David Foster Wallace's This Is Water

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.

David Foster Wallace’s short story “Good People” uses the themes of division, isolation, and loneliness to suggest how communication can overcomes these psychological problems. These themes, prominent in the story of a young couple struggling with how to react to an unwanted pregnancy, are present in many of Wallace’s stories, and come from his own struggles and literary influences.

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

It is always around, it is impossible to back away from it, but what it is? Racism is a very strong force, it has captivated the world ever since humans existed. It is hard to back away from racism, to avoid it all together. Whether you are black, white, Jewish, Catholic, Irish, etc. you will be discriminated against by a group of people. No one can hide from the hatred, it is just there. The Color of Water shows that no matter where you are or who you are, that you can face racism. Rachel faced it when she was a Jew in an all white, Protestant school. James and his siblings faced racism when they were in an all-Jewish school. In the memoir, The Color of Water, by James McBride, racism is a powerful presence that can severely affect those who are victims of it.

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?

When readers read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, they are taken the World State, a dystopian society where the citizens are attracted to material goods, immediate happiness, and drugs that distract themselves from reality. Do Readers begin to wonder if the society we live in today become a dystopian society? While comparing societies, we begin to realize that our society is almost identical to the World State. Our societies are very similar, but we will never become a dystopian society like the World State, for we are not controlled by material goods, immediate happiness and drugs, we are controlled by our emotions.

African Americans have been discriminated and were not treated fairly from the beginning of the American colonies up to the 1960s. Their history included about 250 years of slavery followed by another 100 years of discrimination. However, many people state that throughout the 1800s, the whaling industry helped African Americans thrive as a race. In addition, they were treated as equals and could gain glory and wealth from it. In most cases, this is not true because negroes for three main reasons. Almost all African people did not receive high positions on their crew ships. Also, they experienced segregation on ships and were treated not equally. Finally, they were taken for their cheap and hard labor in a dangerous, unrewarding industry. Using internet sources and the novel, In The Heart of The Sea, by Nathaniel Philbrick, African Americans in the whaling industry had low status within crews and faced harsh working conditions as well as discrimination and racism.

James McBride’s memoir The Color of Water, compares two troubled, young lives in which they are victims of racial prejudices and alienation. In this novel, Ruth McBride, the mother of the author, encounters the most alienation of all characters mentioned because of her religion and family decisions and social circumstances. Ruth endured several struggles that impacted her perspective on her religion, Judaism, and the society where she feels unwelcome. Ruth’s relationship with Dennis, a black man, was an impediment to her keeping close contact with her family. Coming from a Jewish heritage, “They said kaddish and sat shiva. That’s how Orthodox Jews mourn their dead” (McBride 2). Realizing that starting a new life would be better than tending

For my cultural cache book report I chose to read the book, The Color of Water by James McBride. I learned several things about what life was like in the mid-1900’s and in which may be why we still face issues with racial differences. McBride does a great job of illustrating his internal and external challenges that he faces throughout his life. I also learned more about African American culture in the United States and gave me a desire to be a part of positive change to this particular racial group.

It is important to find out who you are. In order to find out who you are, you must start you’re roots and if you have no roots or are unable to reach them, finding where you came from to help find yourself becomes really difficult. Also it’s hard to find yourself when you have others telling you who you are and who you are supposed to be. These two put together makes it extremely hard to find yourself. In James McBride’s memoir The Color of Water, James McBride has conflicting feelings of being biracial illustrates how important it is to know where you came from and who you are in order to move forward in your life.

Nick is a World War I veteran who, as many veterans, suffers from emotional trauma that his experiences from the war left him with. Multiple scenes throughout the story, Big Two Hearted River, relates to Nick, the main character’s, journey toward recovery. Nick describes his surroundings in way that parallels to his own experiences and current voyage in respect to his revival.. He takes a calming adventure saturated with calming natural paths over hills, through woodland, and along a river to find peace with himself and to return to his prewar state of mind.

One cannot truly change the world around without first mastering the art of looking beyond oneself and into the outside world. This idea of looking beyond oneself has been the focus of ancient and modern philosophers throughout the world. In “The Is Water”(2005), a commencement address, David Foster Wallace, a modern day philosopher, implies that people generally view the world from a selfish perspective and elaborates on how the world should work to reverse its self-centered ways. Wallace reveals his topic through a series of anecdotes, each highlighting a different way we are focused on ourselves and then providing a way to view each situation from a different perspective. Wallace’s purpose is to point out the faults in thinking only for

Hello and welcome to Radio 7’s first series of “Strange Fruit” where we analyse and evaluate how a poet presents their values, attitudes and perspectives through their poem. I’m your host PERSON 1 and I’m pleased to be here with the wonderful PERSON 2, a poetry critic and history university lecturer, who will be talking about the poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” by Langston Hughes.

The shower I took didn't help relax me any, my body was completely frazzled and anxious after this morning events with River. All I could think about was the memory of his hands against my skin, his lips against mine. It was hard to get the thoughts out of my head. Sitting at the breakfast table was even worries, I couldn't focus on anything anyone was saying. My bottom lip was swollen because I was chewing it raw, when I would glance at River who seemed to just keep his eyes on his plate. I would feel my ears burst into flames and I would have to look away before someone notices.

In “When the Rivers Run Dry”, Fred Pearce details his observations of water crises in India, China, and Palestine. Although these nations share similar dilemmas with regard to water management, distinct differences are apparent.