Analysis of David Foster Wallace's Speech

David Foster Wallice was an American writer that loved to shock his readers. He is known for writing about unexpected topics. One example of this is his article about the Maine lobster fest, instead of an article about the actual festival, he wrote an article about animal welfare and begs the question of if cooking live animals is humane. The article I'm talking about today is his speech called “this is water” in his speech he uses a parable about fish as a metaphor about what could happen if we as humans become blind to what is right in front of us which is one of the main topics of the speech. David Foster Wallice wrote his speech, “this is water” to inspire the college graduates to look at bad situations from a new perspective through the use of imagery and metaphors.

In his speech, David Foster Wallace uses imagery  to appeal to the audience's emotion 

He uses imagery multiple times in his speech but one specific example is when he is talking about a stereotypical bad day. He says “The crowded aisles and the long check out lines give me time to think and if I don't make a conscious decision about how to think and what to pay attention to I'm going to be mad and miserable every time I have to food shop because my natural default setting is certain that situations like this are all about me, about my hungriness and my fatigue and my desire to just get home and it's going to seem for all the world like everybody else is just in my way” This strategy works on humans in general because most people had a bad grocery store experience and will understand the feeling that he is describing the world being in his way. he is using the imagery to make these college students think about their future and let them know that they are going to have some bad days in the future and talk about how nobody is going to have a perfect life. this will create an emotional appeal to the listener because they know how it feels to have a bad day. The audience is being affected by his speech because they understand the feeling that he is describing with his imagery. they understand that nobody is going to have a perfect life and that we should stop idolizing everybody else, and also try to humanize the people That could have had a bad day just like yourself. Nobody is actually in your way but your perspective on problems can stand in your way. By writing the speech David Foster Wallace is hoping that the audience will change their perspective of other people.