In “This is Water,” David Foster Wallace took a unique approach on giving a college commencement speech that left the audience not only perplexed but also reexamining the way in which they live their lives. Wallace uses striking diction, powerful imagery, and alternate viewpoints in order to ultimately prove that everyone has the ability to decide how he or she views and approaches each situation in life. This attitude can come from within, peers, experience, or an education which is how Wallace connects the theme to the commencement speech. 

Wallace opens the speech by stating, “If your total freedom of choice regarding what to think about seems too obvious to waste time discussing, I’d ask you to think about fish and water, and to bracket for just a few minutes your skepticism about the value of the totally obvious” (Wallace XI). By beginning his speech like this, he was essentially politely telling every person in the room to step down from their high horse and back into reality. Reality being that people often get too far wrapped up in their thoughts and overanalyze to the point where they cannot see the most blatant of things right in front of them. It was smart of Wallace to begin like this because it grabs people’s attention by making them question their everyday actions and question their sense of self. This bold attention getter also makes the audience more vulnerable to what someone has to say by initially shocking them with the eye opening truth and thus making them realize that maybe they aren’t the center of the world after all. Following this, he states, “Everything in my own immediate experience supports my deep belief that I am the absolute center of the universe’ the realist, most vivid and important person in the existence. We rarely think about this sort of natural, basic self-centeredness because it’s so socially repulsive” (Wallace XII). And yes, Wallace was right. That shocking statement is completely repulsive to read, however, it is one of the most accurate statements to man-kind. While this self-centeredness is often subconscious, many individuals ignore this in order to be successful and get through the daily life. Like David Foster Wallace said, “It is our default setting, hard-wired into our boards at birth” (Wallace XII). It is so natural to be overly consumed with daily life that it makes it almost impossible to take a step back to realize what is going on around it. That is why it is especially important to try and and reprogram their mindset to be able to see the world around them, while still living out their ordinary daily lives. The assertive and blatant language in this speech is important for allowing the audience to stop and realize the reality of what he is saying. Wallace’s use of such strong and aggressive vocabulary is important in addressing the theme because it makes him sound more knowledgeable and the audience will actually respect what he has to say, thus leaving a lasting impression. 

As the speech continues, David Foster Wallace begins giving exceedingly descriptive and clear images of how the average adult day looks. Part of this long tedious day includes going to the grocery store where he says, “the store is hideously lit and infused with soul-killing muzak or corporate pop and it’s pretty much the last place you want to be but you can’t just get in and quickly out; you have to wander all over the huge, over-lit store’s confusing aisles to find the stuff you want” (Wallace XIII). He carries on and on until he is finally leaving the parking lot where he then manages to complain how “you [now] have to drive all the way home through slow, heavy, SUV-intense, rush-hour traffic” (Wallace XIV). Not many people can find such anger and disgust in something as small as grocery shopping, however, this accurately represents how having such a selfish mindset can force one to find negativity in every single daily operation. Wallace’s use of how grocery shopping is so strenuous on the average adult shows that they must be overly privileged and conceited if that is their biggest concern of their day. Luckily, Wallace realizes that while this may be our “natural default setting,” there are “totally different ways to think about these situations.” In regards to the grocery store outrage, Wallace states, “Or I can choose to force myself to consider the likelihood that everyone else in the supermarket’s checkout line is just as bored and frustrated as I am, and that some of these people probably have harder, more tedious and painful lives than I do” (Wallace XV). This realization shows that while yes, something like grocery shopping may be bothersome, there are also a thousand other people in the same boat. The only difference is, some of these people may have a whirlwind of other problems such as being ill, being jobless, or being homeless. If one’s biggest problem is being forced to go grocery shopping, then they need to step back and appreciate the life they are lucky enough to have. Also, an alternative thought to the complaint about the SUV-heavy traffic is that, “…it’s not impossible that some of these people in SUV’s have been in horrible auto accidents in the past, and now find driving so terrifying that their therapist has all but ordered them to get a huge, heavy SUV so they can feel safe enough to drive” (Wallace XV). This alternative scenario is not saying that something bad has happened to everyone, rather it is saying that there are more severe problems that may have affected someone who then had to change their lives because of it. That being said, one should think twice before getting annoyed and frustrated at someone because they do not know what goes on in the respective person’s life.  While not all situations have a dark and sad story behind it, it is important to consider what the people around may be experiencing in order to be less spiteful of simple everyday tasks. 

Between the striking diction, powerful imagery and insightful alternative opinions, David Foster Wallace was able to convey a powerful message throughout “This Is Water.” Initially, he struck the crowd with the harsh truth that everyone is naturally self-centered which is simply due to the nature of how we are created. However, he then created powerful images of everyday adult tasks and explained the ways in which one could go about them. One can either be miserable and complain about every miniscule task or be positive and grateful for even having the opportunity to complain about something as small as grocery shopping. Every individual holds the power to choose how they live their life, and it is important to realize happiness can only come from within.
