

David Foster Wallace was born in Ithaca, New York in 1962 to his father who was a philosophy professor and his mother who was an English teacher(David Foster Wallace). This is presumably where Wallace inherited his amazing talent as an American writer. When he attended college he double majored in English and Philosophy, following after both his parents. The connection between Wallace’s parent’s professions and his brilliance in writing are no coincidence. This connection is prominent in his speech “This is Water.” Wallace tells his audience of the connection between the ways someone thinks and where his or her thoughts come from. He mentions that the environment someone grows up in plays a huge part in the development of someone’s thoughts. Wallace’s works of literature are the perfect medium to hear his thoughts, which are a product of how he was raised.

What does it mean to think? Thinking means to have a conscious mind. Everyone has his or her own way of thinking, and there are many variables that change the way we think. A common question is “where do our personal thoughts and opinions come from.” David Foster Wallace believes they “were somehow just hard-wired; or automatically absorbed from the culture, like language”(Wallace XI). This is one of the greatest aspects of individuality. If everyone had the same thought all the time, the world would be pointless, and very bland to say the least. Without diversity in our thinking, there would be nothing to argue or discuss with others. But because we are hard-wired to think, the matter of arrogance exists. Due to this arrogance, people act in different ways through what they think and speak. In “This is Water,” Wallace provides a story to explain where our thoughts come from.

The first story Wallace gives us is about an atheist and religious man. He explains that people perceive signs in different ways because of the way we think. For example, the atheist man’s life is in danger so he turns to God. After praying, he is saved by people passing by. Even after his rescue he still does not believe it is from the will of God. Contrary, if this happened to the religious man, he would be praising the will of God. Wallace asks where these different views and beliefs come from. His response is “they come from INSIDE the two guys”(Wallace XI), and he believes that was instilled at birth or absorbed from his or her surroundings. Parents are the biggest influence on their children when they are young. After being told by your parents what is true and what is false for so many years, it is nearly impossible to think aversely. Another huge factor in determining the way we think is our peers. As people grow older, they surround themselves with a variety of people. Some of these people will have the same opinions, while other do not. This variety allows people to see the different opinions, which can influence someone to think a certain way. With this inert and personal way of thinking comes a negative, arrogance. 

“Arrogance is defined as a display of superiority or self-importance”(Dictionary). Wallace helps us understand that we are arrogant because of our early beliefs. He compares the atheist and the religious man in the sense that they are both bull-headed in their own way. Just because one is religious does not mean that his arrogance is better than the atheist and vice versa. In simpler terms, Wallace is saying that one opinion does not hold greater importance over another. While some may say that arrogance is a good thing because it shows confidence in what someone knows or thinks. Wallace views arrogance as a problem because it is “a close-mindedness that keeps us chained down without us even knowing we are”(Wallace XII). He knows the danger of being too arrogant, and he knows he is the prisoner that is locked up. Consequently, he wants to be freed from the imprisonment of arrogance. Wallace tells us what it means to be taught to think. It means to be “a little less arrogant”(Wallace XII). Wallace wants his audience and readers to expand his or her horizons to other opinions because what someone knows or thinks now may not always be correct. 

Most people believe what they say is going to be right and always right. In fact, way too many people believe everything they say is right, and everyone else is wrong.  This can be true for some, but for the majority of us it is not. Wallace tells us “a huge percentage of the stuff that I tend to be automatically certain of, it turns out, totally wrong and diluted”(Wallace XII). This statement should be taken to heart. Wallace tells us that he himself has a problem with putting himself at the center of everything. This is a common problem within our society today. Everyone wants to feel important and be recognized, but this is not a healthy way to live life. Consequently, Wallace gives this speech to the youth to make them aware of this, and he wants us to learn to think with less arrogance.

Wallace’s story about the atheist and religious man provides his reason that our thoughts are hard-wired at birth or absorbed from your surroundings. He then explains that because we have our personal thoughts we are also arrogant. And the arrogance interferes with how we absorb information because we always think our thoughts and opinions are right. We are guilty of always putting ourselves at the center of the universe, and we must learn to think the right way, with less arrogance.
