David Foster Wallace wrote a speech to a liberal arts graduation class in 2005. He starts the speech off with a parable about fish that seems to have no correlation with graduation; however, by the end of his speech it is clear the point of the parable. Wallace’s argument within the graduation speech contradicts the teachings of the liberal art school. The point of a liberal arts education is to teach students how to think; however, Wallace argues that what you are thinking about is more important that thinking alone (David Foster Wallace “This Is Water”). When you think alone with no realization of what you are thinking about it is easy to get trapped in and be oblivious to life’s daily routines. Throughout the speech Wallace encourages the new graduates to step outside of a self-centered way of thinking in order to avoid oblivion.  

Wallace uses a parable about fish during the opening to provoke thought thorough the whole commencement speech. The parable is about two younger fish who are oblivious that they are swimming in water until an older fish pointed it out to them (Wallace). This parable sets up the idea that we are oblivious to our surroundings unless we force ourselves to think outside of our day to day routine. There is also importance in the fact that the parable involves the younger fish who are obvious and closed minded with a lack of experience similar to how the new graduates will be. Wallace represents the older fish in the parable reminding the younger fish to step outside of the daily routine and comfort zone in order to look around. This sets up a sense of credibility as Wallace has already experience the day to day routines that the new graduates will soon face.  

Wallace later introduces another story about two men sharing a story in Alaska, one man an atheist and the other a believer in God. The atheist describes how he was caught in a blizzard and prayed out to God asking for survival. Shortly after some Eskimoes crossed his path and helped him to safety. The religious man argues that the atheist must believe in God after the event because God sent the Eskimoes to save him. However, the atheist concluded that it was just chance that the Eskimoes crossed his path and helped him to safety that night (Wallace). Wallace uses this story to demonstrate how 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 from experience” (Wallace). Wallace says that people with a liberal arts education “prizes tolerance and diversity of belief (Wallace)” so they would accept the different view of both men and not question where their beliefs come from. Wallace points out how people overlook how others gain beliefs and values from experiences and assume others are “hard-wired” (Wallace). He uses this story to point out the importance to not just think about oneself, but consider what is going on outside of yourself. The story provides an example by showing that the Christian concluded that the atheist must have believed in God after the event because it was obvious (to the Christian) that God sent the Eskimoes. If the Christian were to think about how the atheist does not believe there is a God, he would be less oblivious to the atheist’s reasoning.

People can be “close-minded” (Wallace) and have “blind certainty” (Wallace) and not even realize it. This connects back to the parable about the fish who are unaware they are in water. They are oblivious because they do not consider what to think about, they just continue to live life with no purpose. They know how to think but not what to think about.  Wallace says that a reason for being so oblivious is because we are wired to be self-focused (Wallace). 

Wallace explains that during commencement speeches no one prepares you for the boring routines of day in and day outs where you eventually become oblivious. People become so used to routines that going outside of the routine creates discomfort, and it all leads back to the fact that we are wired to be self-centered, “operating on the automatic, unconscious belief that I am the center of the world and that my immediate needs and feelings are what should determine the world's priorities” (Wallace). Being self-centered is natural many people lack the ability to go beyond their self and think about others and their soundings. If you start to consider others and come out of the automatic way of thinking that is centered around yourself, Wallace hints that you can become less miserable and oblivious during the everyday routine. Being “well-adjusted” (Wallace) and a way to break from oblivion “involves attention and awareness and discipline, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them over and over in myriad petty, unsexy ways every day” (Wallace).

Liberal art schools teach students more than just filler knowledge, but how to think. Yet through the commencement speech Wallace argues that they schools miss one point: what to think about. Without stepping outside of your own mind Wallace argues that you can easily become trapped in what is life’s everyday routines and become obvious to your surroundings. In the beginning of the speech Wallace stated that “important realities are often the ones that are hardest to see and talk about” (Wallace). The two young fish were so oblivious to everything that it did not become apparent to them that they missed a major component of their reality and did not recognize that they were in water until it was pointed out. The goal of Wallace’s speech is to encourage the new graduates to step outside of their comfort zones within their minds and consider the ideas of others and how they achieved them rather than perceive the world through their own eyes. 
