In “This Is Water,” David Foster Wallace tells an array of different anecdotes to connect with the students of the graduating class of Kenyon, but makes it very clear from the beginning that he does not want to be seen as the “wise old fish” trying to give them a lecture about life lessons. Wallace speaks more about how once the graduating class enters the real world that they should try and put themselves into other people’s shoes and to never judge someone based on their appearance. Since humans have such distinctive desires, we therefore are constantly in pursuit of something like, power, money or beauty. We must stop and live consciously in the moment, we must always remind ourselves that “this is water.”

One of the defining characteristics that Wallace uses in his speech is that he comes off as a humble, soft spoken person. He starts off by saying “If anybody feels like perspiring, I’d advised you to go ahead, because I’m sure going to,” in this first sentence he is already using ethos to build a bond with his audience: as if he is saying it’s okay I’m not here to lecture or belittle you (X). Wallace was there to show these students what life is really all about. Once Wallace starts his speech he greets the audience with a short fish parable about to young fish asking an old wise fish, “what the hell is water?” At the end of his parable Wallace explains to the students that he is not there to present himself as the old wise fish. By Wallace claiming that he is does not want to be perceived as the old wise fish, ultimately downplays his authority, by making the students feel comfortable and relaxed. Yet again Wallace uses ethos when he says “I’m not getting ready to lecture you about compassion or other directedness or all the so-called virtues” (XII). Wallace too is aware at how boring commencement speeches can be so he uses ethos to sympathize with the audience therefore catching their attention so they stay focused on him because he knows what he has to say is of value to these students in their upcoming lifelong journey. 

Wallace’s use of logos comes in the form of stories that illustrate the choices people must make when in familiar situations. A second story that Wallace talks about is the Atheist and Christian that start to argue about the existence of God. The Atheist goes on to tell the story about him getting caught in a blizzard. While he is caught in this blizzard he looks up at the sky and screams from up above, “Oh, God…I’m lost in this blizzard,” looking only for proof because if God was real then he would save him. The Christian replies back to the petty Atheist using reason to abstract that he must actually believe in God because he is still here to tell his story. But, the Atheist still doesn’t buy it. I can conclude using logic that everybody has different belief systems and that they use them to extract meaning from their own experiences. In both the fish and Eskimo story the audience is able to understand Wallace’s abstract jokes which are a result of irony in both stories. Both of Wallace’s stories support his argument that “blind certainty, a close-mindedness that amounts to an imprisonment so total that the prisoner doesn’t even know he’s locked up” is a result of people’s lack of awareness around them. 

Wallace’s use of pathos is clear toward the end of his speech but they’re sometimes intertwined into the logos, like the story of the Christian and Atheist. Some of the more blatantly obvious uses of pathos is when Wallace is describing the boring, frustrating life of work and schedules that people tend to fall into, which he refers to as their, “default setting” of adult life (XIII). Mid way through his speech Wallace switches to the second person point of view where he then starts using more heavy and harsh language. “You can choose to look differently at this fat, dead-eyed, over-made-up lady who just screamed at her kid in the checkout line,” Wallace says this because he knows from experience that the students have all thought that way before about someone that they thought was a mess (XIV). Wallace immediately switches the blame back on himself by saying, “Because my natural default setting is the certainty that situations like this are really all about me. About MY hungriness and MY fatigue and MY desire to just get home, and it’s going to seem for all the world like everybody else is just in my way” (XIV). Wallace tries to explain to the students that there are people out there that have more boring and frustrating lives then our own. To go even deeper Wallace says, “Maybe she’s not usually like this. Maybe she’s been up three straight nights holding her husband’s hand that is dying of bone cancer”(XV). Wallace’s use of pathos and speaking in hypothetical manner really make his message about how it is so easy to become cynical and critical towards people that you have only witnessed having a bad day that much more effective and meaningful to the reader and their emotions. 

Wallace didn’t just use pathos, logos and ethos to connect with the audience and readers but a mix of literary devices and figures of speech to help convey his message. Take for instance the parable of the fish story and the Christian and Atheist, these weren’t just stores, Wallace crafted them to make the audience and readers think about what really surrounds us and how we should be more conscious about decisions we make and how we think about things and people. Throughout his speech he alludes back to these stories multiple times. For example, “this is water” is a metaphor in and of itself (XVII). Wallace also uses exaggeration and hyperboles when he says, “you finally get to the checkout line’s front, and you pay for your food, and you get told to “Have a nice day” in a voice that is the absolute voice of death”(XIV). Here not only is Wallace exaggerating but he is also personifying death by giving it human characteristics.  All of these literary devices are embedded in his speech because he knew he wanted to keep the audience’s and readers’ attention the whole way through. Wallace knows by him adding these literary devices in his speech that they will take what he is saying to heart. 

In “This is Water” Wallace’s manner of speaking comes off as down to earth and humble even though the message he is trying to relay to the audience and readers is not. The main message Wallace wanted to convey to the audience and readers is that we should be conscious beings and not give in to our default setting all the time. Sadly, enough Wallace suicide serves as evidence that he couldn’t even live out each day with the mindset he proposed to the students and readers. Wallace wasn’t just writing this speech for the graduating 2005 Kenyon class but also for himself. On Wallace’s mission to influence others, he forgot to remind himself how to consciously navigate his own life. Wallace’s use of many different rhetorical devices creates an extremely powerful and complex argument about how someone should approach life while maintaining a compassionate mindset. 
