This Is Water is an inspirational essay that can be open to a variety of interpretations. Whether the audience thinks it’s about the value of a liberal arts degree, or to not be self -centered. It can be received and viewed in many different ways. The author of this essay David Foster Wallace portrays his writing like this on purpose because he wants the readers to take away their own meaning from the text. He held his commencement speech at Kenyon College for their annual graduation. He chose to speak here because he wanted college kids to take his message seriously, and because they are the people who will listen and be influenced the most by it. As you begin to read his essay a lot of readers will easily dismiss his speech as something simple, and just say that the essay is about not being influenced by outside forces, and that there is more meaning than just saying you have a liberal arts degree, but I was actually able to interpret something completely different from it. I came to the conclusion that one of the main meanings of his essay was that it was okay to have a different point of view from everyone else, and to not dismiss the obvious. 

Throughout the text the author uses a lot of literary devices to convey his message in the text. First he mentions a couple different examples to help the reader understand what he is trying to get across. At a glance you would just think he mentions point of view as something within a person, but I chose to interpret point of view as something that we all have differently depending on the person. Our point of view is shaped by our life experiences, and our beliefs. Therefore, not everyone will come to the same conclusion about something, because we all see the world in our own view and not anyone else’s. In the text Wallace also tells us to choose how we look at the world, and to not look at it as everyone else does, and I think this relates with the idea of how we won’t have the same view as everyone because we all have had different experiences in our life. Later in the text Wallace goes on to say “the exact same experience can mean two totally different things to two different people, given those people’s two different belief templates and two different ways of constructing meaning of experience “(XI). This passage is mentioning how the eskimos were stranded, and he continually points out that they were both deserted within the same circumstances, but that within their different belief templates they came to two very different conclusions on the events had transpired to save them. This quote continues to define and prove his message about how different point of views can vary between each person. 

Wallace like many other authors uses many types of literary devices in his examples to prove and show his many points. All the examples that he uses are open to different interpretations. Other than the eskimo story previously mentioned we can also attempt to find out what the fish parable in the essay could mean.  In the beginning of his speech Wallace begins with a fish parable saying “ … Morning boys. “How’s the water?” and the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other goes “What the hell is water” “(X). In this passage the author uses a symbol to help convey one of his main ideas of the story. In the parable water is a symbol for reality, or the obvious. He continues to say we should not overlook or overstate the obvious just because our life gets strenuous or overwhelming. He also uses personification to give the fish human like qualities which makes it more understandable to college graduates or kids.

Another literary tool that David Foster Wallace likes to introduce is the idea of imagery. He likes to use different kinds of images to help shape what we can imagine and see in our heads. When using imagery, he can sometimes take a more drastic tone like when he mentions suicide on page XII “… 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 dead long before they pull the trigger.” This quote creates a clear picture in our head about what the author was thinking about when writing this, and it helps give us a mental image for what he is trying to say. Without imagery it would be hard for the author to use really good examples because the reader wouldn’t be able to visualize them. 

Throughout the essay Wallace even decides to use a little bit of irony in some of his passages of writing. He begins his speech by saying “...if you’re worried that I plan to present myself here as the wise, older fish explaining what water is to you younger fish, please don’t be. I am not the wise old fish” (X). What is so ironic about this passage is that he actually does the opposite of what he said he wasn’t going to do. He actually precedes to tell the kids what to do as if he were the older fish. Another sense of irony that I found in the essay is when later on he mentions putting a gun to your head and committing suicide, but later on in his life he was so depressed he ended up killing himself. Him committing suicide doesn’t take away from his lessons and teachings it is just ironic because he mentions suicide when in fact he actually does commit suicide. The fact that he uses irony and contradicts himself sometimes shows that he might be conflicted with what he is saying, or they he just isn’t able to take his own advice.  

Wallace throughout his speech was able to portray his message through an entire group of people. He used literary tools to help convey his overall points. Which I came to the conclusion that is was that we all have different point of views depending on the person, and to not overstate or miss the obvious.
