




Every day we go through our same banal daily routine. We wake up, eat, go to work or school, go home, sleep and repeat. This for the most part, other than minor changes like going to the store, is our life. In David Foster Wallace’s speech “This is Water,” Wallace asks the graduating class of Kenyon this question: How can we avoid living mundane lives? Wallace’s use of literary devices in his speech demonstrates that our education has the ability to get us out of our default setting.

In his speech, Wallace uses symbols to encourage the college students to change their way of thinking. Wallace begins his speech with a simple short story. Two young fish meet up with an older fish who asks “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” The younger fish respond with “What the hell is water?” (Wallace X). Water is used as a symbol for life. The younger fish are unaware of what life is. However, the older fish is wiser than the younger fish and is able to recognize that he is swimming in water. The analogy of this short story is used to represent how the younger generation is unaware of where they are in life. Wallace uses water again at the end of his speech, “We have to keep reminding ourselves over and over: This is water. This is water” (XVII). In this quote water is used again as a symbol, but this time it is representing the basic and transparent things in life. Wallace wants the college students to pay attention to the smallest things in life, like water which is something everyone uses daily. In both instances, water is used as a symbol for a way of thinking. Through the use of symbols Wallace wants the college students to change their way of thinking. He explains that this is a liberal arts education, “learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think” (Wallace XIII). Overall, Wallace is stating that by thinking about the smallest things in life and knowing that the students themselves are a part of life, the students can get out and avoid their “default setting.”

Wallace uses short stories in his speech to persuade his audience to have an open mind. Wallace uses another short story on page XI, which is about a Christian and an Atheist. The Atheist is stuck in a blizzard and, in fear of his life, he prays to God. The Christian is shocked why the Atheist still doesn’t believe in God if he survived the blizzard by getting rescued by Eskimos (XI). The purpose of the short story is to inform the audience to change the way we think. Normally, whenever religion is brought up there are huge arguments and fights on who is right and who is wrong. However, Wallace explains that you should instead think about “where they come from INSIDE the two guys (XI).” Instead of thinking about which religion is correct or which religion is wrong, he wants us to think about where our own beliefs come from. Like the first short story with the fish, Wallace is encouraging the audience to change their way of thinking. This time he wants the students to have an open mind instead of a closed mind. An open mind would be the thinking about where your own religion comes from, while a closed mind would be thinking which religion is right or wrong. In both instances of short stories, Wallace is again encouraging students to change their way of thinking. In this short story he is stating that by having an open mind, you can avoid thinking about things that will keep you in your “default setting.”

Another literary device Wallace uses in his speech is hyperbole. On page XIII Wallace says, “And I submit that this is what the real, no bullshit value of your liberal arts education is supposed to be about: how to keep from going through your comfortable, prosperous, respectable adult life dead, unconscious, a slave to your head and to your natural default setting…” Here, Wallace is exaggerating when he says if you don’t get out of your comfort zone, your life will be dead, unconscious, and a slave. He even admits to using exaggeration in the next sentence. This hyperbole is used to try and show the importance of a liberal arts education. By exaggerating that death would happen if we don’t use our liberal arts education, his point that we need to use our education to get out of our comfort zone is effectively conveyed to us. Wallace uses hyperbole in his speech to efficiently communicate his point on how important our liberal arts education is, and how it can prevent us from going into our “default setting.”

Another literary device Wallace uses in his speech is repetition of the phrases “liberal arts” and “education.” Wallace first uses the “liberal arts” statement to describe what he calls the “standard liberal arts analysis.” He states that is how “the exact same experience can mean two totally different things to two different people…” (Wallace XI). Here Wallace is explaining how each experience is different for each person. He wants his audience to understand that, and to think about that every day. At the end of his speech he states that “real education, which has almost nothing to do with knowledge, and everything to do with simple awareness; awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us…” (Wallace XVII). Here, Wallace is explaining that the value of a real education is the ability to recognize all of the little things around in our everyday life. Wallace repeats the phrases “liberal arts” and “education,” to explain how that is the way to get out of our “default setting.” A liberal arts education gives us the tools to change the way we think, and gives us a choice on what to think about, which can prevent us from staying in our natural “default setting.” 

Wallace uses a variety of literary devices throughout his speech. Some examples are the use of symbols, short stories, hyperboles, and repetition. Wallace uses these devices to try and convey to his audience that the only way we can avoid our “default setting” is by using a liberal arts education to change the way we think and to recognize even the smallest things in life. If we do that, we won’t live our life in a mundane repeat cycle.



