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Oh The Places You Ll Go Analysis

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David Foster Wallace’s “This is Water” and Jonathan Franzen’s “Oh the Places You’ll Go” are commencement speeches at Kenyon College, delivered by amazing authors. Although Wallace and Franzen's speeches convey different perspectives and ideas, both speeches advise students with a significant message about life. To begin with, the differences between Wallace’s and Franzen’s speeches; one focuses on the purpose of education and the other on our infatuation with technology. In his speech, Wallace indicates the purpose of liberal arts education. Wallace(2004) explains, "why the degree you are about to receive has actual human value instead of just a material payoff” (p.3). The purpose of liberal arts education as Wallace describe, is to prepare you for adulthood and make you a critical thinker. Franzen's speech, on the other hand, goes further into the issue of technology as it concerns love. According to Franzen (2011), "our technology has become extremely adept at creating …show more content…

Wallace talked about how the way we think can make a difference in our lives. Wallace(2004) explains, "learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience” (p.12). Learning to be aware of our surroundings is a part of learning to control our mind, and thinking critically and openly. Franzen, on the other hand, talked about the difference between being liked and being loved. According to Franzen(2011), "If you dedicate your existence to being likable, however, and if you adopt whatever cool persona is necessary to make it happen, it suggests that you've despaired of being loved for who you really are” (p.12). There is a differences between being likable and

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