
Freedom is a concept humans have craved and desired since the beginning of time.  It is an idea many have even died for.  What does one think of when they think of freedom? As a society we are taught that freedom is doing whatever we want, whenever we want. Essentially, being able to enjoy ourselves into an oblivion. But is that really true freedom? David Foster Wallace argues that real freedom is having discipline and sacrificing for others. In This Is Water, written by David Foster Wallace, he discusses what true freedom really means through his tone, word choice, and structure of the commencement speech he gives.

One of the main elements David Foster Wallace uses in his speech is Tone. His tone can be perceived as very calm and casual but in reality, he is very mindful of himself. Wallace was a person who suffered from extreme anxiety, which caused him to be very aware of how people perceived him. This element of tone ties into the theme of the passage because although he appears very laidback and “free” he is actually very strict with himself. He is gaining this sort of written ‘freedom’ by being very conscious of what he is saying. In the commencement speech, David Wallace uses the words “you” and “your” a very frequent amount. This is because he is trying to make his speech more casual and really connect with Kenyon’s Graduating Class of 2005. 

Another literary element David Foster Wallace uses is the structure. The structuring of his essay helps to further the theme of his speech. He starts out the commencement speech with a short and brief paragraph. He wants to capture the attention of his audience quickly. He is being “disciplined” with himself so that his message can come across. In being structured, like Wallace is with his speech, one can truly reach freedom. Wallace also discusses the idea that having discipline is real freedom because one is not just a mice on a wheel, forced to subject to his or her every whim. This correlates to his writing style. He is able to reach true literary freedom by having structured his speech in this way. David Foster Wallace is able to say all that he needs to say because he is aware of how the speech must be structured. He is not just aimlessly putting words to a paper, he is adding meaning to them by structuring them in a particular way.

David Foster Wallace also uses time as an element that portrays his theme. His commencement speech is about 20 minutes long. The length is shorter than most commencement speeches. He is being mindful of other people’s time and perhaps the time of other speakers. He knows that he must keep his speech under a set time. He is having the discipline and structure he talks about.

Word choice is another literary element used by Foster Wallace to convey his theme. He is trying to emphasize that we are not alone in this world. That we must sacrifice for others and that we are not the center of the universe. Because we aren’t the center of the universe, we must sacrifice for others in order to move forward as a society. The reason one can understand this is because of his use of words. He uses you and your a lot to try and really embed the idea that we are hard-wired to believe that we are the center of the universe. The pronouns you and your are automatically associated with one’s own reality and often come across as friendly and casual. By using these David Foster Wallace hopes to relate to the students, which encompasses the idea that we are not alone in this world. 

In This Is Water, David Foster Wallace is really trying to emphasize the idea that true freedom comes from sacrifice and structure, because we are not the center of the universe. These themes are all displayed throughout his speech, not only in what he talks about, but how he talks about it.  