After graduating from college, the expectation is to go out and find a job and begin the rest of the “adult” life. What people fail to think about is the way they are perceiving their lives and how they are thinking about their day to day self. Wallace gave this speech to a graduating class of college seniors to warn them about the automatic mindset they might not know is already programmed into their minds. He has seen and experienced first-hand the default setting that people put themselves on to float through their lives, and he warns his audience to slow down and think about the decisions they are about to make before making them. By looking at Wallace’s “This is Water” we can see his use of syntax serves to make his point in a subtle way, which most people do not see. This is important because Wallace illustrates how humans naturally operate from a self-centered default setting that imprisons them, and that people are constantly rushing through their lives. Without these specific syntax elements, the speech would have a different tone, and his message would not come across as strong. 

Wallace discusses how the speed of people has increased over the years, and the urge of people to rush to get things done. They rush to work in the morning, hoping that the hours go by quickly just so they can rush home and get back into bed. It is as if they are always hurrying through their work weeks instead of enjoying each day for what it is. Wallace explains this experience with not only his words, but also with his sentence structure. For example, he writes, “And the store is hideously lit and infused with soul-killing muzak or corporate pop and its pretty much the last place you want to be…and eventually you get all your supper supplies, except now it turns out that there aren’t enough check-out lanes open even though it’s the end-of-the-day-rush” (Wallace 13). This sentence describes what it is like for adults to try to complete the simple task of getting themselves dinner at the end of the long work day, but how complicated and draining that process is. When reading this sentence, the audience is almost waiting for an end of the sentence to come, which is alluding to how adults may feel throughout their work days. The sentence is set up to continue on and on with no end in sight. This syntactic technique represents the longevity and cruise control of the adult perspective of the day. Wallace warns this graduating class about putting their lives on this automatic setting. The days somehow go from fun and unique to long and routine and boring. Including sentences like this throughout this passage and the entire speech are purposefully trying to show the listeners and readers about not being lured into this imprisoning perspective on life.

Another feature of the syntax Wallace uses is sentence breaks to pause the reader for a moment. When writers include long or run on sentences, commas are required to break up the text. Wallace includes a prevalent amount of lengthy sentences throughout his speech, sentences which require commas to separate ideas as well as to make the reader take pauses. These pauses, intern, slow down the reader and make them unable to rush through the speech. Wallace writes, “By way of example, let’s say it’s an average adult day, and you get up in the morning, go to your challenging, white-collar, graduate job, and you work hard for eight or ten hours…and then hit the sack early because, of course, you have to get up the next day and do it all again” (Wallace 13). Wallace intentionally includes all of the commas. This longevity helps to make his argument that a day in the adult world seems to drag on and on. 

Another feature of Wallace’s style is that he includes certain words that do not necessarily have to be included. Wallace writes, “So getting to the store takes way longer than it should, and when you finally get there, the supermarket is very crowded…”, (13). This sentence, again a long one with many commas to slow down the reader, includes words such as “way”, “finally”, and “very”. Without these words, the sentence itself still makes complete sense. The inclusion of these little words dramatizes the sentence way more than it needs to be. He adds emphasis on these little words to help show his frustration of how his hungry self slumps around the grocery store and has to deal with all the other people who are doing the exact same thing as he. The overdramatic tone of this sentence helps to add to the argument of the self-centered mindset that all people have. He is finding the simple act of just getting a few groceries after work a very difficult one to do because of all the people that are getting in his way. Wallace’s word choice in this passage emphasizes the “all about me” mindset that people operate on automatically. 

Wallace’s “This is Water” encompasses a strong message to the next generation of workers, as well as those who are currently working. His syntax structure aids in the projection of this message throughout the speech, and notable in paragraph 12, where he includes long run on sentences that parallel the long work days the graduate are heading into. He also includes many breaks to slow the reader down as they are reading this speech. This tactic makes reading take a longer amount of time, and influences the reader to slow down, which is what Wallace is suggesting his listeners to do; getting off this automatic setting and actually slow down and realize things that are happening around them. Lastly, Wallace’s word choice plays a big role in the way he is giving his message. He is overdramatizing simple situations so everyone is able to see how self-centered he is being, and Wallace is warning those people to not be overdramatic and to escape from the “all-about-me” mindset we are programmed to have. Wallace’s syntax aid in arguing his main point; to have everyone stop hurrying through life and stop to smell the roses once in a while. 
