David Foster Wallace’s “This is Water” can be looked at and interpreted through a literal or figurative point of view. The figurative point of view gives this speech more depth and connection to the reader’s personal life. The metaphors that Wallace use throughout his commencement speech help to portray this lens.  Wallace uses other figurative devices such as hyperbole to further this point as well. However, the purpose of this commencement speech is not to force us to think one type of way or another but instead it is about simple awareness not knowledge. By looking at figurative devices we can see a difference between knowledge and awareness which is important because not being aware of what we have could cause us to overlook the importance of major things in our lives that we might take for granted.

Wallace portrays the world in a very simple but meaningful way that most people over look in everyday life. Most people act as if they are the center of the universe and don’t stop to think about others. This can be seen when Wallace says, “…who are all these people in my way? And look how repulsive most of them are and how stupid and cow-like and dead-eyed and nonhuman they seem here in the checkout line…” From this we can see how most people who live in a world where the universe is centered around them would think. They would think about waiting in that long checkout line as an inconvenience to them not what kind of emergency someone else might have going on because they are only worried about themselves. Wallace simply explains to us that there is another option and asks us to consider this option as we go into the “real world” after college. The other way to approach this situation which Wallace also describes is to think about others first and to consider what they might be going through and how that could be impacting them. We can see this way of thinking in these words from Wallace, “…you can choose to look differently at this fat, dead-eyed, over-made-lady who just screamed at her child in the checkout line-maybe she’s not usually like this; maybe she’s been up three straight nights holding the hand of her husband who’s dying of bone cancer…” If we just think about ourselves and make everyone else out to be the bad guy in the situation, then life will be more negative for everyone. If you put the possible situation others might be going through into thought before you act and put a smile on your face it could completely change someone’s day which could start a ripple effect and change someone else’s day and so on. Wallace is not telling us how to think but if you wish to think this way, smile.

Wallace’s use of other figurative devices to help further this figurative interpretation. The commencement begins with a metaphor. Wallace begins talking about fish swimming around and one saying, “what is water?”, obviously Wallace doesn’t want us to take this literally and think about what water is. Instead, Wallace is digging into our deeper figurative lens and pulling out a figurative meaning and applying it to our personal life. The fish represent us as people in the work force, with the little fish specifically representing the new young worker in the work force. Water is what surrounds a fish and the fish were so caught up in everything else going on in life that when they were asked about the water it took them a minute then they realized they did not even know what water was. This relates back to our personal lives in the way that it is so easy to forget about the most basic things in life and take little things that actually turn out to be big things for granted. For example, personally I am not thankful for something as simple as the gift of hearing but if I woke up not being able to hear my life would be changed forever. My hearing is something I use every day, for me it is something I need to survive and communicate, like water is vital to a fish. We are not aware of our gift of hearing but we know we can hear.

Hyperbole is another figurative device used to help create the figurative lens. In the speech, Wallace describes the cashier checking someone out saying their what might seem forced inevitable words, “Have a nice day, in a voice that is the absolute voice of death.” This is not meant to be taken literally. Death is not saying to have a nice day. Instead, the cashier’s voice is being described as deathly because she probably has a lot going and work is the least of her worries. However, if we are looking at life through this negative lens then we could think of her as being rude and worsening our day. If we look at this situation through a more positive lens when we are not the center of the universe we would think about what the cashier might be going through at home and not let the tone of her voice bother us.

Wallace isn’t telling us which way to think or that one way is the right way, instead he is just trying to rack our brains and get us to think through a more figurative lens. You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what does not, what is important to you and what is not. Once you can answer these questions about yourself, you can figure out how you wish to live your life.