Essayist and Novelist David Foster Wallace, in his speech, “This is Water,” defends the true purpose of a liberal arts education, and emphasizes the necessity of thinking the right way in life. Wallace attempts to create a humble, personal tone through the use of informal diction, ethical appeals, and personal encounters in order to connect with his audience and shift them to see that they are not alone in this struggle, and they must prevail in order to truly be “living.” Wallace’s argument is successful due to the implementations of this tone, ethical appeals, and repetition of purposeful phrases. Wallace’s informal or low diction is shown through the use of words such as, “finger wagging,” “bullshit,” and, “god-damn people.” The effect of these words is the creation of a laid back, personable tone that ensures the audience does not feel like Wallace is “preaching” to them or giving them “moral advice.” He emphasizes that he, infact, struggles with centering his own world around himself and not being considerate of the situations of the people around him through his statements such as, “if you're like me, some days you won't be able to do it, or you just flat out won't want to.” This expresses Wallace’s attempt to, once again, ensure his audience feels comfortable and not like he is “preaching to them.” This is an example of Wallace’s many ethical appeals in an attempt to validate his argument by creating comfortableness and relatableness.