lobster salad

[Peter Jiong]

[FONT=&quot]I always think those people fortunate who are content to stand by the ten commandments, knowing exactly how to conduct themselves, and propped up by the hope of Paradise on the one hand, and by the fear of a cloven-footed devil with pincers, on the other…… But we who answer Why to the crude Thou Shalt Not, are like sailors on a wintry sea without a compass. Reason and instinct say one thing, and convention says another. But the worst of it is that one’s conscience has been reared on the Decalogue, and fostered on hell-fire—and one’s conscience has the last word. I dare say it’s cowardly, but it’s certainly discreet, to take it into consideration. It’s like lobster salad; it’s not actually immoral to eat it, but it will very likely give you indigestion....

From Mrs. Craddock[/FONT] (set in the late 19th century) by W Somerset Maugham[FONT=&quot]
What does the underlined sentence mean?

What does "it" and "lobster salad" refer to?[/FONT]

 

[emsr2d2]

I'm about to go out so I don't have time to scroll back through the piece and work out what that "it" refers to. Someone else will.

"Lobster salad" is literal. It's a specific dish. See HERE.

 

[Rover_KE]

"Lobster salad" is literal. It's a specific dish.

... and an expensive one at that – but delicious, and not renowned for causing indigestion.

 

[GoesStation]

... and an expensive one at that – but delicious, and not renowned for causing indigestion.

Not nowadays. I imagine dishes made from cold, cooked shellfish were considerably more dangerous in the late nineteenth century, before refrigeration.

 

[GoesStation]

I can't make out exactly what it was supposed to refer to. The sense of the sentence is clear enough, though: the speaker thinks it's wise to consider the possibility that hell exists.

 

[Peter Jiong]

Since it is wise for the conscience to be "reared on the Decalogue, and fostered on hell-fire", why is "the worst of it"?

 

[GoesStation]

Since it is wise for the conscience to be "reared on the Decalogue, and fostered on hell-fire", why is "the worst of it"?

I don't quite understand the question. Why is "the worst of it" what?

"The worst of it" is the thing that's most difficult to accept.

 

[Peter Jiong]

But the worst of it is that one’s conscience has been reared on the Decalogue, and fostered on hell-fire—and one’s conscience has the last word.

 

[jutfrank]

I think it refers to what one's conscience is urging you to do.

Lobster salad is a metaphor of the situation of taking a decision that goes against what your conscience is telling you to do.

In this sense, 'conscience' is used with respect to its having been reared on the Decalogue.

 

[Peter Jiong]

But the worst of it is that one’s conscience has been reared on the Decalogue, and fostered on hell-fire—and one’s conscience has the last word.

Why is it the "worst of it" that the conscience has the last word?

 

[jutfrank]

Because he's really not happy with that. He really wishes it were not true.

 

[Peter Jiong]

Do “reared on the Decalogue” and "fostered on the hell-fire" mean the same thing?

 

[GoesStation]

Do “reared on the Decalogue” and "fostered on the hell-fire" mean the same thing?

No, but they're referring to the same upbringing.

Reared on the Decalogue: raised with frequent reference to the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament of the Bible.

Fostered on the hell-fire: raised with frequent reference to the threat of eternal condemnation to the constantly-burning Hell described in the New Testament.