Essay on This Is Water a speech 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.

People often wonder how the continents, states, and other landforms develop their shape and structure. Our earth, continents, countries, and states developed over billions of years and water played a huge roll in the development, shape, and structure. Within this exploratory essay you will gain knowledge on how Michigan, specifically, was shaped and how water affects the state in many ways and will continue to do so every single day until the earth ceases to exist.

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.

Then Wallace gives us a simple solution. Wallace's ideas and what he's asking his audience to do is that people need to make an effort to think what they think about therefore, by reprograming what we think about, we alter our mindful blind state to being aware and mindful. However, Wallace asserts, in order to rid the mind of those negative thoughts that drive us crazy he suggests, that we adjust our thinking to believe that perhaps these people are worse off than we are. Because we know nothing about them or what is going on in their lives. Therefore, by becoming aware we are able to shift our auto pilots from being mindless to mindful. This is in fact what Wallace is claiming in his speech, we are no longer in the state of what was previously blind to us rather we are able to see the world around us, we are compassionate individuals who care about the once faceless individuals that normally irritate us and cause such agony in our

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

14, 16). Throughout his essay, Damon parallels these arguments of logic along with emotion to gain a response from the audience.

James McBride's memoir, The Color of Water, demonstrates a man's search for identity and a sense of self that derives from his multiracial family. His white mother, Ruth's abusive childhood as a Jew led her to search for acceptance in the African American community, where she made her large family from the two men she marries. James defines his identity by truth of his mother's pain and exceptionality, through the family she creates and the life she leaves behind. As a boy, James questions his unique family and color through his confusion of issues of race. Later in his life, as an adolescent, his racial perplexity results in James hiding from his emotions, relying only on the anger he felt against the

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

Voting for president of the United States is a very big concern. Americans vote for their president elect on several different categories, campaign platform, personal beliefs, Democrat or Republican Party, and in the earlier years, whether they were from the North or the South. One such person was George C. Wallace. Wallace campaigned in favor of segregation, but was he really for segregation, or did he just believe that the government was stepping on state’s rights?

Henry Louis Wallace was from my hometown of Barnwell, South Carolina. He worked as a DJ at the local radio station there. Everyone who knew him thought he was a good person. I don’t think anyone knew he would turn out to be a serial killer. He was known for his good spirit in high school, kindness for things he did around town for others back in the quite little town of Barnwell. Hennery Louis Wallace was liked by all those who knew him. But one day, that soon changed.

History is something that molds and shapes a person into who they are today. Thomas King shows this in his novel Truth and Bright Water through many of the characters. He not only lets you see how the aboriginal people’s history has affected their lives today, but also how the personal history of some characters has affected their lives. A person’s past can help one understand why they live their life the way they do; it is the answer to any question you had about them. All the minor events that go on throughout the novel explain how history affects an individual’s identity and Franklin, aunt Cassie and Monroe are excellent examples.

Sir William Wallace is believed to be one of Scotlands greatest national heroes. He led the Rising of 1297, in an attempt to reverse the loss of Scottish independence to England. He was knighted and made Guardian of Scotland. He later resigned after The Battle of Falkirk when he was defeated by the English cavalry. In August, 1305 he was arrested, condemned as a traitor, and killed. Scotland views Wallace as a national hero for his role in their freedom, however the English have viewed Wallace as a traitor, murderer, and an outlaw.

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.

2. What does Wallace mean when he refers to the “natural, hard-wired default setting” of himself and others (paragraph 3)? To what extent do you think that most of us are “deeply and literally self-centered”?

Water is a human right, not a commodity. It is the essence of life, sustaining every living being on the planet. Without it we would have no plants, no animals, no people. However, while water consumption doubles every twenty years our water sources are being depleted, polluted and exploited by multinational corporations. Water privatization has been promoted by corporations and international lending institutions as the solution to the global water crises but the only one’s who benefit from water privatization are investors and international banks. The essential dilemma of privatization is that the profit interests of private water utilities ultimately jeopardizes the safeguarding of the human right to water. Access to clean, sufficient