Monday, September 30, 2019
David Foster Wallace Revision Essay
On May 21, 2005, David Foster Wallace starts his address to the graduating class of Kenyon College by making an analogy about three fish passing by one another. The older fish throws a comment out to the two younger ââ¬Å"Howââ¬â¢s the water?â⬠(Wallace 1) to which the younger two fish pose the question, ââ¬Å"What the hell is water?â⬠(Wallace 1) In explanation of said story, Wallace interprets it by saying ââ¬Å"The point of the fish story is [â⬠¦] the most obvious [â⬠¦] realities are often the ones that are the hardest to see and talk about.â⬠(Wallace 1) An abundance of Wallaceââ¬â¢s speech is him presenting different stories and analogies about knowledge being not ââ¬Å"the capacity to think, but rather about the choice of what to think about.â⬠(Wallace 1) Wallace goes on with another moral story about the ââ¬Å"banal platitudesâ⬠of the adult life explaining if you donââ¬â¢t consciously choose what and how youââ¬â¢re going to think about a thing youââ¬â¢re going to be ââ¬Å"pissed and miserableâ⬠(Wallace 1) On further expanding that thought, David states ââ¬Å"there are totally different ways to think[â⬠¦]â⬠(Wallace 1) Wallaceââ¬â¢s speech centers around ââ¬Å"[â⬠¦]the freedom of real education is[â⬠¦] you get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesnââ¬â¢t.â⬠(Wallace 1) Read more: Good people by david foster wallace essay Wallace shifts, telling a story about two men in a bar debating over the existence of God. One of the men is an Atheist, while the other man is religious. Both of the men have a ââ¬Å"blind certaintyâ⬠in their beliefs, whichà is what Wallace says the menââ¬â¢s problem is. Magnifying that thought, Wallace goes on stating ââ¬Å"closed-mindedness [â⬠¦] amounts to an imprisonment so total that the prisoner doesnââ¬â¢t even know heââ¬â¢s locked up.â⬠(Wallace 1) He says ââ¬Å"you decide what to believeâ⬠also reinforcing that you also decide how to think. Wallace continues, urging the critical analysis of what and how you think, giving the example it is ââ¬Å"basic self-centerednessâ⬠(Wallace 1) to think of yourself as the ââ¬Å"absolute center of the universe. (Wallace 1) Wallace explains that, to critically analyze your thoughts you must break ââ¬Å"free of [your] natural, hard wired default setting.â⬠(Wallace 1) which is to see everything through ââ¬Å"the lens of selfâ⬠Wallace ends his speech with a statement on the critical analysis of what and how you think and keeping an open mind saying it is hard to ââ¬Å"stay conscious and alive in the adult world day in and day out.â⬠(Wallace 1) Work Cited Wallace, David Foster. ââ¬Å"Transcription of the 2005 Kenyon Commencement Address- May 21, 2005.â⬠Kenyon College Graduation Ceremony. Kenyon College Gambien, OH. 21 May 2005. Commencement Address.
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