




In our daily lives, the air we breathe is invisible to us. We cannot see it, feel it, or realize we are ingesting it at every living moment. This is because we do not notice everyday things that are occurring around us as we go about our days. We have become accustomed to what we grew up to know and accept.  In David Foster Wallace’s speech This is Water, we see this same theme of unawareness occur constantly. He uses not only the theme, but also symbolism of water to portray this in his graduation commencement speech. His work proves the point that the many actions we commit in our lives and the feelings we have towards certain things outline our human nature that we are born with a very self-interested personality. 

We first see him speak of the image of water when he speaks about fish in the ocean. He spoke the following: 

There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, “Morning, Boys. How’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes “What the hell is water?” (Foster x)

The younger fish do not realize the world around them because they have not had time to stop and think about it. The water, which was their daily living environment, is like the air we breathe in every day. Both can symbolize what our young selves do not realize about the world around us. The older fish shows the intellect in those that have been on this earth longer than college students and how much more they realize than ourselves. Our elders have had the time to realize how important things are, while those younger have not had this time and sometimes take things for granted. The elders have had this time to truly gain perspective from other’s lives, while the younger people have not. This shows that we are not born with this instinct of thinking of our surrounding environment, but it comes with a lot of time and living to acquire the trait. We can learn from those older than ourselves about what we do not yet realize is occurring around us at all times, and grow out of the egotistical though process we have grown up with.

This theme of not realizing the world around is carried on to show a different but related idea in the speech. He discusses a trait many people have of thinking they are the center of the universe. He sees this narcissistic viewpoint as one that shows a closed view to the outside world. The example he uses to show this is when he explains driving situations and how you may think you are in a large hurry to get somewhere but someone needs to get there much faster. It carries on to say that people may cut you off and make you mad, but it may have been for a very good reason. Many people would not stop to think about this viewpoint, but it is one we should always consider.  People sometimes do not realize the struggles and obstacles they have during their days are the same as many others in this world. He shows this statement by saying, “some of these people probably have harder, more tedious and painful lives than I do,” (Foster xv). We are so blinded by our own lives the people around us and the events taking place on our planet sometimes get put out of our minds. They become invisible to us, like the air around us. Sometimes it is because we are only thinking of ourselves, but other times it can be because we do not understand the things we are not used to. This can include things such as new social norms that we previously not in the open, or other people’s struggles or lives in general. If something out of the ordinary happens in our lives or world, we may at times be blinded to what is occurring because we do not have an explanation for the situation. 

Earlier on, he speaks of two men who are in Alaska who have different viewpoints of religion. One is an atheist, while the other believes in God strongly. They begin to fight over whether or not a situation occurred because he asked God for help, or just by coincidence. The religious man says, “ Well then you must believe now,” (Foster xi), but the atheist man stays with his previous thoughts and says religion had nothing to do with it still. Both men do not think of the other person’s perspectives or thoughts on the matter, since they already have a very strong belief in their opinions. We do not truly know what the real reasoning behind the situation is, but with keeping in mind both options we can understand the others around us. The beliefs we have can sometimes cloud our learning of anything that goes against these beliefs. When one has this close minded rationalization of situations, it is hard for someone to grow as a person. This is the instinct some are born with. You are raised with an opinion on something, and refuse to change it. We all must learn to keep an open mind on certain situations, even if we do not plan on changing our minds. This is because we can learn so much about other people if we know their thoughts on certain things, and this trait can help us grow as college students, and later mature adults as well who can show the next generation this same trait. 

Wallace lastly shows us life after college. A routine of getting off work, going to the store, and repeating the same activities day in and day out. He states that after a hard normal day of life, “ of course, you have to get up the next day and do it all again,” (Foster xiii). He points out that if we have this closed off point of view where we only think of the miserable things in our lives we have to do, our attitudes will reflect that and make the days even worse. If we have an open mind about these situations, and think about what is going on around us, we can enjoy the boring things we have to do so much more. This is because we will be able to think about more interesting things, keeping us more entertained and happier with the lives we are living. The fish in this speech had this closed off point of view as well. They only thought about what they could physically see and feel, but deterred the existence of water from their brains. Doing so, they are not opening themselves up to all the opportunities of imagination and thought they could have. The older fish gain these chances, and hopefully as the younger fish get older they will get this wise as well. 

Having an understanding of the world around us is not only more academically proactive since you are learning different ways to think from those wiser than us as college students, but also is a way to make yourself a better person overall. We can open our eyes to the daily struggles everyone has and learn to understand that. Growing as a college student and human being with the trait of having an open mind can be a hard thing to do, but a very rewarding one. Wallace showed throughout the whole speech that this is one of the most valuable things you can get from a higher education. He wants us to be aware of our surroundings, lives we live, and actions we commit. He wants us to fight off the greed of ourselves and put forward the needs of others. He also wants us to be happier with our thoughts and time when we are thinking of things other than just ourselves. Throughout David Foster Wallace’s speech This is Water, his main point to young college students is to open up their minds to others and to think of the world around them, as well as to think of everyone, everything, and every last breath


