David Foster Wallace's “This is Water” speech depicts a quality understanding of
what awaits young adults when they step out into the real world, what they can expect, and how hard
the reality will hit them. Wallace's speech is directed toward young adults that have not endured the real
world for themselves, and think that life will just be all fun and games. The approach Wallace chose for
this was to use three effective rhetorical strategies, ethos, pathos, and logos in order to open the eye of
the graduates. Wallace explains that real adult life is not everything it's believed to be. It's true you
acquire more freedom, but you have a lot of responsibility, and have to be able to know when to use it
where.
Logos has been entwined
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So, what is water? Wallace has gone back to this phrase multiple times through out this speech,
using this metaphor that he uses is “...so hidden in plain sight all around us, that we have to keep
reminding ourselves over and over: “This is water, this is water” (paragraph 10)”. What he's
referencing is life. He's telling us that life is water. It's so obvious, but so hidden because we're not
looking for something right in front of us. We pay it no mind because we're used to it, it's always been
there, and always will be there until we're gone. We just haven't lived it to the fullest, or are just
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Going back to the
supermarket example, when he mentions, “...finally [getting] to the checkout line’s front, and ...
[paying] for your food, and …[then getting] told to “Have a nice day” in a voice that is the absolute
voice of death (paragraph 5)” he personifies death, kind of showing that routine and the 'default setting'
we have work hand in hand.
Long story short, life is hard, these kids don't know that yet, as they're practically still children when they graduate. By using the strategies Wallace chose, his message was made clear in a creative
way. He danced around the boring “people aren't the center of the world and you need to grow up and
see that” message, but still got it across. He told a story, still telling us that no, we aren't the center of
the universe, and we need to pay attention the world around us as other people are going through the
same bad days as we are, or having worse days than us because of terrible problems, but we have no
need to be rude about our bad days. Yes, we might have had a long, tiring day, but others have had
worse, and they can still be polite and kind because they have successfully rewired their
Not only is human connection vital to live a happy and joyful life, but it is necessary to create a legacy, and thus live on through others. But in order to do this, one must first overcome their ego and their sense of self. Once all of the “I” thoughts are gone, one can relate, but fully understand, the higher powers as well as other human beings around us. However, it is important to accept that we may never fully understand the driving force of this universe. While it can be experienced, and we can briefly get an idea of what it is, it is impossible to define these concepts in words, because we don’t have a language that transcends what we can understand. And though many recognize that these concepts could never be fully understood by the human brain, determined minds continue to ask questions that will never have an answer, “pushing their minds to the limits of what we can know” (Armstrong,
Water is symbolic of the life cycle as the continuous, repetitive movement is symbolic of the Buddhist view of samsara. Within Buddhism, samsara is defined as the continual repetitive cycle of birth and death that arises from one grasping and fixating one’s self and experiences. Specifically, samara refers to the process of cycling through one rebirth after another within the realms of existence. The uninterrupted cycle of death and rebirth without a choice is called ‘cyclic existence’ ("Buddhism Beliefs |About Buddhism”). In lê thi diem thúy’s The Gangster We Are All Looking For, water permeates through the life cycle concerning life, death, and the dual-meaning of resurrection representing both rebirth and the manifestation of ghostly
The speech is arranged into short paragraphs, providing an example in almost every one. Everyone is familiar with commencement speeches. They are usually used to congratulate a group of people and tend to be looking towards the future. Instead of congratulating the students at Kenyon College, Wallace challenges them. The essay opens with a metaphor about two young fish that do not realize what water is, setting the tone for the rest of the speech. Wallace proceeds to describe how completely oblivious society is to the world around us, just like the fish. Wallace supports this claim through examples within the speech. His use of examples rather than facts or statistics weakens his claim. If more facts or statistics were used his claim would become more convincing. His rationalization come in the form of the short stories that illustrate the choices people make in their everyday lives. He...
...old, xenophobic white men don’t want just anyone off the street joining them for intellectual discussions over Sunday tea . This is why Wallace advocates for students in high school and college to learn SWE; if students are able to present themselves in a more erudite and intellectual manner by using SWE, it can provide them with more opportunities to ascend the “social ladder” as they will have a stronger foundation for academic and professional success. Using SWE will not guarantee that a student will become a doctor or a lawyer, however, they will have the opportunity to expand their education and achieve that ranking if they wish.
In This is Water, Wallace effectively uses logical reasoning and the parable of the religious man and the atheist man to explain how consciousness is a choice, not an unalterable state. To do this, Wallace states that in many cases, “A huge percentage of the stuff that I tend to be automatically certain of is, it turns out, totally wrong and deluded.” Using logical reasoning, Wallace’s own admission reminds his audience that they are also often wrong, as, logically, humans are not perfect and make periodic mistakes. Once he establishes that people can be wrong, he returns to the parable of the two men and claims “…the exact same experience can mean two totally different things to two different people, given those people's two different belief templates and two different ways of constructing meaning from experience.” This idea is familiar to his educated audience, as he claims it is one of the primary foundations of a liberal arts education. Thus, Wallace uses his audienc...
Wallace stresses the idea that all people really can think about in their day to day lives is themselves. To explain this Wallace uses the story of people in rush-hour trying to shop at the grocery store and getting aggravated when there aren’t enough registers open to check out their purchases. He uses this example to describe how people make themselves the center of the universe and how their own needs should be met before anyone else’s own. Wallace is trying to describe how higher education helps people think more clearly, and how the knowledge obtained also helps to make your mind more capable of evaluating situations and how they affect more than just one’s own
they are perceived in public is not how they behave in private. The perception of the public plays
The philosopher is presenting complex image with many aspects to illustrate relatively simple problem which makes his writing appealing only to narrow circle of people usually enough educated to find an absolute truth by themselves. His style is too complicated to be appropriate for masses; complicated vocabulary and syntax that is not used anymore. Plato’s relating to the real problem right in the end of his work giving no time to think about it throughout his argument. Basically what he is doing is explaining the problem and then presenting it. In the end he just leaves the reader all alone without further explanation. David Foster Wallace has also tried to convince people that there is something more to the world that can be seen. However, Wallace’s Commencement Speech is very different from Plato’s allegory. I his speech Wallace is presenting his ideas in a simple manner by short stories that anyone can relate to and because of this it makes him more convincing and persuasive. Right in the beginning of the speech he relates to the main topic by story about fishes that allows his audience to think about the main problem along his speech. This move is undoubtedly more effective because it lets audience focus and contemplate on what is important, on what relates to the main topic during whole
Back when I was little girl, I always fascinated over water. I remember that I loved to be able to go down to Lake Chatuge, which is directly behind my house, and sit there, thinking about how wonderful my God is to make such a beautiful thing that we do not appreciate like we should. According to Oxford Dictionary, water is “a colorless, transparent, odorless, tasteless liquid that forms the seas, lakes, rivers, and rain and is the basis of the fluids of living organisms.” Ron Rash used symbolism, which is “something that represents something else” (Mays 205), in his book One Foot in Eden drastically in many different aspects about water. The symbolism of water in One Foot in Eden has many various meanings that are vividly expressed within
Through her usage of water as a motif, Morrison expresses her feelings and helps us to better understand the novel. Water comes to represent birth, re-birth, and freedom and escape from slavery. There is also a deeper meaning to all of this. Water also comes to represent a sort of life force for Beloved. When she just appears for the first time, she comes out of the water. But she also needs to drink a vast amount of water. It seems as though she needs the water to survive. For Sethe, water comes to mean both a sort of re-awakening and a symbol of freedom. This is apparent through her actions and emotions when she was bathed by Baby Suggs. Water also represents freedom for Paul D. This is because he escaped due to the mud created by the water. The motif of water is well used throughout the book to come to signify many things to the characters.
Water, in this case, refers to life and rebirth. A third piece of evidence would be Beloved's appearance; she had soft unwrinkled skin. like that of a baby; "She had new skin, lineless and smooth, including. the knuckles of her hands." Pg.
Back when I was a little girl, I always fascinated over water. I remember that I loved to be able to go down to Lake Chatuge, which is directly behind my house, and sit there, thinking about how my wonderful God is to make such a beautiful thing that we do not appreciate like we should. According to Oxford Dictionary, water is “a colorless, transparent, odorless, tasteless liquid that forms the seas, lakes, rivers, and rain and is the basis of the fluids of living organisms.” Ron Rash used symbolism, which is “something that represents something else” (Mays 205), in his book One Foot in Eden drastically in many different aspects of water. The symbolism of water in One Foot in Eden has many various meanings that are vividly expressed within
Since the beginning of time, water has been a source of utmost power. In the Bible’s book of Genesis, the story of creation is told. On the third day, God is said to part the waters to give life to men, animals, and vegetation inhabiting the land. This is similar to how Victor Frankenstein gives life to his monster. Later in Genesis, God approaches Noah, who is a righteous man of God. He tells Noah to build an Ark because he intends to flood the Earth to rid it of the evil and corruption. The Bible, written over 3,000 years ago shows the ability and power of water to transcend time. This allusion shows the power which water can have. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, she relates water to her main character, Victor Frankenstein. He gave life to a monster with innocent intentions, yet the monster goes on to kill and destroy. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein’s actions symbolically relate to water and the antithesis in which it not only creates, but also destroys life.
...thing but the continual torrent of concepts across the page. The turgid stream of blood coursing through my veins made of water is magic. The birth canal for original life, the place where land meets water is magic. The potential for life wherever there is water is magic. The feeling of being connected to everything through water is magic. The best memories in life can surface because water is magic. This only ripples the surface for some of the ways water is magic. My ten minutes of water watching brings to me a lifetimes reverie, and it represents one sentence of one page of my thirty-two year tome. The ultimate magic of water is that it is an billion year book, it tells an endless story, and provokes an endless bubbling of insight.
Water. It expresses its’ power in the form of hurricanes and flash floods. It displays its gentleness, washing dirt off a child's scabbed knee. Water has been used to quench the thirst of many longing throats; and it has been the cause of death to those who unfavorably crossed its path. It possesses the power of total destruction, yet it holds the bases of all life. Generally, water has symbolized cleanliness and renewal. In the Bible, water was used in Baptism, cleansing the soul of original sin and offering a new life in the light of God. Water in itself is a natural purifier, washing the dirt from our bodies. Water is a symbol of transition-from dirty to clean. In Beloved, Morrison uses water to introduce a transition between stages in a character's life. Water separates one stage of a character's life from another.