[ 1 ]. Pages 330-336. Brooks, David. “People Like Us”. The Writer’s Presence. Atwan, Robert. McQuade, Daniel.…
Tradition has it that a commencement speech typically contains life advice, vision of the future, words of wisdom, lesson of life, ideas to succeed. David Foster Wallace, however, has a unique way of giving his own commencement speech. In 2005, at Kenyon’s College graduating class of 2005, he began his commencement speech with the story of two young fish confused when being asked how the water is by a wise old fish. Which explains that sometimes realities are often the ones that are the hardest to see and talk about. His speech contain mostly about reality in life and how to overcome it by changing the way of thinking. By using example as his explanation,…
In Jon Krakauer’s work of nonfiction, Into the Wild, the author begins each chapter with an epigraph. Moreover, the epigraphs often contain quotes from books that Chris McCandless highlighted himself or Krakauer chose, presumably because he felt they relate to Chris’s ideology and situation. Krakauer also included quotes from figures whom Chris revered, such as Jack London and Henry David Thoreau. His main purpose in incorporating these epigraphs was to draw inferences about the person that Christopher McCandless was.…
Critic Cynthia Bily is a published author and editor that writes an assortment of criticisms for educational publishers (Bily 9). In the following, Bily explores the poetic components of Walker’s story. “Proposal. Promises.” Roselily holds on to these words, and remembers why she is about to make this big change.…
Many have dubbed this generation of young adults as the “me” generation, a self-centered and egotistical group fixated only on their own successes and failures. I concede that this may be fitting; however, I also believe that this arrogance can be attributed to the popular belief that independence leads to success and, subsequently, that success leads to self fulfillment. This natural, almost automatic lifestyle, in which millennials disregard others and place themselves as the center of the universe, is what David Foster Wallace calls the “default setting.” (Wallace, 2015) He ensures us that it is a common way of living among many college graduates, though he also maintains that living in our default setting will only prevent us from leading fulfilling lives.…
"When I was done I rushed out of the building because I did not want these people to see me cry " (pg xvi). This extract is just one example from the introduction of the text which shows the use of an anecdote to emotionally manipulate readers to feel sympathy for Moore. The entire introduction is an anecdote about Moore's struggle to publish the book, the problems which Moore faced and his unwillingness to give up, positions readers to view him as a victim and agree with his views because of the sympathy they are positioned to feel for him. The use of anecdotes in descriptions promotes social activism; emotionally manipulating readers to feel sympathy for Moore and feel guilt for doing nothing when this one man has done so…
Throughout life, inspirational lessons dwell at every corner with that golden opportunity to take those lessons and inspire others. Speeches are excellent ways to teach lessons and motivate listeners since the speaker has the freedom to add emotion to their voices and also add dramatic pauses that create suspense within the crowd of onlookers. However, stories can lack that emotion the voice of a speaker gives it. So, author’s use different styles of writing such as varied sentence length for the reader to know the right pauses and imagery to create an impact on the reader’s mind. Wes Moore, the author of The Other Wes Moore, uses theses crafts of writing to make a claim in the beginning portion of chapter seven that the impermanence of life makes every moment too precious to waste.…
When having difficulty explain something to a friend may use a fable story to further explain their point through a simply story. David Foster Wallace a well known American writer was invited to give a commencement speech at Kenyon College. In the beginning of this speech he starts off with two young fish that are swimming around and then encounter an older fish ask them how's the water then causing them to wonder what is water. Not to mention the important aspects in life are usually the hardest to identify and discuss. Countless amounts of individuals give this speech and focus on the positive aspects of life and not the. Often these people forget to mention that everyday life is not sunshine and bliss. Instead it is endless cycle of daily…
Jenson, Jill D. “It 's the Information Age, So Where 's the Information?” College Teachings 52.3…
Literature may be a world away from home— getting caught up in the ballad of love or whisked away in the adventure. Despite that, one of the best qualities of it is also how much a person can take away from that story, regardless of the reality of it. Many books call for action; others provide a unique perspective that the reader can learn from, and moreover, just as history has foretold, it’s imperative to shift a tunnel-vision view to a funnel-vision view. What Sara Gruen may have intended to show in “Water For Elephants,” I might take in a completely different manner. That’s why I chose to exhibit my own angle in a compiled scrapbook that will be just as outré as the book’s Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth.…
We didn’t battle the Moby Dick of the North Woods. We didn’t end up mounting a monster trout, nor did we satisfy our appetites on the cagey fish we happened to snag from the deep pools of the iron-stained Manitou. Instead, I took away something much more precious than trout flesh or bragging rights. I took away an illogical adventure. In Tim Stengel, I had learned the real meaning of throwing caution to the wind. In Timmy, I watched the ancient Latin phrase “Carpe Diem” come to life. With every deerfly we swatted and with every trout we happened to hook, I learned what it meant to be truly alive. And though it has been many years since we spent the afternoon on the Little Manitou River, I still find that I need to remember that life is meant to be lived. Sure, life is filled with obnoxious consequences, whether they be deerflies or uncorrected essays, but on that fateful fall morning, my old friend Tim Stengel taught me how to throw caution to the wind and live it up. Some days, when I hear the faint ringing of the telephone, I imagine that the rings are only the incessant buzzes of distant deerflies, and deep down, I hope that Tim is actually on the other end of the…
In some texts authors have the intention to evoke a personal understanding in the audience. However, the personal experience varies between each individual creating conflicting ways in response to a text. These responses to the messages from the authors are shaped through personal experience and values of the individual. The notion of conflict within perspectives is evident in “Birthday Letters” by Ted Hughes especially in the poems “Fulbright Scholars” and “Sam” as well as in Michel Gondry’s film “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” The conflict within memory and connections leads to a representation of their conflict in perspectives.…
The speech, was written by David Foster Wallace, and it was delivered to the graduating class of 2005 at Kenyon College. Wallace talked about the real importance of having a degree that it is more than “just a material payoff”. He also tells the students that a liberal arts education is all about “teaching you how to think”. This means that it is all about having the choice of what we can think about. He talks about the real values of an education. It is more than the knowledge we learn but more about simple awareness. Wallace goes on with saying that learning how to think also come with becoming less arrogant to the different people around us. As humans, we tend to be very self-centered in everything we do. Wallace says that we need to learn to adjust our “natural default setting” to become less self-centered.…
“Take This Fish and Look at it*” by Samuel H. Scudder is the most compelling essay for this week’s reading assignment because the author wrote in an organized, laughable tone; therefore, allowing its audience to perceive the lesson as the professor intended it to be learned. Likewise, Scudder used three different apparent modes in his essay, these include: comparison / contrast, narrative, and description. I particularly liked this essay because it relates to the great significance that in every scenario, even writing, that things can be overlooked and need to be re-examined to find better, more sufficient details. Scudder also uses humor throughout his narrative, which compared to some essays, is quite enjoyable. Overall, every individual…
Lee utilises various literary devices and methods to highlight serious issues and themes throughout the novel. Harper Lee uses her choice of the voice of the narrator primarily and most importantly to employ irony and satire throughout the novel as well as invoke pathos with her use of metaphors and euphemisms, a method referred to some as “tactile brilliance” (Ward 1960: 1). The novel teaches the reader valuable lessons about compassion towards humanity which makes it an essential read for all. The discussion that follows considers Lee’s use of literary devices to highlight the themes as well as the novels significance in the classroom today.…