David Foster Wallace This Is Water

John M. Barry, author of Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed America, communicates his fascination with the Mississippi River by using diction, imagery, and syntax. Barry’s word choice conveys the mechanical force of the river; his use of imagery the beauty, and his use of syntax the unpredictability. Barry’s command of rhetorical devices draws the reader in and brings the Mississippi River to life.

This is Water, was a commencement speech given by David Foster Wallace at Kenyon College in 2005. Ever since this speech has been given it has become well known. Because of the length, it can be hard to read through the speech while trying to understand the whole idea of it. Wallace fills the speech with stories, examples, and vivid ideas while trying to convince these college graduates how to view life in a positive perspective. While this speech is packed full of ideas he manages to give it in a way outside of the norm for commencement speeches. Yet still gets all the information to the graduates and anyone else who listens to it.

In David Foster Wallace’s graduation speech, This Is Water, he uses logical and emotional appeals to discuss the importance of critical thinking. Wallace uses the term “conscious” to signal critical thinkers, while those who do not think critically are referred to as “unconscious.” Wallace’s main argument is that a person has the choice to think critically and should do so every day. Wallace’s analysis of consciousness and unconsciousness focusses too heavily on the logical and emotional appeals and ignores the possible ethical arguments that support the development of conscious societies, such as activism. In doing so, Wallace favours the self-interested members of the audience and alienates those who favour altruism, limiting the

1. David Foster Wallace opens his speech with an anecdote about fish and water. Metaphorically, what does this anecdote represent? What impact does it have when Wallace returns to the line “This is water”again at the end of the speech?

The Color of Water, written by James McBride is a non-fiction book that takes place in New York in the 1950’s. James tells his story of struggle of growing up as a mixed white and African American boy and his search to find and understand his own identity. He tells the story of his childhood as well as his mother’s life and what struggles she endured. She grew up Jewish and then conformed to Christianity, then marring and having children with a black man. No matter what colour James and his siblings are his mother still strived to raise them to the best of her ability in a Christ-like manner. In this book James talks explains his struggle and his siblings struggle to attempt to fit into the society. While society had certain negative expectations for James and his family because of their skin colour. No matter what struggles James and his family endured, whether it was poverty, change and transition, the cruelness of society or the struggle of living without a father they

Many people tend to become frustrated with their daily lives and start to have a negative mindset of blaming other people for their problems. In David Foster Wallace’s speech, “This is Water,” he informed the audience of the importance for everyone to know they have a “natural default-setting,” which is the automatic way that a person feels they are the center of the universe and that negative situations are other people’s fault. He also discussed the importance of trying not to act in this “natural default-setting”, and try to think of problems that other people have to go through in their lives. The main purpose of Wallace’s speech was to persuade the audience to fight the urge of staying in their natural default setting to prevent frustration in a person’s daily life.

Many people tend to become frustrated with their daily lives and start to have a negative mindset of blaming other people for their problems. In David Foster Wallace’s speech, “This is Water,” he informed the audience of the importance for everyone to know they have a natural default setting, which is the automatic way that a person feels they are the center of the universe and that negative situations are other people’s fault. He also discussed the importance of trying not to act in this natural default setting, and try to think of problems that other people have to go through in their lives. The main purpose of Wallace’s speech was to persuade the audience to fight the urge of staying in their natural default setting to prevent

Water is also an essential part of Steinbeck’s connection of setting to familial conflict, with the lack of water sowing seeds of discontent in both families, though Steinbeck’s aforementioned theme of choice between good and evil defines what both families do with such misfortune. Lack of water on their property allows the Hamiltons to grow closer, with Samuel’s disappointment with his lack of success in farming being outweighed by his joy in his children, “Water would have made them comparatively rich...all in all it was a good firm-grounded family….Samuel was well pleased with the fruit of his loins,” (Steinbeck 507). By contrast, the drought of the land in Adam’s family is representative of the lack of parenting, how Adam is completely devoid of emotion once Cathy leaves, “Adam looked more gaunt than Samuel remembered. His eyes were dull, as though he did not use them much for seeing,” (655). This juxtaposition is further emphasized by Samuel’s biblical connection, as Samuel was a prophet, a man who could see into the future and thus see the value in raising children despite the difficulties while Adam cannot see beyond his own hardship. Furthermore, the lack of water enrichs the idea that if a family preserves through such difficulties, they will be greatly rewarded, “And the Lord will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and give strength to your bones, and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not

Foster Wallace’s commencement address on May 21, 2005, ‘This is Water,” proposes the concept of being able to choose how to think instead of being able to learn what to think expresses the true idea of enlightenment. Through detailed imagery that creates a contemptuous tone, repetition of diction that creates emphasis , and anecdotes that arouse interest, Wallace successfully defends his proposition on the true meaning of being educated; to be able to discipline yourself to override the default setting of selfishness and switch on a more empathetic attitude towards life and others. Finally, despite many views of contradiction, Wallace's tragic suicide three years after this speech further builds on his theory of awareness. Although he was

Throughout both A Long Walk To Water and “This is Water,” the world is viewed from an internal perspective of personal consciousness, not externally. In both of these pieces, the characters are looking at their respective situations from their own personal point of view, rather than an external, collective point of view. Both Salva struggling to survive and Wallace at the grocery store are focused on themselves and their immediate surroundings, rather than having a greater view of the world. This will be demonstrated in the following paragraphs.

Donovan Livingstons’s Spoken Word Commencement Address at Harvard is short but powerful and proves that to inspire doesn’t need to be long or complicated it just needs to reach you on the level required. The genre that Donovan is speaking in is poetry and is a unique choice for the topic. His audience were the graduates of the 2016 class at Harvard University. He used his chosen genre and knowledge of his audience to manipulate his rhetorical situation to quickly but firmly convey his hopes and inspiration to his fellow graduates.

In both the excerpts from David Foster Wallace’s commencement speech “This is Water” and Annie Dillard essay “Seeing”, the plots of both works focus on how we experience the world. The two works present different ways in which the world is experienced. In “This is Water”, Foster Wallace presents the idea that we are at the center of every experience, and addresses the belief that we are the most important person in our lives. In “Seeing”, Dillard discusses sight and seeing things is a crucial part of experiencing life. Both excerpts address the importance of paying attention to small details in life, however Foster Wallace focuses on paying attention to other people, while Dillard focuses on paying attention to nature.

People today are swimming in a pool of information and advancements. We have a vast web of history, music, movies, videos and books at the touch of a screen. This abundance of information however has changed the way we see the world and the people around us. In Wallace’s Common Magic she gives the reader a look into what our lives truly are, a story. She tries to portray that, instead of a bigger picture that controls and writes the story it’s actually each individual person’s story mixing with each other. “All over the city, you move in your own seasons, through the season of others” (Pg. 13) this

“This is Water” is full of rhetorical strategies, some of which can be easily missed if one is not keenly looking for their presence. Wallace’s purpose has a dramatic impact on readers in his unique strategy choice. He chose to combine parallelism and repetition. He draws our attention to the downfalls of our

While the story is taking place, readers experience a sincere tone. This tone is supported by the large epiphany experienced by the speaker. As the man gazes up into the night sky, it reminds him of childhood, when time was only a small matter. The epiphany is when the man realizes that there is still and forever will be a youthful presence in his soul. The sincere tone that comes forth from the context forces readers to feel connected with the man. This is the main effect that the epiphany of the man has on the tone of Wallace Stevens's piece.