David Foster Wallace's Speech With An Anecdote About Fish And Water

Irving Wallace, an American author and screenwriter, once stated: “To be one’s self, and unafraid whether right or wrong, is more admirable than the easy cowardice of surrender to conformity.” Wallace admired those who were not afraid to be the “lone wolf” and stick to their own individual ideas and character, no matter the consequences. People often view submission as the one and only route; they see a majority of the population following one another and figure it is the best option. Unfortunately, conformity does have its consequences. In The Crucible, Miller reveals that the overwhelming pressures to conform causes one’s rationality to be diminished, resulting in the destruction of their morals and ultimately a society through his use of situational and dramatic irony.

In regards to how to live life, Wallace illustrates that we should not live life by default and be aware of our surroundings. For instance, he states that if “you are operating on your default setting, then you, like me, probably won’t consider possibilities that aren’t annoying or miserable.” To explain, our perception of life cannot continuously be through rose-colored glasses even though there a few occurrences that we are tempted to in order to evade the unforgiving reality and the pessimism accompanied by it. What Wallace is attempting to gage is that sometimes, the only option we have is to truly face reality and be aware of it rather than be blinded by blissful ignorance projected to divert from our suffering. Furthermore, sometimes we need to take the initiative to question our motives and the norms of society, and to hone in on our engagements that affect other for our progression. To relate this to Naikan, introspection towards our memories, even the grim ones, aids us in reforming ourselves to consider what suffering we have initiated towards others as well as to inquire what we have certainly completed for others. If these actions caused sufferings to another person(s), we must accept our wrongdoing, learn from it, and

Wallace establishes a humorous tone in the first section to convey his argument. “There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, ‘Morning, boys, how's the water?’ And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, ‘What the hell is water?’” (233) This anecdote introduces the fact the many people don’t understand what is going on around them and why Wallace believes it is important to be conscious of what is happening around you. “This is not a matter of virtue- it's a matter of my choosing to do the work of somehow altering or getting free of my natural, hard-wired default-setting, which is to be deeply and literally self-centered, and to see and interpret everything through this lens of self.” (233) Wallace argues that it is hard to get into a state of awareness because humans have their “hard-wired default-setting”. People need to get out of their own self-centered habits and see things in a different point of view. By using a humorous tone, Wallace can effectively get people on his side of the argument.

In the novel, The Giver, Lois Lowry introduces the topic of conformity. The story takes place in a community based around sameness and uniformity. The main character, Jonas, is being trained for Receiver of Memory, and The Giver is transmitting memories to him. During this process, Jonas realizes how corrupt this community is, and, he comes up with a plan to improve his society. At the end of the story, Jonas travels to Elsewhere in an attempt to restore the town’s memories. In The Giver, Lois Lowry uses characters, dialogue, and actions to develop the theme that conformity is dangerous.

He uses logical appeals through his use of stories. He clarifies his message through his stories, and relates something that may be unfamiliar to something that is, like a simple story of fish, the two men, or an average adult day. As he talks about a person’s regular day, he is trying to relate to the audience. Wallace discusses, “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, college-graduate job, and you work hard for eight or ten hours and at the end of the day you’re tired and somewhat stressed and all you want is to go home and have a good supper...you remember there is no food at home...the traffic is apt to be: very bad… you have wander all over the huge, over-lit store's confusing aisles...the checkout line is incredibly long...you get told to “Have a nice day” in a voice that in the absolute voice of death… then you have to drive all the way home through slow, heavy, SUV-intensive, rush hour traffic, et cetera et cetera.” (Wallace 59). Wallace presents a real life scenario, which may become theirs. Wallace continues, “The thing is that, of course, there are totally different ways to think about these kinds of situations. IN this traffic, all these vehicles stopped and idling in my way...it is actually I who am in HIS way...But most days, if you’re aware enough to give yourself a choice, you can choose to look differently...If you’re automatically sure that you know what reality is, and you are operating on your default setting, then you, like me, probably won’t consider possibilities that aren’t annoying and miserable... The only thing that’s capital T-truth is that you get to decide how you’re gonna try to see it. This, I submit is the freedom is a real education, of learning how to be well-adjusted” (Wallace 59-61). He is using a “big metaphor” to

David Foster Wallace wants the reader to realize that the most important and the most obvious realities are often the ones that are the hardest to see and talk about. Seeing what’s right in front of you can be the most difficult thing because you are always looking further and not opening your eyes to see the most obvious parts of life. Wallace is additionally trying to get the reader to tap into the real meaning of life as well as trying to move people away from their “default setting”. The opening of this speech starts out with the story of wise fish and the two young fish. After being asked about the water by the older fish, the two younger fish realize that they don’t know what water is. Fish don’t know water exists until beached;

Then Wallace gives us a simple solution. Wallace's ideas and what he's asking his audience to do is that people need to make an effort to think what they think about therefore, by reprograming what we think about, we alter our mindful blind state to being aware and mindful. However, Wallace asserts, in order to rid the mind of those negative thoughts that drive us crazy he suggests, that we adjust our thinking to believe that perhaps these people are worse off than we are. Because we know nothing about them or what is going on in their lives. Therefore, by becoming aware we are able to shift our auto pilots from being mindless to mindful. This is in fact what Wallace is claiming in his speech, we are no longer in the state of what was previously blind to us rather we are able to see the world around us, we are compassionate individuals who care about the once faceless individuals that normally irritate us and cause such agony in our

We often times go through life on autopilot and just do the motions of everyday life but we always fail to just look up and appreciate the small things in life. For it is that reason that I look up to Wallace so much. Dryfus and Kelly mention in “All Things Shining” Gilbert, author of Eat, Prey, Love, proposes a new way to look at David Foster Wallace’s notion of Nihilism. She proposes the idea that there is a sense of liminality within nihilism which means that one can’t control everything that happens in their life due to an unexplainable external force that drives the way in which we think. Both Wallace’s and Gilbert’s approach to Nihilism has helped shape the way in which I think and greatly contributed to who I am today. No, I am not identifying as nihilist but I do understand and feel that the life I live will be not only dictated by the way I think but also dictated by an understandable, outside, and an incomprehensible force that I decide to worship,

The introduction quickly introduces the humorous tone found throughout the piece with his use of anecdotes. In the opening anecdote, two young fish fail to recognize that they are surrounded by water. By juxtaposing the academic setting with the fish exclaiming “what the hell is water?” the speaker creates humor with the fish’s unexpected colloquialism. Furthermore, Wallace connects the irony of the fish anecdote with the that of most adults, who are unable to see what really matters in life just as the fish can not see the water that encompasses them. The speaker follows this story with another about an atheist and a theist arguing about the existence of God. By refusing to see the other’s perspective, Wallace shows the humor in their rigid belief systems. The speaker also pokes fun at his liberal arts audience by asking why they accept both men’s position without questioning their rationale for doing so. By doing so, Wallace displays audience

Nevertheless, in This is Water by David Wallace, there is a reference to that the world does not involve around just one person, there is more to life than just one’s life. However, that is true in the society that we live in today, many young adults and others alike display such an attitude.

“This is water” by David Foster Wallace is a very well written truth, for the most part, the advice that Mr. foster had for the college seniors was necessary and needed, it seems that the advice will be needed more in the future. Mr. David Foster depict how most of the college senior’s life will be, he also gives various examples that the college seniors can relate to, including myself, the example of the grocery shop where the line is super long, or getting stuck in traffic, is something that happens every day. Back when I was in high school, I used to experience heavy traffic early in the morning as well as the afternoon, however, I’m not a college senior, I still experience traffic, my point is everyone is going to experience it at least

In his speech called “This is Water”, David Wallace talks about liberal art education. He mentions that liberal art education gives one human value, instead of the materialistic one. It enriches the students’ knowledge not only with knowledge about their major but also teaches them how to think. Wallace told, that students have no idea what the day to day adult life is. People wake up, go to work, then come back home and do this routine automatically almost every day. In the speech, he warns against intelligence, as he thinks when one concentrates on intelligence, s/he feels stupid and on the verge of being found out. He describes the intellectual environment as a prison and the people in that environment have no idea that they are locked

The video to “This Is Water” had a different and unique approach to sending an extremely important message. Wallace’s speech talked about changing a person’s perspective and attitude on others around them. The way a person thinks can have the biggest difference in their life. As a child, Steve Jobs was put up for adoption, then later in his life, dropped out of college, and even got fired from a company he started himself. During these setbacks, he was able to take advantage of them by not giving up and not going to his ‘default natural setting’. These same setbacks helped him become successful in life and appreciate the value in things. David Foster Wallace has a great point when he says we all have options. We have control of our actions, as well as what we think. Wallace’s speech is relatable to everybody, and we all have the option to choose. What makes this great is that we all can control and have a say in our everyday lives. It only depends on if we choose to think and have an option.

“He watched them holding themselves with their noses into the current, many trout in deep, fast moving water, slightly distorted as he watched far down through the glassy convex surface of the pool, its surface pushing and swelling smooth against the resistance of the log-driven piles of the bridge.” (Hemingway 1925)

David Wallace's speech is organized to enable the listener, or reader, to see the reality of adulthood and then the power we have to choose whether or not we live a mindful, empathetic, truly conscious life. Wallace's tone throughout the speech is very friendly, and he uses casual language to make this audience feel comfortable. He uses metaphors about fish in water to illustrate the illusion of self. Another about Eskimos to show how arrogant people can be. He then goes into how secretly self-centered we all are, how we think we are the "center of the universe", because everything we experience is from our perspective like how "Other people's thoughts and feelings have to be communicated to you somehow, but your own are so immediate, urgent, real"(Wallace, 2005). Moreover, Wallace goes into the power of worship, and the deadening effect of daily routine.