in the world's life indeed, for before him no man had known it) he tasted -- crackling!” (Lamb 267)

These details are good because Lamb tells us how Bobo started to salivate as he started to smell the roasted pig and how he put his burnt fingers in his mouth to cool them off. This made me think of a time when I picked up something hot like a pizza roll and quickly put my finger in my mouth to ease the burning sensation. With this being said, the essay had weaknesses as well as strengths, if not more.

The essay was weakened because it was not clear as to why the author included the use of Latin. There was Latin used on many occasions that I do not feel was very

It seemed like he was rushing to get this essay done and needed a word requirement, so he just threw in some Latin words. It also made this part of the essay a lot more difficult to read than it had to be and already was after the narrative. This is not the only reason that weakened the essay by Lamb.

Another reason that weakened the essay and thought a weak point of it was when Lamb came out of nowhere and basically blindsided us with the topic of plum cake. “I remember a touch of conscience in this kind at school. My good old aunt, who never parted from me at the end of a holiday without stuffing a sweet-meat, or some nice thing, into my pocket, had dismissed me one evening with a smoking plum-cake, fresh from the oven” (Lamb 270)

Plum cake has nothing to do with the roasting of a pig, so this part of the essay was irrelevant and it was not needed at all. The essay would be improved if Lamb gave the readers some background information as to why the transition was