Summary Of David Foster Wallace's Graduation Speech

Examining the Key to Happiness In David Foster Wallace’s graduation speech, given to the Kenyon College graduating class of 2005, Wallace urges the audience to seek a more open minded perspective on the world. Arguing that societies “default setting” is that of pure self-centered thinking, Wallace strives to change the way we all view life before us. He states that liberal education teaches one, not how to think (as most believe), but rather teaches one the ability to choose how we want to think. We are presented with the choice to decipher every situation the way we want to view it; whether that be positive or negative, we are given the decision to choose how we would like to view it. This decision dictates how we see the world as a whole,
and ultimately can directly affect whether we are happy or depressed. The ability to choose is a gift that Wallace strongly portrays throughout his speech. He lays this proposal down effectively by using critical tone, anecdotes, and different points of view. The organization of his ideas and the way he displays them before the audience are what make this speech very effective and understandable.
Although there were aspects of celebration throughout his speech, Wallace made sure to yank the listeners back down to earth with brutal strength. His critical, yet honest, tone is vital because although it may appear he is attempting to strike fear in the graduates, Wallace merely wishes to keep them aware that life is about to attack them. Very shortly into his speech he asserts the entire audience is self-centered. Being this critical catches you off guard at first, but he then describes how this selfish way of thinking is simply the default setting we all possess. “Think about it: there is no experience you have had that you are not the absolute center of.”(Wallace 201) After showing this critical reality, he states that if we all learned to be “a little less arrogant” (Wallace 201) then this socially repulsive way of thinking would vanish. Wallace proclaims that he had to learn this the hard way, and he predicts that all of the graduates will too. It can be hard to come to this realization though, as Wallace displays the fact that there are parts of adult life that nobody even talks about in speeches. “One such part involves boredom, routine and petty frustration.” (Wallace 203) Showing the unexperienced graduates what life will truly be like for them, he criticizes their average work day to appear as a complete atrocity. Bouncing from one thing going wrong to the next undesired event making their day move even slower, he states that there will be even more “dreary, annoying, seemingly meaningless routines” (Wallace 204) that they all will go through daily. However, he then follows by presenting that these situations are precisely where the act of choosing how to think comes in. He uses the stale reality that the graduates will soon face to effectively showcase his message of consciously choosing how to think. Understanding how the graduates are feeling right now, he efficiently uses critical tone to bestow the students with the ability to decide how to experience life’s intricacies. Through his superb use of anecdotes, Wallace captivates his listeners and makes his teaching to them understandable and entertaining. Opening his speech with a short story about two fish, he sets the theme for his entire speech. Now, these two fish are just swimming along, and they soon flutter past an older fish swimming the other direction. The older fish simply nods at them and says, “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” (Wallace 198) Eventually the two fish look at one another, baffled, and say “What the hell is water?” (Wallace 198) He effectively examines how that most important realities are sometimes the most difficult ones to talk about. Wallace chooses to not bore the students with definitions, and how a degree is going to lift you higher and provide you with knowledge to take on the world. Instead, he creates the position that the degree is not about the aptitude to think, but the choice of what one should think about. This story, in my opinion, is the most influential one throughout his speech. It accurately makes one think about their life and what their “obviously realities” may be. By outlining his primary message within the first paragraph, Wallace successfully sets up the rest of his speech while making the audience think about the obvious. In order for Wallace to stress the value of what’s right in front of us, he strategically uses two different points of view to get his stance across in a relatable fashion.
Starting off by reporting the first person point of view, he sketches how the typical American will venture through life performing the same tasks day in and day out. He describes how frustrating life is going to be constantly running the same dull cycle day after day. Impatiently waiting in an overcrowded checkout line, selfishly only thinking about how “important” it is for you to get home in a timely fashion. I can attest that we all have been there. However, Wallace ties this story to his idea of how to think by bringing in another point of view to the situation. He transitions into the thought that one should take into account the lives of the people around them before becoming overwhelmed from the fact that you might be 20 min late getting home. He explains that this is the freedom that we all obtain. That we all “get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn’t. You get to decide what to worship.” (Wallace 207) Constructing his speech with both of these points of view, gives the listeners the ability to examine both sides of how to think and depict which one they would like more. I think it is incredible how Wallace made the audience think so much about themselves from stating his points in two different perspectives. This strategy of relaying his stance truly makes his argument relatable to the graduates and results in an extremely effective
manner. The connection Wallace establishes between him and his audience is completely attributed to his outstanding organization and use of these rhetorical strategies. All in all, I completely agree with the many critics towards this speech arguing that it is the greatest message one should learn. Graduation is a time of celebration, although the celebration will be short lived due to life striking faster before you know it. Using the rhetorical strategies of critical tone, anecdotes, and different points of view, I have successfully analyzed David Foster Wallace’s “Kenyon Commencement Speech”, and effectively proven that his argument is presented beautifully. Presenting his brilliance on understanding the struggles of the average person, Wallace’s argument is executed with perfection.

Works Cited
Wallace, David F. "Kenyon Commencement Speech." (2005). "They Say I Say" with Readings 2 (2012): 198-209. Web.