
How does one adult? It’s a question which has perplexed college students since the dawn of time. Trying to figure out the meaning of one’s life can be a daunting task. After all, the beginning of life is what determines the rest of it. Fortunately, there are people who contemplate life as a hobby, and one such person is David Foster Wallace. In 2005, Foster Wallace wrote a speech to give at the graduation of college students. To tell the students what he believes about life, Wallace uses his voice, anecdotes, and diction to convey his telling his opinion of how to live a successful and meaningful life.

Wallace’s use of a unique voice forces listeners to listen. He speaks very casually, almost as if he were a college student. The students were about to receive a degree from a liberal arts college so “[he’s] supposed to talk about [their] liberal arts education’s meaning, to try to explain why the degree [they] are about to receive has actual human value instead of just a material payoff” (Wallace XI). The voice he uses is purposeful. College students are easily bored by people droning on about an uninteresting subject, and Wallace knows this, so he speaks to the students as if he were one of their own. Another example of this is when “[he’s] sure [they] know by now, it is extremely difficult to stay alert and attentive, instead of getting hypnotized by the constant monologue inside [their] own head (may be happening right now)” (Wallace XII). Again, he connects with the students by using a casual voice. He is trying to talk to them about a possibly boring subject, the rest of their life, so a way he can keep their attention is by using an interesting voice with which the students can relate. Finally, “[he] know[s] this stuff probably doesn’t sound fun and breezy or grandly inspiration the way a commencement speech is supposed to sound.” Once again, he addresses the students directly. His one of a kind voice is what allows him to show that he has taken notice to the emotions and feelings the audience has and connect with them.

Second, Wallace’s quality anecdotes enhance the meaning of the piece, giving comical and enlightening examples of situations one might encounter in life. The story he tells of the fish shows how we miss so many aspects of life by just overlooking them. In the story, one fish asks another fish how the water is, and the other fish, having been oblivious to the fact that water exists, asks what water is. It is this kind of thing that prompts the listeners to laugh and contemplate the true meaning of the story, life, which is Wallace’s intent of the speech. Another example that shows a situation in life is of two men discussing religion and having their prayers answered, but one man assumes the other is wrong about his beliefs. The moral of the story is to show people that they should not assume another person is wrong simply because of their beliefs. Wallace argues the complete opposite with this anecdote. The story prompts the reader/listener to feel like they should tell the man who thinks that the other man is wrong that he is in fact wrong for assuming the other man is wrong. He wants to show people different situations one may encounter in life and how to approach and deal with them, which is why one of the stories he uses is of two men talking about religion in a bar. Finally, Wallace hits home with an anecdote that everyone has had experience with: the line is long at the grocery store when the customer just wants to yell at the cashier to be faster. But Wallace shows us another side. He talks about the cashier and how difficult his/her life may be. He suggests that the audience considers other people when going through life because their situation may be affecting their performance. Yelling at someone without knowing their story could be highly offensive and demeaning. Overall, Wallace shows us all the insights of life in fantastic anecdotes to keep the reader/listener interested and to ensure that we remember them.

Another way that Wallace talks to the students about life is through his use of adjectives. Granted these words don’t convey any information directly, but they keep people engaged, which ultimately means they will retain more information. He even invents words like “parable-ish.” (Wallace X). This keeps students paying attention because people love made up words. Other times Wallace uses profanity to really make his speech pop. It’s no secret that college students use profane language commonly, so Wallace taps into the way college students speak to try even harder to get the information into them. Finally, he uses powerful words, sprinkled throughout his piece to give it one last push into the students’ brains. Use of mundane language that everyone hears throughout the day is not going to accomplish anything, but impact words like “disgusted” (Wallace XIV) and “sacrifice” (Wallace XVI) are what keep his piece interesting. Wallace’s adjectives just have that quality that complements his argument so well.  

The audience of Wallace’s piece is key in understanding why he wrote it the way he did. Since it is a speech, people are there in person listening to it. This means that these people are still there even if they’re bored. A major part of the speech is how Wallace keeps his listeners engaged, which he does by directly addressing them periodically throughout the speech. Wallace tells the listeners “[p]lease don’t worry I’m getting ready to lecture you about compassion or other-directedness or so-called virtues” (Wallace XII). It is clear that Wallace has been where the audience is and knows how to tailor the speech to their interest. He knows that the audience has already heard about the subject, so he addresses them directly to assure them that they are not about to hear something boring, because if they think they are about to hear something boring, they might tune out something that is actually information they would need to know or want to know. Wallace also shows that he knows how to engage his audience by giving them statements that make the think, such as: “Think about it: There is nothing you have experienced that you are not the center of” (Wallace XII). It is not an incredibly complex statement, but it is in fact an obvious statement that one might never consider. Naturally, people want to prove someone wrong when they hear new information, which is how Wallace uses this statement to keep the audience engaged. Audiences are crucial to how a piece is delivered, and in this case, Wallace knows his audience very well, which is how he effectively makes his argument to them.

Overall, David Foster Wallace uses voice, anecdotes, diction, and knowledge of his audience to convey information in a meaningful way. Many people do this, but no can do it in the style that Wallace does. His style is one of kind and is perfectly crafted to keep the reader/listener engaged and to show people the argument he is trying to make. 
