In the speech “This is Water” by David Foster Wallace, he persistently repeats the idea of teaching someone how to think. That idea can sound very general, but Wallace tries to convey the point that learning to think will make you appreciate more in life and be more conscious of every day life. The question brought up, “What the hell is water? “ (Wallace), is something you could answer easily in a literal manner. Rather it means more; it can be seen as a way of saying, “What is the point of living?” Or in other words, “Why am I here and why am I doing this?” In reality, as much as we think we are smart enough, we do not think the right way most of the time as people; hence we may not find all the answers. That is though until we live the right experiences, meet the right people or go through the biggest challenges. Wallace in this speech wants to bring the negative thoughts to the students’ attention. He wants to show them that handling their problems with a positive outlook on life will make them more appreciative of the world around them. Wallace appeals the audience with rhetorical devices by using examples of Logos, Pathos, and Ethos to share his knowledge and ideas.

Logos, as defined by the “Storyboard That”, uses reasoning and evidence to support an argument. In the fish’s point of view in the introduction, the question “What the hell is Water” is being asked, as it is something so natural to us and so important, but a necessity that is not explainable. Though, we shouldn’t literally think about it as water, the author rather argues and leaves it up to our interpretation as a reality that is hard to talk about or bring up. He uses logos when he states, “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. Stated as an English sentence, of course, this is just a banal platitude, but the fact is that in the day to day trenches of adult existence, banal platitudes can have life or death importance, or so I wish to suggest to you on this dry and lovely morning”. He uses a universal truth to explain the story that people are sensitive by nature and do not speak up and act in times of adversity. These newly graduates can relate to with responsibilities of a career, paying bills, etc. Since the fish story cannot necessarily connect to the audience in an emotional manner, he tries to convey his idea in a logical sense in an approach that can be related and applied to real world application. 

Further on, Wallace repeats logos again when he states, “Look if I choose to think this way, fine, lots us do—except thinking this way tends to be so easy and automatic it doesn’t have to be a choice”. He uses this logical approach to give people a chance and for us not be so selfish, especially when he refers to a person being cutoff in traffic. That person in traffic could have been a jerk or could in an emergency of some sort; we don’t know unless we are in that person’s shoes so Wallace’s message is for us to be open-minded. Everyone has their problems of some sort but we as humans are naturally selfish. He finishes his logos statement with a phrase that reiterates human selfishness with, “ We can’t think of ourselves as the center of the universe, and logically we aren’t”. This implies that we ignore our surroundings and just think that our life revolves around everything when in reality we are just a number in one big population. 

Ethos is implied when talking about everyday life and routine in a society. Ethos is defined as rhetoric that appeals to morals and intelligence (Storyboard That). This is applied when Wallace describes a lifestyle of a common American citizen in the text, “But then you remember there’s no food at home […] But you can’t take your frustration out on the frantic lady working the register, who is overworked at a job whose daily tedium and meaninglessness surpasses the imagination of any of us here at a prestigious college”. This example shows that the little things in life can take the best of our emotions and we can take out our emotions on people who deal with the same struggles or even worse. To combat those feelings, we usually don’t act like our true selves and act like everything is normal in public and that is when we lose control and let it all out. This especially happens when someone has a long workday and is really grumpy but still has to act polite and be courteous when they really don’t want to be in their situation.

The most important rhetorical device used in this speech is Pathos. Pathos has to do emotions and how beliefs can be drawn into a text (Storyboard That). This is when he brings up suicide and shooting ourselves in the head in particular. He believes there is more to life than just yourself and how we feel and see our worth. Even when your not happy, there are still good things about life that can be found. A great example Wallace uses of this is how the common American values material items. People are so caught with these things that they think it has to do with their worth as a person. Basically, we can’t spend our lives thinking about our next material. People will be happy when they make the best out of what they have. Just as Wallace states, “Life is what you make of it”. 

 

Wallace mentions a significant phrase “learning how to think” as a reminder for students and people that learning to do this won’t necessarily make our life better, but it could make us happier and more satisfied with life. Wallace uses this phrase repeatedly with many short stories and examples of logos, pathos, and ethos in his speech to indicate that if we talk about real things that make us sensitive, and if we share our ideas with open thought, we as people will grow. Just like the question, “What the Hell is Water”; the speech is corresponded to reality and for people to find the deeper meaning with things we think we cannot control and how to deal with adversity. The use of these Rhetoric devices demonstrates that we can find different ways to come across our uncomfortable zones to better shape our lifestyle, and I think that is what he tried to thematically prove with the importance of what those students leave off as.

You could say that when a person finally learns how to think, they have reached their full potential as adults, and are ready for life’s biggest curveballs. 
