
At the graduation of Kenyon College, David Foster Wallace gave a commencement speech titled This is Water, to the graduating class of 2005. Like most commencement speeches, he gave advice to the graduates that would not only be valuable in their jobs but in their everyday life as well. Through parables and everyday life examples, he shares his thoughts and belief that “everybody worships”. By looking at the repetition and parallelism of the word “worship”, we can see the importance of the meaning of worship and the affects it has on one's awareness in one's everyday life.

In Wallace’s commencement speech he states that “everyone worships”. When most people hear the word worship, they typically associate this with religious and spiritual practices. Some of these being Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity. These are just a few examples of the dominating religions, yet there are over forty-two hundred religions all over the world, all worshiping in different ways. All of these religions have different beliefs, practices, Gods, and even denominations.  Though worship is typically referred to in religious practices, the term is not confined to just that. 

“Everybody worships”. This means that one does not have to show their reverence or adoration to their God or Gods. Anyone and anything can be worshiped. Whether it be a popular person in today's society, some type of materials, or idols in one's everyday life. The only thing that varies by person is what they decide to worship.  Everyone gets the “choice [of] what [they want] to worship”, this is why “there is…no such thing as atheism” (Wallace, XVI). This is because people have the power to “consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn't”. One might choose to worship a God or earthly idols like money, possessions, recognition, power, beauty, and body. These earthly idols are “forms of worship [that] are…default settings”, they’re the ones that someone “gradually slip…. [and makes them] more selective about what [they] see and how [they] measure value without fully being aware of that's what [they’re] doing” (Wallace, XVI). What someone chooses to worships influences their awareness and how they perceive the world around them. This influences how they act, think, and treat others around them.

This can have a positive or negative effect on your life, depending on what you value. For example, if someone worships a religion that pushes them to be the best version of their self, that is positive. Yet if they are so certain in their beliefs and interpretations that they become close minded and arrogant, completely disregarding other people's interpretations, that is bad. Wallace uses a story of two guys, one religious and one atheist, in a bar discussing religion. Just the other month, the atheist was stranded in a snowstorm and prayed to God to be rescued, and he was. The religious man was a hundred percent confident this was a prayer answered from God while when the nonreligious guy was convinced it had nothing to do with prayer, the eskimos just rescued him. The point of telling this story is to demonstrate that people often think they are the only one who is correct. Wallace uses this story to show the listeners how to think, to be more aware and less arrogant.   

On page XVI, Wallace states, “If you worship money and things...then you will never have enough...Worship your body...and you will always feel ugly...Worship power, you will end up feeling weak and afraid...Worship your intellect...and you will end up feeling stupid”. Wallace uses repetition of the word worship and demonstrates parallelism in his sentences. The use of these techniques adds a balance and rhythm that allows his ideas to flow smoothly. If looking at the repetition and parallelism a bit deeper, one could see that this mirrored the routines people live daily. The word worship is repeated like the actions and routines people do every day. Wake up, get coffee, go to work, go to the grocery store, come home, make dinner, go to bed, then repeat all the next day. Wallace uses repetition as a technique for persuasion. He wants to convince the reader or listener that he is correct, that his perception is the right. It is his goal to have the reader/listener to agree with him. Wallace also uses repetition for emphasis. He wants to make it known to the audience that this is an important part of his speech and that it is essential to his main point by repeating it many times. The place he used the repetition, talking about worship, was a key technique that allowed the audience to see his passion for the subject. His passion for the issue was able to be received by the reader and it then bought upon them as well. These are the many ways Wallace uses repetition and parallelism in his commencement speech This is Water. 

In David Wallace's commencement speech, he gave advice to the graduating class that most commenters do not. Basically, he told them that by obtaining their liberal arts degree they were taught how to think and this is the most important thing they could have been taught. How they think influences who they will become and how they will act. This influences how they treat others and their awareness. He also explored that what someone worship influences their awareness. Through repetition and parallelism, Wallace was able to persuade and put emphasis on the importance of what people worship. 