Summary Of David Foster Wallace's Kenyon Commencement Address

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. Learning how to think is a difficult task. If we were able to teach ourselves to think, we would become a bit less egotistical, and be more alert about the activities around us. When we choose to pay more attention, we can make choices that will improve the quality of our own day and the days of others around us. Having awareness and not just becoming frustrated with people can help a person think about the lives of others. Just simply paying a little mind will open new doors for you.

In American society, higher education has become the standard and all over the country young people are being told just how important and necessary this extended learning is. The question is: why? Mark Edmundson, author of “Who Are You and What Are You Doing Here?”, tackles this question with full-force in his essay about making the most of your college learning. Within the essay, Edmundson’s purpose is to inspire a new way of thinking for students just beginning their college education. He gives the readers a personal account of self-discovery amidst the depravity of academics, and emphasizes that this is one of the most important parts of the college experience.

Wallace employs a large expanse of literary strategies in order to emphasize his main purpose. The most prominent of all of his strategies is his use of anecdotes, dispersed generously throughout his speech. His most recognizable anecdote holds in it the underlying truth that will be shared later on in his speech. Wallace begins with “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?”” (Wallace 1). This anecdote helps to ease the listener or reader into a comfortable mood to take on the powerful topic discussed later, that peoples realities are often hard to see and talk about. Anecdotes can be found scattered throughout the entire speech, though the first is the most recognizable, Wallace chooses to use a more serious anecdote to convey the intense and serious tone of his topic. He tells of “an average day... you work hard for nine or ten hours, and at the end of the day you're tired, and you're stressed out, and all you want is to go

Kindness and peace of mind is easier than most people think it is. There various ways to be happy and to be kind but why does it matter. In the 2005 Kenyon College Commencement Speech by David Foster Wallace, David Foster tries to make his audience to realize that the most obvious facts about life are generally right in front of our faces. David Foster gives his audience an ironic story about two fish swimming by until another fish comes up and says "Morning boys, how's the water?" It isn't after a while that they stop and ask themselves, "what the heck is water". The purpose of the funny ironic story introduced to the audience is to make sure the students sometimes realize the most obvious facts of life.

We often don’t think about what we do or even how we do things. The “Kenyon Commencement Speech” is teaching us how to think outside of ourselves. David says that hard-wired into our boards at birth is a basic self-centeredness and it’s a part of everyone. No one wants to admit that their world revolves around them, but what they fail to realize is that it’s a choice, a decision that one chooses to make. Reading, thinking, and analyzing this essay can help you realize that as a human being we can’t be self-centered, we have to be aware that life happens. A person can’t be selfish they have to be open-minded to real world situations, unplanned events that occur on an everyday bases.

Wallace starts off his speech with a parable about two fish oblivious to the fact that they live in water, which addresses moments and things in life that go unnoticed. He discloses to the audience that he is not trying to patronize them by suggesting he is far wiser than they, rather he is simply pointing out that the very obvious things in life often go unnoticed

Wallace expresses how distracted she gets while speaking because Wallace's anxiety catches up to her and she gets lost in her words. Wallace also explains how life in school never really teaches you how to be alone day in and day out; life outside of high school causes boredom and frustration, old folks know how this feels. How annoying people can be, how petty you can be when you're all alone so you overthink about life and you literally think your brains out till you can't any longer which is impossible because your mind never stops thinking; you go to sleep and still dream about what you left off thinking about. You choose the way you think, negative or positive that is all on you. If you've learned how to closely pay attention and learn

Graduates of Dartmouth College were granted a pass from the typical clichés of commencement speeches when comedian Conan O’Brien took the podium to usher them into the next phase of their lives. Though littered with comical jabs at the college and its graduates, O’Brien’s address offered the audience candid life advice based on his successes and failures throughout his career.

Wallace asserts that the best approach to the banality of everyday life is to accept that it is not unique an individual and that one should steer away from the “natural default setting” of being self centered. Wallace conveys that “everything...supports my belief that I am the absolute center of the universe”, and strongly imparts his belief that the

Graduation is a goal of all students once they enter college or university and once they achieve that goal they need motivation to use their education wisely; Ralph Waldo Emerson encourages his fellow students through delivering a lecture at his graduation from Harvard university. Emerson employs aphorisms, the mode of analogy, and an appeal to ethos in his speech to convey his message that once his fellow classmates graduate they cannot rely on anybody but themselves. Emerson begins by saying “every heart vibrates to that iron string.” This is an aphorism supported by when Emerson says, “And we are men, and must accept in the highest mind the same transcendent destiny…” to illustrate how graduating Harvard allows them the power to pursue

Rushing my senior year, I couldn’t wait to start college. On May 30th 2015, I walked across the stage graduating from high school anticipating this new journey. Looking forward to college parties, new faces, and new opportunities I could hardly sleep. After getting settled into my dorm, I began to tour my new home. Excited young men and women crowded my vision, and I knew we all had one thing in common: we were entering into a whole new world in which we knew nothing about. If only there was someone who could have prepared us for the long lines in the financial aid office, or how we would grow tired of the cafeteria food, or even how to dress for Texas’ bipolar weather. No one informed us on how to survive.

My best friends, who see me as all that represents stability and self-security, would not believe how frustrated I become with my own flimsy humanity. I am certain about nothing, that’s for certain. Today I want to win a Stanley Cup, tomorrow I’ll want to write a book, and next week I’ll be waxing poetic on my desire to join the Army. I am a child full of the energy that all of life’s possibilities offer. College will be a colossal playground. Don’t get me wrong; I am a linear, logically-brained, straightforward person, and yet I feel that I have a considerable number of issues in carving a straight path. Despite my frustration with my own complexity, I understand that it comes with every aspect of my primal being. The trials of higher education

Graduating college can be one of the best investments any individual can venture in. When one looks at the benefits, students are driven and motivated to complete their college career, in order to obtain their degree. The benefits are apparent: students who graduate have greater annual earnings, lower poverty rate, the likelihood of being employed is higher, one is able to retire earlier, and the chance of being healthy and happy are greater. It is obvious, college dramatically changes one’s life for the best. Although, college does not come easy to all students, and every student has a different experience. It is the chancellor 's role to make each student’s experience as pleasant and comfortable as possible, guaranteeing support and resources for students in college campuses.

The benefits of getting a higher education may not be just about getting a better job, that will help us pay for nice cars, homes, and trips. Somehow, it is also learning how to choose better ways of thinking about the world in which graduates are about to enter and contribute to. In Wallace 's commencement speech, he talks about why people think the way they do and how they react and treat other accordingly, even with extended education. Whether it be our parents, natural selection, social media sources, or educational institutions, there is one goal: to teach us to think and process things in many different ways, so that we have the tools to succeed in adulthood. Wallace says, “because the really significant education in thinking that

I’m not reluctant to admit that I wasn't always the most intelligent person in my class, but when I graduated high school in the year 2016, I knew I desired to further pursue my education. The fall of that year I enrolled in school at Riverside Community College. I trudged onto the school campus with a general idea of what it would be like. Shortly after I noticed there was such a large amount of pressure in the courses that I became discouraged. The professor I had in a Communications class conveyed a motivational speech that altered the way I perceived college. There was no concealing the fact that college wasn't simple to swathe my head around, but as I was introduced to the courage I needed to succeed in my studies, I ascended to tremendous elevations.