
In 2005, David Foster Wallace made a commencement speech for Kenyon College’s graduating class. The speech was intentionally brought upon for the students graduating with a Liberal Arts degree. Wallace claims, “The degree you are about to receive has actual human value instead of just a material payoff” (Wallace X). Wallace begins his speech with a very short story about some young fish that doesn’t understand this wise older fish. This little story sounds very irrelevant and brings about many questions as to why Wallace even included it in the first place. Throughout the speech, Wallace repeats many times, that he is simply telling stories and doesn’t expect anyone to change his or her perspective or mind about life. However, starting with a random story about fish probably caught a few people’s attention. Even after saying these things, Wallace probably intended to change the attitudes that some might have of life after college. After reading this commencement speech I learned that David Foster Wallace actually committed suicide two years later. Wallace might not have been able to positively shift his own mind but by using realistic life scenarios, he hoped this speech would help others. 

Wallace mentions the idea of default-settings several times in his commencement speech. Wallace states, “It is that they are unconscious” (Wallace XVI). What he means by this is that, as people grow older they start doing the same thing everyday, not realizing that they are living without actually living. As humans, we tend to do what comes easiest. Once we do something so many times we just stick to it. For example change. Not many people are open to change, and would rather keep doing something they are not necessarily happy with because they are afraid of what might happen if they do otherwise. In this speech, Wallace talks about the frustration that occurs when something interferes with our default-settings. Wallace states, “There is not an experience you have had that you are not the absolute center of” (Wallace XII). I agree with him to a certain extent. We are told growing up that not everything is about ourselves because there is an entire world around us. However, that world is not inside our minds, so we consider the outcomes of our actions entirely centered on ourselves. I would have to argue that Wallace’s statement is not entirely true. There are cases where things around us have incredible effects on us, but we had absolutely no control over. Death, diseases, or even relationships are a big part of life and most of the time we have no control of these situations happening. When our loved ones die unexpectedly, we have a hard time letting go. Even though this is not a direct impact of our actions, we still become emotional. 

Wallace says, “Please don’t worry that I’m getting ready to lecture you about compassion or other-directedness or all the so-called virtues”  (Wallace XII). I agree with almost this entire speech made by Wallace except for the few times he states that he is not trying to influence anyone in anyway. He may seem sincere when he points out again, “please don’t think that I’m giving you moral advice…” (Wallace XV). But if he truly felt that he wasn’t trying to create any influences on the audience of this speech, then he wouldn’t have repeated this so many times.  In all honesty every time Wallace mentioned this he reeled me in even more. I truthfully believe that Wallace knew everything he was saying was real because he was living it. He was experiencing this default-setting and the frustration that came with it. Why else would Wallace randomly give a commencement speech with realistic examples of everyday situations if he never experienced them himself? 

As mentioned before, Wallace includes realistic scenarios to really paint a picture for the audience. In one section of his speech, he recalls a story about going to the grocery store and having to wait in line and how much frustration this brought. This frustration caused the natural default-setting to set in and the only thing he could think about was himself.  Wallace states, “If you really learn how to pay attention, then you will know there are other options” (Wallace XV). Wallace is explaining how becoming aware of our surroundings and being concerned for others helps us to not sink into that default-setting. We have the option to think, so we should think about others and what is going on before we become frustrated. Just by being more open-minded, our lives will change because of how we are choosing to think. 

If you really think about what all Wallace mentions in this speech, it is actually kind of deep and emotional. Wallace states, “Most of these suicides are actually dead long before they pull the trigger” (Wallace XIII). Obviously, the meaning of his statement is not literal because if they were dead they wouldn’t be able to kill themselves. What Wallace actually means by this is that whatever causes these people to commit suicide eats them up until they have absolutely nothing left to fight for. For example people who have depression tend to become really sad sometimes at random moments because the mind is in control. They cannot escape this, therefore it takes over and eventually they don’t even realize that they are never truly happy. 

As mentioned previously, Wallace is arguing that, “there is value to be found in the way that Liberal Arts colleges teach students to broaden and better control the way they think about everything around them” (Wallace X). He believes that if they take what they have learned and become successful through everyday motions that are positive and make them happy then they should have nothing to worry about. I believe that Wallace said so many times that he wasn’t trying to lecture, because he knew that this would cause some people to listen better. Throughout his speech, he used many stories to tie in the situations to the leading causes of living a life without truly living. Even though he does not specifically state it, his speech concludes that instead of dwelling on life, we should choose to be aware and think positive, so we don’t live on our natural default-setting. 
