In his 2005 commencement speech, “This Is Water David Foster Wallace’s asserts that,
“’Learning how to think’ really means learning how to exercise some control over how
and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay
attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience” (2). Wallace
uses various examples in an attempt to justify the aforementioned argument. At the end
of the Wall Street Journal’s transcription of Wallace’s speech we are informed that he
killed himself in the fall of 2008. Since his speech references life, death and freedom, it is
not out of the question to think about the “philosophy” of the speech in relation to its
creator.
Write a 4 page, essay that analyzes whether Wallace’s suicide undermines, or confirms the central argument of his graduation speech. You must analyze the
examples he provides in his speech. Your conclusion ought to connect your
analysis of Wallace’s thinking to Murakami’s; does Murakami communicate
anything that reinforces a particular idea that Wallace stresses? Keep in mind that
your essay needs: a clearly defined thesis statement that addresses the topic, at
least four independent main ideas, textual evidence and analysis that satisfies the
topic.
