The meaning of a text can be understood by the reader in a multitude of ways. The author may believe that his tone develops an interpretation that may be completely different from what the reader infers the text to portray. These diverse interpretations are unequivocally prominent in David Foster Wallace's commencement address "This is Water".  In this speech Wallace disregards the topic of what you can do with a liberal arts degree, but rather decides to discuss the topic of everyday life and how every person has a chance to change the way they view life. His main intention to this commencement speech was to propose a new approach to viewing everyday situations and argue that changing one's outlook can affect the attitude that they may have toward their entire life. Wallace creates his argument through key concepts to intrigue the audience to listen and partake in the way he wants them to view life through strong metaphors, repetition, and striking imagery. Throughout the speech he expresses his thoughts on the "real world" and informs all the graduates of what is soon to come in their future. 

By reading the speech numerous times, two completely opposed interpretations can be established. The first interpretation is solely reliant on the text that is read or the speech that is heard; however, understanding the complete history of the author leaves you with an astonishing new view that allows the reader to apprehend the speech from Wallace's perspective. 

The main factor that separates both of these interpretations is the aspect that background information was overlooked on who the author was and his life story. Shortly after it is discovered that the author committed suicide a few years after the speech was given due to his ongoing battle with depression. In one section of his speech he develops an example of an ordinary American day. He explains how most people will "wake up in the early morning" and get ready to work for their exhausting job that causes them to "work long hours of the day" (Wallace XIV). With this, the reader can make an assumption that the author is talking about how boring life can be if you don't work hard to view it in different perspectives. On the other hand, the author was dealing with depression which could lead the reader to conclude that Wallace could have just been trying to warn the audience about how miserable some areas of his life were and giving them advice to learn from his mistakes. Looking at both interpretations you can infer that Wallace was truly trying to show the graduates how to fully live life to the fullest and reach one's true potential.

David also introduces the power of worship in his speech. He discusses how "everyone worships something in their life" whether it be religion, wealth, or success; there is always a source that drives one's self, "but without you worshiping yourself and your beauty", it will only leave you unsatisfied and despondent with the way your life has turned out to be (Wallace XVI). Wallace states that he does not want to be portrayed as "the wise old fish", but in some way he is. He informs the graduates of what their future holds for each of them and wants them to look at life in less ordinary and obvious ways. 

Wallace portrays his message through the repetition of words like challenging and frustrating to show the reader what ordinary life can lead you to. He blatantly expresses this to show the graduates that their life could end up this way unless they work to see situations in opposing perspectives. His goal in this speech was to show them that living in a way that is extravagant and less insipid takes work, but certainly pays off when you are not struggling to stay awake or when you begin to receive raises in work because you are putting in the extra effort.

Wallace wanted not only the graduates but also future readers to understand his tone and purpose for the entire speech. He wanted everyone to imagine viewing life through other people's eyes and begin to stop themselves from rushing to get things done and actually look at what is going on around them. One main literary element he uses to further emphasize his objective was striking imagery through the multitude of examples that he provides. These examples portray everyday life that any reader could imagine doing such as grocery store shopping or something as mundane as sitting in traffic. Each of these images that he provides allows the audience to embody themselves in something that could possibly be there future self. Wallace describes simple details such as the "flimsy grocery bags" that could make all the groceries fall out in the trunk to the "heavy, slow SUV- intensive traffic" (Wallace XIV). With theses details, the graduates and readers begin to interpret the meaning behind the entire speech. The brutal scenarios that he portrays creates an image of sadness and boredom in a life that nobody would want to experience. With this in mind, the graduates get an understanding of what their life could be like and how a small amount of effort in how one thinks could create a completely new perspective on the meaning and ambitions that one could obtain. 

With these key concepts in mind, David Foster Wallace allows the reader to interpret that his objective of the speech was to not only congratulate the graduates on all of their success at the liberal arts college, but to also make sure that they are beginning their new life with the perspective to succeed and view life differently than everyone else. Life goes by too fast to view it in such a negative way when you should always be enjoying what you have. He also makes sure to discuss with them that they should always remember that they never know what other people are going through in their life. One thing might be inconvenient to you, but to someone else it could mean the world. Some situations some people undergo is nothing compared to the boredom you might face for actually having to wait in line for something. He stresses how fast paced the world is and how the most important thing is to stop and look at the vital things in life and not all of the negative aspects portrayed in life scenarios. Life can be so much different if you work a little to have a new perspective everyday.

