Rhetorical devices have a profound effect on commencement speeches. Some rhetorical devices in speeches will try to elicit emotion from their audience, and some will try to inspire their audience to think or pursue a greater cause. To each person, every commencement speech has a different impact; everyone takes in advice and wise words differently than one another. And each speaker has a different way of conveying a similar message. When you finally are staring at that stage, waiting to hear your commencement speech, would you want to hear something mundane, and seemingly run of the mill? Or would you want to hear something that will inspire you to take on the world as an independent individual? David Foster Wallace’s “This is Water” commencement speech is written in a very unorthodox way; Wallace uses a blunt and dry perspective in his speech to symbolize the real world. He strayed away from the sugar-coated “banal platitudes” of the typical commencement speeches we hear today to truly prepare the students of what to expect as they enter the real world. The unconventionality of “This is Water” by David Foster Wallace, makes this particular speech stand out and have a bigger impact on the students.

As Wallace starts off his speech, he recalls what commencement speeches are “supposed to be” and immediately strays away. “This is a standard requirement of US commencement speeches, the deployment of didactic little parable-ish stories, (Wallace, X).” Didactic little parable-ish stories are cliché and do not have much substance to them, yet these are what make up most commencement speeches we hear today. David Foster Wallace references a few of these “standard requirements of US commencement speeches.” But the difference between the stories in Wallace’s commencement speech versus the typical speeches we hear today, is the diction. Wallace uses a different type of diction in his speech than the typical “uplifting” or “happy” diction used. He also goes into much more depth with the stories he tells and uses blunt, real world examples. 

Wallace references a few didactic stories in his speech. The moral of one story about fish and water is simple awareness of one’s surroundings. “And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes ‘What the hell is water?’ (Wallace, X)” Wallace references this story to symbolize humans. He claims that humans’ “default setting” is naturally selfish (XII). The diction Wallace chooses to use can be considered negative and condescending. He chooses to use words like “arrogant” to describe humans and “a terrible master” to describe the brain. “It is not the least bit coincidental that 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. (Wallace, XIII)” Had he chosen to use sugar-coated words, the impact of this line would be tainted. Using such unconventional diction for a commencement speech is an attention-grabber. It makes the listeners wonder where Wallace is going with such negative adjectives and such depressing topics, such as suicide, for a speech that is supposed to be uplifting and inspiring.

Humans are used to hearing that once they graduate, they will get a great job, be successful, and live an amazing life. Not to say that this is not true, but many students are dumbfounded as they enter the real world and it is not like the university’s “bubble” they have been living in for the past years of their lives. When describing the real world, Wallace uses adjectives like “dreary,” “annoying,” and “seemingly meaningless (XIV).” And uses very specific examples of what an average day is like. The main idea of Wallace’s speech is to make the students aware of the fact that the world they are about to step into is nothing like what they have been used to for the past years of their lives. To show how humans are trapped in their own personal bubble, Wallace repeats the word “you” with a negative connotation; “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, (XII).” Had he chosen to use a more positive connotation, his point would not have been as strong as it is. His use of the second person resonates more with the reader because it forces the reader to look at themselves rather than it be associated with people in general.

With the parables Wallace chooses to discuss, he uses negative diction and blunt examples as a way to grab attention. Had he chosen more positive diction, his speech would have been a typical, run of the mill, US commencement speech.  His use of second person resonates more with the readers and the negative diction gets the point across in a much more powerful way. Wallace uses many negative adjectives but his speech as a whole is very positive and inspirational. Many could describe Wallace’s speech as “dark” or maybe even “rude,” because of the topics he discusses in this speech. Wallace is not afraid to talk about topics that are considered “taboo”; he discusses blind-certainty regarding beliefs, arrogance and the human’s natural setting, selfishness. He is not afraid to give the capital-T truth and to describe what the mundane life of an adult is like. Wallace gives these students the cold, hard facts of life and prepares these students truthfully for adulthood with his blunt adjectives. He chooses to use negative diction to symbolize life because he feels that it is important students are prepared for the good and the bad. He then continues to give insight on how to get out of that bubble, how not to be trapped in your “default setting,” and how to live a life that is about living and not worshipping materialistic things. He does not claim that their education will get them a great job, but claims that their liberal arts education is “quote teaching you how to think (XI)”.
