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Commencement Speech 'This Is Water' By David Foster Wallace

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The Unusual Message Reading the commencement speech “This is Water”, written and delivered by David Foster Wallace to students and their families at Kenyon College was nothing like what I was expecting it to be. I can imagine the listeners that were present were just as shocked as I was when they finally grasped the message he was presenting to them that day. Normally when someone delivers a commencement speech to students graduating, it's more along the lines of “be all that you can be” or “You can do it” with emphasis on the word “you.” No one really tells you to think of others first at that point in your lives. However, Wallace did just that. He told the students that if everyone would be honest with themselves and others they would admit to being self-centered egotistical jerks. He said we were born thinking that way but the good news is we can reprogram ourselves by changing our perspective on others and being empathetic to other people’s situations and feelings. Wallace also …show more content…

Students not only need to gain the knowledge for the field that they will be working in, but more importantly they need the knowledge of basic life skills on how to think and react to life experiences. It is important for people to understand that knowledge is power, and knowing that it’s not all about you is one of the best realizations one can have. We are all here to collectively work together for some type of common goal. No one person is more valuable than the other. So the next time we are waiting in line in Walmart, we shouldn’t be cursing about how the cashier is too slow, or that they need to open more lines because we are in a hurry. We will stop and think that maybe that cashier has had a long day and no break yet because someone called out. And before we get mad, and call the person who called out a bad name we will be mindful of Wallace’s speech and just patiently wait our

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Wallace shows his literary intellect in his use of the rhetorical device. He describes the nod to the opposition when he details the way we are not supposed to think by calling it our “default setting”. He starts off by saying that he would have tendencies to feel like he was the center of the world, but excuses that behavior by saying “It is our default setting, hard-wired into our boards at birth” (. The author explains the consequences of not controlling your default setting by continuing his story about the trip to the grocery store. Wallace declares “ Because the traffic jams and crowded aisles and long checkout lines give me time to think, and if I don 't make a conscious decision about how to think and what to pay attention to, I 'm

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Wallace, David Foster "This is Water" Kenyon College Commencement Speech 2005 The general argument by David Foster Wallace in his work "This is Water" is that sometimes the most obvious realities are the hardest to comprehend. More specifically, he argues that thinking negatively is not a choice but a natural setting and we need to start thinking cognitively and outside the box. Wallace performs this speech for a group of graduating college students to prepare them for the future life they are about to embark on. He includes the grocery store example so that the reader's can connect to the story because they have gone through that situation themselves; he is trying to connect to the audience.

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Wallace experienced a radical downfall: the death of his wife, an assassination attempt that left him paralyzed, and an eventual plea for forgiveness from the black community of Alabama. He puts a face to asking for forgiveness, for asking for redemption. In 1968, after she had run for governor (really as a puppet to Wallace’s administration), Lurleen Wallace passed away. This was the start of Wallace’s downfall because she had supported him on his rise to power. It was the year he was running for president, so it was a challenge to his typical, composed demeanor as a politician.

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Human is human, and citizen is citizen, no matter what “color” they are. This statement evidently presents the racism and bias Wallace has towards the black people because he believes that race separates people. Through the orders Wallace has ignored, he greatly encouraged racial discrimination and enlarged the gap between black and white

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Overall Wallace is trying to defend the new deal and trying to inform the public of what the government is really doing. In the next document on the radio Huey Long claims to want to cut the wage gap between the rich and poor and provide the poorest families with a livable wage. He wants every person in America to be able to have a chance to thrive whether it be to provide extra money for food or for an education. He does not plan to commandeer money from the rich to give to the poor but to provide enough money to make “Every man a king” and allow everyone to thrive. In theory this sounds like a great idea but it would require a large tax increase that most successful people in America at the time would most likely not want to pay.

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Through our feelings, Wallace is trying to appeal to our softer side that not many get to

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In his speech, George Wallace declares, “I shall fulfill my duty toward honesty and economy in our State government so that no man shall have a part of his livelihood cheated and no child shall have a bit of his future stolen away.” This statement is a clear example of demagoguery, a tactic often used by politicians to sway public opinion by appealing to the emotions and prejudices of their audience. Wallace’s words could have significantly influenced certain groups of white people, fully protestant of his audience's religion due to their limited exposure to different histories and cultures. Politicians can sway public opinion by appealing to the concerns and experiences of their audience, especially if those individuals feel unheard of or

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“He gives an example of day-to-day life, including in fine detail of early rising, traffic to work, eight to ten hour work days, stopping for groceries for dinner, bad store lighting, long register lines, a slow drive home, go to bed and do it all over again. Graduates have seen their parents go through this but have never experienced it on their own.” (Hub Pages) That is when Wallace tells them this, to give them a good idea of the real world. He makes a valid point, while explaining to the graduates that he isn’t here to be the wise fish.

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The commencement speech given by David Foster Wallace was very well conveyed and interesting. I think it is a perfect example of how a speech should be given. He mentions that you don't just go to school and get an education so you can know how to think. Ultimately, you want to have control over how and what you think. People can get confused on what the purpose of their education is about.

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With the speech This is Water we are able to be inspired by what Wallace is saying, but also see his own insights on the topic at hand. To fully understand we have to question all the aspects of the speech itself. Let us start with a simple one: What is Wallace saying? This is a question with varying answers because everyone is going to feel differently on the subject. From a personal point of view I take away that Wallace is telling us to live an optimistic life.

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The speech “This is Water” by David Foster Wallace looks at how differences in perspective can lead to frustration and arrogance, as self-centeredness consumes the human brain. This speech was presented to Kenyon’s graduating class of 2005 by David Foster Wallace who was a world-renowned American novelist and an English university professor. This speech discusses the many values of real education and how a simple change in perspective can significantly open up many possibilities to different situations. Furthermore, David Foster Wallace introduces a quite interesting issue with perspective while discussing daily life and self-centeredness. The speaker says, “The point is that petty, frustrating crap like this is exactly where the work of choosing

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Throughout the speech of David Foster Wallace, I understand that the main idea he is trying to say in his speech is to think beyond of what you’ve be taught to. If you can think beyond what is right in front of you, then you have a skill that is beneficial to oneself. He encourages students to be more open minded, which allows oneself to think more “deeply”. The evidence that supports my idea is when the author gives the example of the two young fish who swam by the elder fish and did not understand what the elder fish meant by “How’s the water?”. The younger fish in the story represents people who only knows what is that is in front of them and does not think beyond it.

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He states that Alabamians will now take the offensive and stand up for the idea of segregation. Alabama will wave its views in the face of Washington. Now that Wallace has made such an impactful first impression, he goes on to call upon Southerners, wherever they may be. He wants them to cease being oblivious saying, "We can no longer hide our head in the sand and tell ourselves that the ideology of our free fathers is not being attacked and is not being threatened by another idea, for it is. " Wallace does not want a centralized government that controls all.

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Clare Boothe Luce a respected and trusted Journalists of the American press. Luce was given an authority to talk about the American Press where she take it as an opportunity to criticize the tendency of the American press. Luce have uses tone shift within the tone shift she have used pathos, allusion and she have also used an irony to prepare the audience for her message. She have started her introduction with a positive tone where her tone as created a rhetoric device of pathos and this pathos have make the audience feel special due to her positive diction.

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I am truly honored to be considered for being a part of The national honor Society. Being a part of this organization has been a goal for me since I first knew about what it was, and how it does great things for the community. I am inspired when I hear the great actions it national honor Society has done and I hope to be a part of this admirable organization. I feel I am qualified to be a part of this organization because of my dedication and hard work. Every day I follow the same routine.

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