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.
Dave Berry once said, “There 's nothing wrong with enjoying looking at the surface of the ocean itself, except that when you finally see what goes on underwater,you realize that you 've been missing the whole point of the ocean. Staying on the surface all the time is like going to the circus and staring at the outside of the tent..” By the outside, someone may look like they fit in, while the adversities one deals with internally are hidden on the inside. The struggles one goes through needs to really be brought up to attention and the attempt to understand what one goes through day to day must happen. In From Silence to Words Writing as a Struggle, Min-Zhan Lu explains the struggles experienced growing up in China and the influences of
This attention of the reader was in fact to make someone think about the hard choices made by today’s society. In Jim Lucas’
He connects that story to the concept of the apparent default setting of humans today, self-centeredness. Wallace argues that because humans believe they are the center of universe, it causes the well-known day in day out adult life. Immediately after explaining various examples of adult life, he begins to explain one of his main claims, that how one perceives life is up to the person themselves. Wallace considers being aware of how to think and make conscious decisions as real freedom. He then points out that there is no such thing as not worshipping, and humans have the choice of what they worship conscious or unconsciously, whether that would-be God, Allah, money, or materialistic items.
In his commencement speech at Kenyon College in 2005, David Foster Wallace was tasked with the responsibility of imparting some wisdom onto the graduating class. Wallace’s message to a room of full soon-to-be college graduates at the precipice of the of their impending true adulthood, he offers them a message that cuts through the mess and concisely delivers a message that many would ironically overlook, which is for the students to realize that at times, imperative life lessons are not only the ones that they cannot conceive or believe, but the ones that are obvious but hard to acknowledge let alone discuss. The lesson in this is that no matter how instinctive that cynicism is, it is imperative that people must try to more honest and open
In David Foster Wallace’s “ Kenyon Commencement Speech,” he discusses the importance of liberal arts education in “teaching you how to think” (Wallace, 199). He mentions how education is beyond the knowledge we learn, but about simple awareness will impact the choices we make for better or worse. The real value of education cannot be found in a career (you may or may not be fired from), but it can be found in the way you view things through a different perspective and by considering how other factors can contribute to everyday life. This new approach in thinking will allow us to appreciate our lives and overcome our inner “default setting” towards the world (Wallace, 199). I agree with Wallace’s argument because the purpose of higher education should not be about having career-specific skills and obtaining a degree, but about intellectual and personal growth will help us survive in the real world.
“This Is Water,” by David Foster Wallace establishes a mental discussion in his speech: Bide in an unconscious state (default-setting) or free ourselves from this “mental suicide” through rewiring our thinking. Wallace offers in-depth insight about one’s default-setting. Wallace argues that our default setting is self-centeredness and throughout his speech guides his audience — college graduates— through an intervention; The audience should re-determine on life’s priorities. Wallace is able to persuade his audience and develops his integrity through the help of perspective and imposes his ad hominem argument; Wallace criticizes the matter of remaining in one’s default setting through his point of view. Wallace lectures,“ certain of is...deluded,”
Bill Bryson’s essay “How You Became You” gives a brief yet entertaining narrative of the unlikeliness of the creation of the human race in order to educate the common man on the miracle of life. The rhetorical strategies used within the essay successfully allow the purpose of this piece to become accessible to the general public. Bryson seamlessly interweaves elements of tone, diction, and rhetorical appeals to ultimately create a piece that successfully achieves his purpose and leaves a lasting impact on the audience, the general populace. The tone of “How You Became You” plays an important role in the effectiveness of the essay.
While reading the texts by David Foster Wallace and Mark Greif, I began to realize how they both want people to know the standards are set by others and are never meant to fit everybody. Mark Greif discusses capitalism's effect on our health and standards. Wallace mentions the standards of education and its importance. Students' educations change their perspectives in life. The purpose of this paper is to inform people on how standards do not make up for yourself but it is about your morals and ideals that create your future.
In 2005, David foster Wallace delivered a commencement speech to the graduates of Kenyon College, in which Wallace attempted to instill in his audience the mindset needed to cope with the monotony and frustration of adult life. He stresses the importance of being “conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience”. This speech has received critical praise and recognition for being one of the best commencement speeches of all time, but does it live up in terms of rhetorical technique? Although this main message is supported by Wallace’s excellent linguistic and persuasive abilities, and more specifically his appeals to ethos and pathos, his logos lacks the concrete reasoning
David Foster Wallace’s commencement speech “This is Water” at Kenyon College is often thought of as one of the most influential speeches because it calls the graduates to observe the world around them through a different lens. However, he does not accomplish that by calling the graduates to action, but instead challenges them to use their education. He also appeals to the students’ emotions through his use of ethos, logos, and pathos. Although people mostly only remember the antidotes, it is the message associated with reoccurring emotions and literary devices throughout the speech that moves the reader into action. Wallace is able to captivate his audience and persuade them to view the world without themselves at the center through his tactful use of rhetoric.
A noted reminder of the true sadness hidden within middle american culture, to only escape is a shame reflected back to him and his inability to escape where he relates to “especially at night, when all the ship 's structured fun... I felt despair... despair, but it 's a serious word.” Wallace draws awareness to the word “Despire” as Paul Giles states that it draws “knowingness and insecurity” into Wallaces essay. The awareness of despire is a common suffereing for Middle American culture, it draws on irony, falseness and consumer consuption, these are all ideas that Wallace relates to and can not escape from. Like every other Middle American, Wallces confesses to that fact that “ I cannot escape my own essential and newly unpleasant
The first American president,One of the greatest men who walked this earth, a man who achieve some of the greatest title that a lot of people can 't achieve in today 's world. He is known for being the commander of chief in the continental army also known for a gentleman planter and many more titles. Plenty of people look at him daily and might not even know who he is or why is he on money. But I 'm here to explain and to break it down for you! BIOGRAPHICAL George Washington the son of Augustine Washington and Mary Ball.
This Is Water is a book based on David Foster Wallace’s 2005 Kenyon College commencement speech that was delivered in late May of that year. This Is Water aims to provide a description of life beyond college, but the life it describes is not one full of life’s triumphs; the life that This Is Water describes is the everyday life of the average graduate – long, grueling days filled with work and frustration. In his commencement speech, David Foster Wallace makes use of anecdotes, careful syntax use per its context, and many calls to action in order to create a somber tone to explain “the daily grind” of real life and how to rid ourselves of it to a collection of graduating seniors. Wallace begins his speech with an anecdote, which in its entirety
In the novel “Frankenstein” there are three characters that pursue a “self-guided, pleasure-seeking, undisciplined education” that is more geared toward “self-fulfillment than social utility.” These characters are Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein and the creature Victor created. Robert Walton was self-educated for the first fourteen years of his life. He was interested in exploring the seas even though his father was against the sea-faring life. He was very fond of reading; Walton spent his time reading voyages in his Uncles library in hopes to one day explore the seas.
