





In David Foster Wallace’s This Is Water speech, Wallace is speaking to the 2005 graduating class of Kenyon College.  He tells them a story about a man who is saved from a snowstorm, a story about himself being stuck in traffic, and a story about some fish. Each of these stories includes a scenario involving a character that is ignorant to some aspect of life. In these stories, all of the characters would benefit from increased knowledge of their surroundings. David Foster Wallace uses anecdotes and explanations to them as ways to emphasize the importance of awareness in modern society.

Wallace attacks the issue of the lack of awareness from several angles, one of which is through the comparison of tolerance. Wallace uses a story about a man who is stuck in a blizzard to describe this issue. In the story, the man is an atheist, and he is stuck in the blizzard awaiting death, so he decides to ask god for help, and sure enough, he is rescued. After the fact, he is at a bar talking to a religious man. He tells the religious man the story, and their dialogue went as follows: “ ‘Well then you must believe now,’ he says, ‘After all, here you are, alive.’ The atheist just rolls his eyes. ‘No, man, all that was was a couple Eskimos happened to come wandering by and showed me the way back to camp’ ” (XI). Wallace proceeds to talk about the reason behind the two men’s difference in opinions. He states that the same experience manifests itself differently in the two different men’s minds because of their upbringings. He also claims that neither party ever considers the possibility that they are incorrect. Wallace claims that a choice can be made to accept differences in beliefs, or to reject differences in beliefs, and he tells peoples to embrace differences by accepting them. He explains that this mindset expresses arrogance and lack of awareness among the individuals, as the individual believes that his or her beliefs are the correct ones, and that the individual is absurdly putting himself or herself in the center of the universe. Wallace wants people to accept this as selfish behavior, and to get people out of their so-called “default setting”, and accept and tolerate the possibility that he or she may be wrong.

Wallace uses the idea that nobody is the center of the universe again when he describes the traffic scenario. He describes a situation in which somebody is stuck in SUV heavy traffic on his or her way home from work, and then, all of the sudden, a hummer cuts this person off. Naturally, this person would not be too pleased, but Wallace is trying to make a point about being aware of one’s surroundings when he says, “The Hummer that just cut me off is maybe being driven by a father whose little child is hurt or sick in the seat next to him, and he’s trying to get this kid to the hospital, and he’s in a bigger, more legitimate hurry than I am: it is actually I who am in HIS way” (XV). Again, Wallace proceeds to prove his point. He references the fact that it is not worth the frustration when we are not aware of the situations of those who are committing the upsetting acts. In simpler terms, he wants to say that everyone else has his or her own life to live, and it is selfish to put your priorities over everybody else’s. In fact, being aware of another person’s situation could help his or her life tremendously. A way he talks about this is when he references the store clerk. Rather than giving him or her a hard time because someone is having a rough day, that person can simply be aware that the store clerk has nothing to do with the rush hour shopping crowd, and not give the clerk a hard time, making the clerk’s day much easier. Wallace wants people to remain calm in these situations, and be kind and understanding of other individuals, as they could be going through anything.

Finally, Wallace displays the importance of awareness by using the tale of the fish. He uses a story about two younger fish passing by an older fish. The older fish asks the younger fish how the water is, to which the younger fish respond by saying, “What the hell is water?” (X). It is evident that the two younger fish are not aware of their situation nor their environment. The two fish live in water, yet have no idea what water is.  The point Wallace is trying to make here is that the beauty and complexity of life is hidden in plain sight. He then says that living without realizing this is like living as a brain-dead person. Wallace thinks we need to open our eyes and be appreciative of what we have. He wants to say that the only way to truly experience life, and to make the most out of it, is to be aware of the non-tangibles that are ever so difficult to realize, yet are often right in front of us.

Awareness is a powerful concept. David Foster Wallace often relates the presence of awareness in life to truly living, while the lack of awareness in life is living an empty life. Through the blizzard story, neither party is aware of the other’s mindset, so neither party is truly experiencing every aspect of life. In the traffic scenario, the main character is not aware of the situation of the other driver, nor does he or she care, so he or she is not getting everything out of his or her life. In the fish scenario, the younger fish are not aware of their surroundings, so they are not fully experiencing life. Wallace wants the graduating class to fully experience life, which is why he preaches awareness in terms of tolerance and critical thinking. Through coming to Kenyon College, a liberal arts college, these students have given themselves every opportunity to succeed and live a good and full life. David Foster Wallace wants to ensure that the students live good lives by making them aware of what he believes to be the most important trait for people in the real world.







