In David Foster Wallace’s, “This is Water,” Wallace uses appeals such as ethos, pathos, tone, and repetition of the word “water” to connect more with the audience of graduating students to convince them to think more in a positive manner and to reverse those thoughts filled with narcissistic traits. Rather than thinking cynically, Wallace urges the graduating students to think with optimism and compassion and look for the best in the world around them.

People are naturally selfish and as the students move on to the next chapter in their life, Wallace, through his commencement speech, only hopes to put a different perspective of thinking into one less lesson before the students graduate. Wallace uses himself as an example to explain the selfishness people carry around with them: “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 gives a relatable persona in attempt to explain the many ways to think critically to the audience. Wallace also says, “Again, please don’t think that I’m giving you moral advice, or that I’m saying you’re supposed to think this way... because it’s hard, it takes will and mental effort, and if you’re like me, some days you won’t be able to do it, or you just flat-out won’t want to.” (XIV) Continuing to talk about himself and relate to the audience, he is able to avoid alienating them by making himself seem less than perfect. No one is perfect, and Wallace explains that thinking critically is challenging and will not come easy. He shows the students that he too makes mistakes and also finds it hard to change the way he thinks. This appeals to the student’s ethos by discrediting himself.  When David Foster Wallace is talking to the group of graduating students, which are not always known to listen to authority, he is able to connect more with the audience through ethos by not being able to credit himself in those actions. By connecting more with the audience through discrediting himself, the students will be more likely to listen to what he is saying and take the lessons to heart.

Throughout Wallace’s commencement speech, his connection grows stronger with the audience by also appealing to their emotions. He first beings explaining that he once was a student too and believed that no one had to tell him how to think. Graduating students have been through hell and back sitting in lectures and pulling all nights for finals. They don’t need anyone to tell them how to think. Wallace then continues his speech by saying that people shouldn’t “worship money and things.” (XII) He explains that worshipping materialistic goods is a negative lifestyle to live. The lifestyle of always thinking critically by talking about worshipping material goods and evil only makes someone selfish and self-centered. This affects the student’s pathos and makes them feel guilt and regret towards their negative thoughts, and in hopes to turn their thinking into something more optimistic and critical. Later, Wallace makes a statement about suicide: “It is not the least bit coincidental that adults who commit suicide with firearms almost always shoot themselves in: the head. They shoot the terrible master. And the truth is that most of these suicides are actually long dead before they pull the trigger.” (XIII) This statement is one of those breath taking sentences that wouldn’t be expected to discuss at a graduating ceremony. Most people don’t talk about suicide at a commencement speech, but Wallace’s chooses to do so, in hopes to get his point across to the students. This also acts upon the audience’s pathos because the discussion of suicide is a sensitive topic that makes people rethink their actions towards other.  Many are affected by suicide and his statement about suicide draws in more attention from the students. People can get so involved in their personal life and naturally think negatively that their minds can become the “terrible master.” (XIII) His statement reaches deeper into the audience and urges them to find the good things in life and to think in terms of others. Through a lot of effort, suicide has become a national awareness. By making this statement and discuss the thought of committing suicide, Wallace expresses the pathos of this commencement speech, and feeds on the student’s emotions to create a stronger impression on the eager students.

The word “water” is used throughout Wallace’s commencement speech and each time it resembles another meaning. “Water” is first seen when the older fish asks the younger fish, “How’s the water?” (X) In confusion the younger fish simply, in return, asks “What the hell is water?” (X)  In this context, “water” represents community. The younger fish is unable to recognize what the elder fish meant by “water” as it’s a metaphor of how people’s ignorance keeps them from the knowledge of what is happening in the world and community around them. It’s a tendency for some to generally focus on the issues that affect them directly. Society can only function as a unit, and as the connection between people begin to pull apart, society as a whole begins to fall. Wallace changes meaning of “water” to symbolize human beings natural self-focus, which helps reach deeper into the audience’s emotions. The multiple meanings of the word “water” forces the audience to be more tentative and ponder more on the meaning of the commencement speech. Everyone will deny their natural selfish state of mind, but Wallace’s audience can all agree that it is not unusual to act in the manner he explains. Wallace’s different meanings of “water” pressures the audience to feel guilt for thinking in such a negative tone. Though, in different context, “water” can mean something different, they all relate back to the theme of thinking optimistically rather than cynically. 

Through the use of ethos, pathos, tone and repetition, David Foster Wallace successfully gives a commencement speech that challenges the minds of the newly graduated students. By bringing these appeals upon the audience he is able to reach out and convince these students to think in a more critical way. He is able to bring to light more about the future and what it holds as the students move on to the next chapter in life. He doesn’t hold back the truth, and is able to persuade the students to understand that thinking positively will bring a happier, healthier lifestyle. 