While I understand why David Foster Wallace makes his argument, I believe that college does prepare you for life and gives you the knowledge and skills to become a well-adjusted person. It is the college experience that allows a person to really learn about themselves. I do not believe that anything is wrong with being self-centered and focusing on yourself. Being consumed with yourself does not necessarily mean that you have no awareness of what going on in the world or have limited ability to show compassion for others. In “Kenyon Commencement Address”, David Foster Wallace argues that as long as a person tries to adjust their natural settings and alter the selfish thoughts they have, they can be considered as more adjusted individual`s. Specifically, he wants students to know that learning what to think and how to think is important to becoming a well-adjusted person and it’s not something you learn in college. Some of Wallace’s arguments I disagree with are thinking outwardly, the average person is self-centered, and being well-adjusted. In order to think outside of yourself you first have to know who you are and love yourself. Once you learn to love yourself only then will you be able to show compassion for others, make the rights choices and deal with …show more content…
There are a lot of people in this world who focuses on other people and their needs with little regard for their own. For Wallace maybe, but I have had several experiences where I was not the center of attention. One example, the day before my graduation my mother had an accident and hurt herself very badly and I sat with her all night even though I knew the next day I had to be up early for graduation, but all I cared about was her well being. If more people put themselves first it would not be hard to tell people no and help other’s in need because I don’t think the majority of people are wired that
Kevin Gates is an inspirational speaker and pushes people to push them self. “Love the people god gave you because he will need them back someday.” Is what he is saying in this quote is don't spend so much time on not liking people and just enjoy life and don't fight with others. “Don't lose your mind trying to wait for people to come to their senses.” In this quote Kevin is saying don't tear yourself down when people don't talk to you or contact you.
In his essay Consider the Lobster, it’s apparent what David Foster Wallace is trying to tell his audience: we should really think about the lobster’s point of view before cooking and eating it. Wallace uses multiple rhetorical strategies to get his point across, including pathos and ethos. His essay is very good in how it gets its point across, and how it forces even the largest lobster consumers to truly contemplate how the lobster might react being boiled alive. It brings up many controversial topics of animal rights that many people tend to avoid, especially people who are major carnivores. Wallace’s use of rhetorical strategies really gets the reader thinking, and thoroughly captures the argument of many vegetarians against the consumption of animals. Wallace captures the use of pathos in his essay and uses it in a way that is incredibly convincing to the reader. For example, he compares the Maine Lobster Festival to how a Nebraska Beef Festival could be, stating, “at which part of the festivities is watching trucks pull up and the live cattle get driven down the ramp and slaughtered right there…” (Wallace 700). Playing off of people’s natural tendency to feel bad for the cattle, he shows that the killing of lobster is, in reality, no different than the killing of cattle, but we treat it much differently. We tend to think that lobsters are different because they are less human than cows are, and, maybe to make us feel better about our senseless killing of an animal,
The article by Michael Binyon and the cartoon by Tom Toles make the claim that President Obama did not deserve to win a Nobel Peace Prize at the beginning of his presidency. Toles and Binyon share similar viewpoint, so they approach the subject in similar ways. Both of the speakers describe President Obama’s lack of accomplishments at the time he received the award. They both appear to pose strong arguments about this subject; however, the article by Michael Binyon seems to be stronger than the cartoon. Even though both provide effective arguments about the topic, “Comment: Absurd Decision on Obama Makes a Mockery of the Nobel Peace Prize” seems to pose the strongest argument because Michael Binyon was able to develop his claim and effectively impact his audience using background information, evoking strong emotions, and comparing President Obama to deserving winners of the past.
What we get out of the college experience, we use in our day to day lives. Even the things we think aren’t important or useful end up becoming helpful. The material we learn in college is fundamental when it comes jobs and life in general. We are taught to make choices. We are taught how the real world works, and how to turn our education into our way of life. “…the really significant education in thinking that we’re supposed to get in a place like this isn’t really about the capacity to think, but rather about the choice of what to think about.” (Wallace 199).
Colleges and Universities are windows of knowledge that many people try to break, in doing so, people are ready for the next stage of their life. But not many have the option to go the world where knowledge is everything, and end being a simple worker all his life. People would judge a person for not having a degree, bachelor and many more. But do they ever think that colleges or universities are really preparing you for any jobs, does a piece of paper worth a lot now a days. Freeman Hrabowski wrote an article responding to people that think educations is a waste of time, and it is called “College Prepare People for life” (Hrabowski). In the article he mentions many positive thing about going to college and what is the outcome of going to college. But I believe that, he hasn’t done a very good job to explain why college is a good place to go prepare yourself for the real world. I believe that college is very important for our life, but not many of us know if we are really learning something while being in college. I feel like colleges or universities has become a place where we go just to go or try to earn a degree in any field. Therefore, I believe that colleges doesn’t enhance our basic skills, doesn’t give us a certainty of us getting a good job, doesn’t give us the hardships of the real world and it isn’t a place where everyone gets treated it equally.
Gerald Graff is a professor of English and education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Graff, in his essay, emphasizes the importance for instructors to teach and increase enjoyable courses that students shall truly understand. Graff assures that all kids have hidden intellectualism trying to emerge from within, and as a teacher he feels partly accountable to help those kids develop their competencies in educational work. The essence of Graff’s argument is for students to know that intellectualism lurks within them all, and they need to implement their potential at school. Furthermore, he enriches the essay based totally on his own life experiences, along with his hidden intellectualism, while he attended school during the anti-intellectualism
Everyone has an opinion when it comes to animals being killed and eaten. If a person agrees or not is completely their own opinion and will not be the focus of the essay. David Wallace’s essay “ Consider the Lobster,” is used to address perspectives of varying opinions while trying to persuade the reader. The author accomplishes this throughout the essay through the excellent use of multiple rhetorical techniques. Rhetorical devices such as ethos, lothos and pathos are all used in the essay to convey the author's opinion and try to convince the reader to choose a side.
When you see yourself living out your dream, the thought of what you're most passionate about pulls you in. Passions in one's life change based on what had affected that person. Dreams are defined to change. However, the benefits of these thoughts is that they belong to you and only you. Not one person's opinions matter but your own. Chris McCandless simply was living out his own ideal life, the way he wanted; not to the idea of his parents, his friends or of society. McCandless wanted to escape society and civilization which he felt was tying him down, while also trying to discover himself. McCandless is not by any means a wacko. He was simply defying society and its ideal expectation it holds upon us as a whole.
Americans today are no strangers to stretching every dollar earned in an attempt to live the American dream. Most people work long hours and eat on the fly with very little thought to what, or where, the food they have purchased came from. The reason food is so inexpensive has not been a concern to the average American, but the article written by Michael Pollan “The Food Movement Rising” attempts to convince the people that it is time to remove the blinders and take an accounting of the situation that America finds itself in. With obesity at epic proportions, and preventable diseases like
Animal cruelty is a worldwide problem rapidly growing in today’s society. Cruelty means inflicting pain and causing suffering. In the essay, “Consider the Lobster,” by David Foster Wallace the main point that comes out is the animal cruelty. Wallace aims to persuade the reader into considering whether consuming and food preparation causes pain to the animals that people consume. Wallace gives a brief description about the origin of lobsters, and eventually the cruel ways in which the lobsters are prepared and consumed provides overall logical details from many different sources. Wallace presents his argument by using three rhetorical strategies ethos, pathos, and logos. The effective uses of rhetorical devices make it easier to persuade his
“Consider the Lobster” is an article written by David Foster Wallace that describes his account of the Maine Lobster Festival and his research and thoughts on the lobster and the ethics of eating them. In the article, Wallace provides numerous scientific points that put the moral aspects of eating lobster into question. Through this he appeals to his audience’s emotions and makes them doubt their own beliefs about the food they eat. In “Consider the Lobster”, David Foster Wallace uses the rhetorical devices logos and pathos to successfully lead his audience to question the morality of eating lobster.
Have you ever been so desperate that you were willing to give up? Alfred is seventeen year old boy who dropped out from high school. Alfred works at a grocery store and hangs out with street kids. Alfred begins to realize that he needs to do something he decided that he will be a Contender. He goes to Donatelli's gym to start his training. Donatelli is a very important person to Alfred throughout the story. He also gets good advice from him and learns a good important lesson.
Therefore, students actually have chances to develop their thoughts on people who are different from themselves and to learn how to respect. Therefore, colleges also serve as a buffering place that provides additional life lessons to its student bodies.
Overall, Dr. Robert Burt makes a strong point that it is difficult for a patient to even consider the future when they are currently dealing with trauma, whether it be physical or psychological. However, he fails to address that there are no guarantees for a good future, nor does he confront the problem that it may be considered inhumane to allow a human being to suffer in such a state of agony. He argues that because Dax currently lives a happy and fulfilling life it was worth the years of pain and struggle, now that he has reached a point of happiness. However, this argument only works if the patient does regain a good quality of life. If the patient requests to end treatment in the hospital, and is forced to participate in a longer conversation
Stripping the safety blankets off our beloved egos and unveiling "capital-T Truths" about our fragile mundane adult lives, David Foster Wallace beautifully exploits Kenyon's graduating class of 2005 by using his talents to articulate the illusions of self. Through pathos, ethos, and logos, "DFW" truly informed the new graduates about the importance of living a conscious, empathetic life and not one on, what he calls, the "default setting".