
College commencement speeches are for the university to congratulate and send newly graduated students into the work force. Often times the speeches are administered by a celebrity and are full of light-hearted quips and encouraging words. On May 21, 2005 Kenyon College received a very different type of commencement speech, written by David Foster Wallace. Rather than making jokes and handing out complements, Wallace raises deep thought-provoking questions including personal perspective and individual thinking. “This is Water” encourages an increased amount of thought by everyone in day-by-day life by the way of two very carefully crafted metaphors used in conjunction with each other and Wallace’s establishment of deeper meaning through particular phrasing.

The first of the metaphors “This is Water” utilizes, ends up creating the title for the commencement speech. Wallace starts to explain his grander notion of thought and perspective by using a metaphor about a conversation between fish which ends with one fish exclaiming “What the hell is water?” (Wallace XII). This question is exactly what “This is Water” seeks to answer, not literally what water is but rather the human equivalency of water. To a fish, water is what they are living and breathing in. Yet when questioned “How’s the water?”, the fish does not understand even though the water is entirely submerging the fish. Just as the fish is blind to what it’s entire world really is, humans also do not know what their “water” or in this case “average adult life” actually is. “This is Water” explains that humans are hard-wired to believe that one is the center of the universe Wallace states that “Situations like this are really all about me, 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, and who are all these people in my way” and “I've worked really hard all day and I'm starved and tired and I can't even get home to eat and unwind because of all these stupid god-damn people” (Wallace XII). Wallace establishes that the human default is to think of themselves as the center of the universe and rarely otherwise, just as the fish was blind as to how the water was even though they are living in it. This idea of self centered thinking leads into the second major metaphor used in the speech.

After Wallace establishes human nature’s “default setting” and perspective through the fish metaphor, he continues to expand on the idea of actively thinking throughout one’s daily routine in life by using a human example that compares inconvenient situations with self centered thinking. After creating a scene that one may encounter in there every day post graduate life where everything seems to be going wrong, Wallace explains that all these small daily interactions and inconveniences are actually when thought is important. He says “If I do not make a conscience decision about how to think and what to pay attention to, I’m going to be pissed and miserable every time I have to food-shop, because my natural default setting is the certainty that situations like this are really all about me” but if he were to make an effort and think about all the possibilities of the situation and, not just his own perspective, these little interactions would be much more complex and perhaps much more pleasant (Wallace XIV). The idea that every small interaction is an opportunity to think and come off of the human default setting, combined with the notion that life as humans know it is simply these small interactions and it is the way one thinks about them, truly defines what “water” is. Wallace used the fish metaphor to lay the ground work about what life really is and then proceeds to use the food-shopping scenario to explain how a small thought could change an individual’s life in huge ways. 

Another major device that “This is Water” utilizes is Wallace’s establishment of deeper meaning through special language and phrases. Many times in “This is Water” Wallace makes a very profound statement or point and then follows with a phrase such as “Again, please don't think that I'm giving you moral advice, or that I'm saying you're “supposed to” think this way” (Wallace XV).  At first glance it seems counterintuitive for an author to craft an argument for something and then immediate discount themselves, but if  “This is Water’s” main message is considered when reading this, then the phrase makes much more sense. If Wallace were to write a banal speech about how life is purely to think for yourself and view situations from different perspectives, but then told how to view and think, he would be completely contradicting himself. Wallace recognizes this and therefore does not pressure readers to think one way or another, but rather lets them make their own conscious decision. By allowing the reader to question his own speech, Wallace is creating another opportunity to veer off of the human default. By not pressuring the reader into thinking a certain way, Wallace is ultimately backing up “This is Water’s” claim through his own life and establishing deeper meaning. If Wallace were to state “think this way” he would be undermining the whole idea of This is Water and destroying his own meanings and credibility. By stating “I am not the wise old fish” and that he is not going tell you what decisions a person should make, he is actually supporting his own ideas (Wallace XII). This incursion of ideas sewed together in “This is Water” is what makes the writing of Wallace so profound and thought provoking.

David Foster Wallace was able to compose such a highly regarded and impactful commencement speech through metaphors and special phrasing. Wallace not only explains his ideas about thought in an easy, approachable way in his metaphors but also applies the idea to his writing at the same time by giving the readers a choice on how to think. With this formula This is Water was able to transcended most other college commencement speeches alongside becoming a staple of Wallace’s storied career.
