The speech was made into a thin book titled This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life. Wallace hits on our need to manage rather than remove our core hard-wired human instincts.
What is the general understanding about human nature that Wallace conveys with this speech?
In his speech “Transcription of the 2005 Kenyon Commencement Address”, Wallace conveys the awareness that we control how our mind perceive things: “learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think” (34).
What did David Foster Wallace teach?
He taught English at Emerson College, Illinois State University, and Pomona College. In 2008, he died by suicide at age 46 after struggling with depression for many years.
What is the meaning of the fish story What is Wallace telling us about ourselves?
At Kenyon, Wallace elaborated on his water parable: The point of the fish story is merely that the most obvious, important realities are often the ones that are hardest to see and talk about. The fact is that in the day to day trenches of adult existence, banal platitudes can have a life or death importance.
What is David Foster Wallace speech about? – Related Questions
What is the main point of this is water by David Foster Wallace?
David Foster Wallace, in his essay “This is Water”, addresses the importance of awareness and perceptiveness of others. He believes this and proper education can help people become well-adjusted to the world around them. He adopts a humorous, personal, and important tone in order to accomplish his rhetorical purpose.
What is the purpose of the anecdote with which David Foster Wallace opens the speech quizlet?
This is an Expert-Verified Answer
The anecdote that David Foster Wallace presents in his speech is to make the students all the listeners aware of the fact that there are the most basic things in life, the most basic realities that some time are the most overlooked.
What is the meaning of the fish story?
fish story. An improbable, boastful tale, as in He came up with some fish story about his winnings at the track. This expression alludes to the tendency of fishermen to exaggerate the size of their catch. [ Early 1800s]
What is the moral of the story of fish?
The fish who believed in fate kept flipping around in the net. One of the fishermen struck him dead. Moral: One who does not adapt to change often perishes.
What does Wallace mean by the anecdote about the fish at the beginning of This is Water?
The speech opens with an anecdote about fish swimming in the ocean. Two young fish are asked by an older fish, “How’s the water?” and one young fish turns to the other and says, “what the hell is water?” Wallace uses this story to point out that often, like fish in the ocean, we’re not aware of what surrounds us.
What is the purpose of the anecdote about the fish?
The author of “This is Water”, David Foster Wallace, uses the anecdote of the wise old fish and the younger fish to show us the importance of being aware of our surroundings.
What is the purpose of the anecdote with which Wallace opens the speech?
While this anecdote serves as a simple thought provoking prelude to Wallace’s speech, it’s actual purpose is to open the minds of Wallace’s audience to better perceive their surroundings by demonstrating that some of the most obvious realities in life are the hardest to observe.
What does Wallace say is the purpose of education?
In David Foster Wallace’s commencement speech at Kenyon College, he says that the real purpose of education isn’t to instill us with the capacity to think—something we all possess—but rather, to help us maintain constant awareness that we have the choice of what to think about.
What is the point of Wallace’s example of the two fish?
The point of the fish story is merely that the most obvious, important realities are often the ones that are hardest to see and talk about.
How does Wallace define real freedom?
David Foster Wallace wraps up his commencement speech with the following: “The really important kind of freedom involves attention and awareness and discipline and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them over and over in myriad petty, unsexy ways every day. That is real freedom.
What obvious realities does Wallace identify in our culture?
Quick to clarify his thesis, Wallace explains, “The point of the fish story is merely that the most obvious, important realities are often the ones that are hardest to see and talk about.” He appeals to graduates and non-graduates alike to remember that “you’re not the center of the universe,” “you are what you worship
What is Wallace referring to when he uses water as a metaphor?
In David Foster Wallace’s commencement speech at Kenyon College he used “This is Water” as a metaphor for the conscious awareness of others.
What you think is DFW’s main point that he is trying to convey to the graduates of Kenyon College?
Although being extremely intelligent suggests that an individual knows how to think doesn’t mean that they know how to choose what to think about. In David Foster Wallace’s commencement speech to college graduates, he explains to them that they must become aware of others and by doing so must learn how to think.
What does Wallace mean by our natural default setting manner of thinking?
The natural default setting is to think I am at the center of the world and my immediate needs and feelings are what should determine the world’s priorities. Most days, if you’re aware enough to give yourself a choice, you can choose to look differently at life.
Why is river used as metaphor for life?
“Intrinsically, every river has tremendous inherent power, no matter how small or unheard of it is, or where it happens to flow to or from. This is the power of nature that people across the world have come to respect through devastating floods that occur each year.
What does crossing the river mean and how will you relate it to life?
The title Crossing the River refers to a metaphor for both death and deliverance. Figuratively, the river symbolizes the great obstacles Africans had to overcome during life in being forcefully displaced.
