David Foster Wallace’s “This is Water” is a unique commencement speech given to the 2005 graduating class of Kenyon College. In his speech, David Foster Wallace is trying to get people to realize that paying attention to others is important.  Wallace’s speech talks about changing a person’s perspective and attitude on others around them.  In order for the students to pay attention to what he is saying and to get his point across, Wallace uses multiple speaking techniques: repetition of the word “death,” parallelism with the word “worship,” and imagery by speaking in second person.  Each of these concepts can be located in different instances throughout the whole speech.  Although each concept is used differently, all of them are helpful when arguing about how to interpret the speech. 

First, one concept used continuously through the speech is repetition of the word “death.” The word death is used over seven times, but in a different instance each time.  Wallace begins using the word early on in his speech in order to grab the students' attention and make them realize the importance of what he is about to say.  The use of the word “death” may make this speech seem more dramatic than is needed, but it is used for the purpose of getting his point across. To illustrate, at the beginning of his speech Wallace says, “Stated as an English sentence, of course, this is just a banal platitude, but the fact is that in the day to day trenches of adult existence, banal platitudes can have a life or death importance, or so I wish to suggest to you on this dry and lovely morning” (Wallace 2).  The repetition of the word, as seen in the quote, gives his audience a fearful feeling of going into the real world.  Even though the word is used multiple times and in different contexts, the purpose for using it is the same.  Repetition is defined as "a literary device that repeats the same words or phrases a few times to make an idea clearer" (“Repetition”). Looking at this definition, one can conclude that the repetition of the word “death” in the speech is used in order to get the students to realize that when one chooses to pay attention, he or she can make choices that will improve the quality of his/her days as well as the days of others. 

Another concept used in Wallace’s speech is parallelism. Parallelism is a “literary device in which parts of the sentence are grammatically the same, or are similar in construction” (“Parallelism”).  Near the end of the speech, one can notice parallelism being used through the use of the word “worship.” Wallace goes on to explain that everyone should worship a god or a spiritual thing in order to draw the attention off of him or her.  He lists a myriad of things that some may worship, which are self related, and how this will in turn cause them problems later in life.  Wallace constructs each sentence in this paragraph similarly in a way that he names something one may worship, then explains why he or she should not worship it. For example, he says, “If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you with never have enough, never feel you have enough” (Wallace 7). Here, Wallace takes the idea of worshipping money and explains that if one decides to do so then he or she will never be fully satisfied. The way he is constructing these sentences imitates the routine way people go about their days. Just like the rest of the speech, Wallace wants the students to realize how boring each day will be by repeating what they did the day before. Although this exact parallelism is not seen anywhere else in the speech, the reason for it is. Wallace uses this concept, and many others, in the attempt to get his point across to his audience that people should think about things outside of themselves. 

A third concept used throughout the entire speech is imagery.  Imagery is “the literary term used for language and description that appeals to our five senses” (“Imagery”).  In “This is Water,” one can see the concept of imagery through Wallace’s use of speaking in second person. Wallace speaks in second person specifically in his stories so that he can challenge his listeners to think in terms of their own life. The one of five senses that is being appealed by the use of second person is sight. The purpose of using “you” in Wallace’s speech is for him to pull his listeners into action and for them to picture each scenario he talks about in their own lives. Near the beginning of his speech, Wallace says “Think about it: there is no experience you have had that you are not the absolute center of. 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. And so on. Other people’s thoughts and feelings have to be communicated to you somehow, but your own are so immediate, urgent, real” (Wallace 3). Wallace states this idea early on in his speech to emphasize the idea to the students that everyone controls their own mind.  If Wallace were to speak completely in third person then his ideas would have come across as mere generalizations about society rather than as a specific situation relevant to the life of each person to which he is speaking. Through his entire speech, Wallace continues to challenge the students to think in terms of their own lives because his argument as a whole states that they must change their own mindsets. He makes a point that everyone, although it will take daily practice to strive for, must make an effort to adjust his or her awareness each day. Wallace speaks in second person in his entire speech with the purpose of the students being able to picture what their lives are about to be like in the real world.  Using imagery and speaking in second person helps to understand the speech as a whole and how it is preparing the listeners for the real world. Appealing to our sense of sight through second person, each student is able to visualize what Wallace is saying and put each situation he talks about in the perspective of his or her own life. 

Overall, Wallace’s speech, “This is Water”, uses many different concepts and details in order for him to get his point across. Through repetition of the word “death,” parallelism with the word “worship,” and appealing to our senses with imagery, Wallace is able to get his listeners to understand that every decision they make will impact him or her, whether in a positive or negative manner. The repetition of the word “death” is used to show the importance of his speech and how everyone can make simple choices that can effect anybody’s day. Using parallelism with the word “worship” helps the listeners understand that there are other important things in the world other than just one's self.  Finally, imagery is used throughout this speech when Wallace speaks in second person. By speaking in second person within his stories, the students can place themselves in a hypothetical situation and think in terms of their own lives. Each concept is used throughout the entire speech, but in different ways. The different depictions of each concept help everyone to understand what the speech is trying to say as a whole. 
