Rhetorical Analysis Of This Is Water

In the Commencement Speech, “This is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life,” Wallace claims that people are naturally self- centered. (235) We only tend to see the world as it relates or pertains to us. Wallace’s speech is meant to change the graduate’s perspective on the world. Wallace believes that the graduates should heed his advice because it will eventually provide an important

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.

“This is Water”, a commencement speech by David Foster Wallace to the graduating class of 2005 at Kenyon College, talks about how they, the students, haven’t faced real life yet and how their surroundings are what they’ve been in and are used to. Wallace conveys his message very well because of his use of emotional appeal as well as his word choice. He reminds his audience to look beyond yourself and think about how life is not just your story and your world, it’s about others and stepping into their shoes for a minute and seeing other perspectives. Most importantly, he is able to speak from personal stories and relatable scenarios which makes him credible and his speech becomes applicable to the audience at the graduation.

Wallace begins by using a story about fish in order to hook his listeners, ending with one of the fish humorously asking “What the hell is water?”(1). He explains that the meaning of the story is that “the most obvious important

In “Bring Back Flogging”, Jeff Jacoby addresses the problems within America 's criminal justice system. He gives many reasons why imprisonment simply does not work, and suggests that corporal punishment should be used as an alternative. Published in the Boston Globe, a newspaper well known for being liberal, Jacoby provides a conservative view and directs his argument towards those who strongly support imprisonment and view corporal punishment to be highly barbaric and inhumane. However, in order to shed light on our current situation, Jacoby discusses the dangers that we face though our criminal justice system a nd shows concern that imprisonment is doing more harm than good. In effect, Jacoby looks to the past for solutions, and

The relationship you have with others often has a direct effect on the basis of your very own personal identity. In the essay "On The Rainy River," the author Tim O'Brien tells about his experiences and how his relationship with a single person had affected his life so dramatically. It is hard for anyone to rely fully on their own personal experiences when there are so many other people out there with different experiences of their own. Sometimes it takes the experiences and knowledge of others to help you learn and build from them to help form your own personal identity. In the essay, O'Brien speaks about his experiences with a man by the name of Elroy Berdahl, the owner of the fishing lodges that O'Brien stays on while on how journey to find himself. The experiences O'Brien has while there helps him to open his mind and realize what his true personal identity was. It gives you a sense than our own personal identities are built on the relationships we have with others. There are many influences out there such as our family and friends. Sometimes even groups of people such as others of our nationality and religion have a space in building our personal identities.

Advertisements are everywhere. From billboards, to magazines, to newspapers, flyers and TV commercials, chances are that you won’t go a day without observing some sort of ad. In most cases, companies use these ads as persuasive tools, deploying rhetorical appeals—logos, pathos, and ethos—to move their audiences to think or act in a certain way. The two magazine ads featured here, both endorsing Pedigree products, serve as excellent examples of how these modes of persuasion are strategically used.

Laura Esquivel uses all of her strategies to make small moments in Like Water for Chocolate have meaning and emotion in relation to her characters. In the book, the month of July is where Tita, the protagonist, is staying with a doctor named John and she refuses to speak. That is until Chencha comes to see her. Esquivel uses repetition and imagery in a few paragraphs to enhance that moment, Chencha’s arrival, and to make it meaningful. With her use of repetition and imagery, Esquivel is able to convey her tone, create a mood and support her purpose in the matter of one page.

When you see a solider in his or her uniform, you are proud that they are serving this country to protect our freedom, securing our country, and defending democracy worldwide. The solider can come from different branches of the Military. The one you might be familiar with is the U.S. Army. These soldiers are well respected and prepared to serve our country whenever and wherever needed, combat-ready at all times, and trained to counter any threat, anywhere. In 2007, the United States Army department published a recruitment ad for U.S.

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?

In May of 1998, Kipland Kinkel brought a gun to his school. Over the course of two days this escalated from: being sent home, to murdering his father and mother, to murdering 2 students and wounding 26, earning a lifetime sentence of 111 years and 8 months in prison. In the court case being examined, the presiding judge addresses the original case, defendants ground for appeal, and the justification for the State’s decision to deny the appeal. Judge Haselton effectively uses ethos, logos, and pathos to support the Higher Court’s decision to deny the appeal because the original sentence was constitutional and just.

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.

In “This is Water” Wallace speaks from his own experiences in order to help others; he went through depression before finally hanging himself in 2008. One should not think of this as contradicting his points, though. This act shows that Wallace, too, was human, and capable of mistakes. Furthermore, he wanted people to have better lives than he did, and he believed they can do so by following his advice.

Henry is speaking to the graduating class and to the parents in attendance. Henry talks about how the graduating class has a successful future ahead of them and that they could overcome any challenge put before them. He believes this with everything in him that he, and his fellow classmates that are also graduating, can accomplish what he put forth. That they can reach any goal they set for themselves. Henry Reed uses rhetoric in an attempt to make his fellow classmates feel the way he does,that their opportunities are endless, that they can accomplish whatever they put their mind to if they just put forth the effort and believe.

‘This is Water’ was originally a commencement speech,delivered by David Foster Wallace, to the graduates of Kenyon College in 2005, the speech was reprinted in the form of a book following his death in 2009. The title of this speech comes from a cliché anecdote about two young fish who were swimming in the ocean, and they pass an older fish who says to them, “morning boys, how’s the water?”, the two fish look at one another and say, “what the hell is water?”. The meaning behind this anecdote is that, most people live their lives and and don’t see the forest for the tree’s. This is me piling my own cliché anecdote on top of DFW’s