“It is unimaginably hard to do this, to stay conscious and alive in the adult world day in and day out” (Wallace XVII). In his short novella, “This is Water,” David Foster Wallace applies style throughout the piece to help express many points to the reader. Wallace uses syntax, capitalization, and short sentences to support his claims on self-awareness, self-centeredness, and virtue. Clearly, Wallace is passionate about sharing his ideas on education and the “capital-T truth” about life. 

Wallace’s first choice of style is sentence structure and comparison to get the reader to understand what he thinks is the truth about knowledge and education. The speaker starts this technique in the third paragraph to set the tone about expressing his opinion for the rest of the novella; he says, “…liberal arts education is not so much about filling you up with knowledge as it is quote teaching how to think” (Wallace XI). Wallace shows another example of this comparison technique in the same paragraph; “…the really significant education in thinking that we’re supposed to get in a place like this isn’t really about the capacity to think, but rather the choice of what to think about” (Wallace XI). These two examples are detailed in that Wallace introduces two ideas in the reader’s head of what one should not think and what one should think. The significance of structuring his sentences this way is why the speaker chooses to includes what not to think about at all, because this then influences the reader to also consider the idea he said not to, and helps give a better understanding of Wallace’s point. One might argue that there is no significance in the syntax, and this is simply just how Wallace worded it. However, in the last paragraphs of the piece, another use of this style proves to enable the reader to have a deeper thought and understanding about what the speaker means. To share his final generalized opinion about education he states, “It is about the real value of a real education, which has almost nothing to do with knowledge, and everything to do with simple awareness; awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, all the time…” (Wallace XVII). This example shows Wallace did not just word it this way for no reason, for it allows the reader to consider both knowledge and simple awareness in education. 

Wallace also uses capitalization as a style to put emphasis on certain words and meanings to strengthen his argument to the reader. The speaker discusses the idea that everyone is self-centered because it is a natural, “default setting.” To introduce this opinion, he starts, “…there is no experience that you are not the absolute center of. The world as you experience it is there in front of YOU or behind YOU, to the left or right of YOU, on YOUR TV or YOUR monitor” (Wallace XII). The capitalization of the word “you” obviously emphasizes his claim of the world’s self-centeredness and way of thinking. In a different paragraph, Wallace again refers to the selfishness in everyone: “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” (Wallace XIV). This quote also shows how people only think about what benefits themselves and do not care about others around them. Wallace then changes the tone of this capitalization away from self-centeredness when he explains the situation the man in the hummer might be in and says, “…it is actually I who am in HIS way” (Wallace XV). This example is the first time he uses capitalization to refer to someone else’s struggles and has a thought that goes outside of what is best for oneself. All the times the speaker uses capitalization it emphasizes the meaning of the text and holds the reader’s attention on what is being said. 

Short sentences throughout the novella help Wallace elaborate on his claims. This writing style works to introduce a long explanative statement and makes it easier to follow the speaker’s idea. For example, he starts his paragraph with one complete sentence, shadowed by short sentences to go into greater detail; “The point here is that I think this is one part of what teaching me how to think is really supposed to mean. To be just a little less arrogant. To have just a little critical awareness about myself and my certainties” (Wallace XII). The two infinitive fragments in this quote elaborate to the reader what “teaching me how to think is really supposed to mean.” The fact the phrases are worded this way and separated into different short sentences is significant because it causes the reader to have time to stop and think about what he is saying and puts a more powerful connotation on what it means to be “just a little less arrogant.” A subtler example of this is seen a few paragraphs later when Wallace states, “This is not a matter of virtue. It’s a matter of choosing to do the work of somehow altering or getting free of my natural, hard-wired default setting…” (Wallace XII). The short sentence introduces a long run on sentence and sets the tone to explain what it is a “matter” of. One might dispute this thought that the short sentences are explanative and attention holders; however, in another area of the text Wallace says, “Let’s get concrete” (Wallace XIII), in the middle of the paragraph, it becomes clear this is going to introduce an idea and keeps the reader interested in what he is about to say. From these examples, the speaker is able to express his feelings about how to think and virtue in everyday life. 

In “This is Water,” Wallace’s writing style undoubtedly portrays his points on a liberal arts education and the capital-T truth about adult life. The speaker’s choice of syntax, capitalization, and short sentences aid him in the clarification of his claims. Not only do his examples clarify, but also grab the reader’s attention to keep him from losing interest. Without these techniques, the reader might be lost in his examples, and his evident extreme consciousness of the adult world. 