Graduation Speech In This Is Water By David Foster Wallace

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.

“Plus,” he says, “There's the whole matter of arrogance” (5). In allowing their respective perceptions of the experience to be shaped by their unique beliefs, the men are ignoring other possibilities that are contrary to what they naturally think. According to Wallace, this arrogance leads to one problem: “blind certainty, a close-mindedness that amounts to an imprisonment so total that the prisoner doesn't even know he’s locked up” (5). With this analogy, he prompts listeners to consider how all of this relates to themselves once again by effectively preventing them from thinking that none of this applies to them. Even they could be prisoners who are unaware of their own imprisonment.

Through proving that we are not always correct, and reminding the audience that different people can have different views of reality, Wallace is able to use logical reasoning to show that humans have the ability to change their perspectives.

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?

Lauren Stickler is escorted by her mother, Ann Stickler, father, Tom Stickler, and sister, Meredith Stickler. Lauren will be attending the University of Texas at Austin to study Mechanical Engineering this fall. Lauren is a three year letterman and will be graduating as Ridge Point’s class of 2017 Salutatorian.

In David Foster Wallace’s commencement speech “This is Water”, Wallace discusses multiple aspects and instances that will come before us. To begin, Wallace’s speech elaborates to us most importantly that we are not the center of the world. For instance, Wallace states in his speech that a vast majority of the information he tends to be certain in usually results in being completely wrong. An example of this wrong highlighted in this speech is that Wallace states that everything his experience supports the belief that his self is the center of the universe. Relating this to Naikan, Naikan helps the client to consider what they have given to a specific person and what troubles they have caused them. The reason why is to consider one’s perception and the impact they have on others which is not conceived through selfish encounters. This helps Naikan clients to distinguish what positive changes they can implement after introspecting on their relationships and interactions with others.

Wallace establishes a humorous tone in the first section to convey his argument. “There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, ‘Morning, boys, how's the water?’ And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, ‘What the hell is water?’” (233) This anecdote introduces the fact the many people don’t understand what is going on around them and why Wallace believes it is important to be conscious of what is happening around you. “This is not a matter of virtue- it's a matter of my choosing to do the work of somehow altering or getting free of my natural, hard-wired default-setting, which is to be deeply and literally self-centered, and to see and interpret everything through this lens of self.” (233) Wallace argues that it is hard to get into a state of awareness because humans have their “hard-wired default-setting”. People need to get out of their own self-centered habits and see things in a different point of view. By using a humorous tone, Wallace can effectively get people on his side of the argument.

Wallace then discussed that the most important way to fight the urge of staying in their natural default-setting is to think. Wallace tried to persuade the audience by stressing the importance of exercising control over what that person thinks. Wallace felt it was very important to get the point across that people

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

A short parable comprises the opening paragraph of Wallace’s speech. In this, there are two fish swimming along when they pass an older fish, headed in the opposite direction, that asks them how the water is. The two fish continue along for a bit before one asks the other “what the hell is water?” This serves as an extended metaphor used by Wallace to demonstrate his main argument for awareness in life. Just as the fish do not consider their surroundings, people more often than not fail to consider

I believe that existence is comprised of hundreds and millions of different realities intermingling and colliding into one another. I also believe that at the center of each reality there lies the individual who crafted it. Our perception of what is real and false exists solely in our own minds, and our minds are what determines the lense in which we perceive the world. Our perception is largely influenced by our psyche; how we live and think stems from our perception of the world. Our brains are directly influenced by a number of key factors, including but not limited to; societal connotations, individual experience, instinctual desires, environmental factors, and cognitive thought. These factors, as well as other conditions, are what determine our “default setting.” In his noteable “This is Water” speech, given at the 2005 Kenyon Commencement Address, David Foster Wallace argues a similar idea as he explains his take on the phrase “teaching you how to think”. Through his use of relatable parables and anecdotes and repetition and reverent focus of words like “choice” and “awareness” he paints a livid picture of the use of conscious choice in our daily lives. He stresses the concept of a self centered “default setting” that comes from an individual's “blind certainty” and the repercussions that deferring to that default can have on an individual's lifestyle and fulfilment. If we are unable to recognise the water in which we dwell we will always remain unaware, stuck in an

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

The commencement speech, “This is Water” by David Foster Wallace is widely known due to the amazing message it provides. Wallace’s speech is unlike any other, which are usually very positive, inspirational, and oftentimes cliche. He asserts that the value behind an education is learning how to become aware of what we choose to think, and in doing so it brings freedom and vitality to an individual. His speech is very unorthodox, the structure is very different to normal graduation speeches, making his oration unique and special. Wallace uses rhetorical appeals to speak with recent graduates.

“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

Because we are taught to only care about ourselves, we are highly apathetic about others, especially those that we do not have direct contact with. We simply do not care about the conditions that other people live in, how or whether they eat, or whether they have a dry, safe place to sleep at night. As long as how others live does not affect us, we have no reason to care, because society teaches us that we are the only ones that matter. As long as we are happy, we don’t have to care about anybody else. Even if we are not happy, we only need to care about others just enough to get them to give us