As per Lisa's minutes gift, I wanted to present this David Foster Wallace commencement speech he gave to a graduating class at Kenyon College. Please comment juniors, on the message of this particular speech, whether or not you agree, why, and some questions you might want to pose to others.
Transcript: here.
Have you seen the book version? Just a couple of sentences per page make it seem like it's being read aloud; you have to pay close attention to every point.
ReplyDeleteI read that at Kenyon, there's this 'honor code' thing where people leave dollar bills on the ground everywhere and can be sure to come back and find them later on. Thought that was pretty interesting.
ReplyDeleteI love it when people tell me 'Have a nice day' in the absolute voice of death. It's deliciously ironic, although a genuine one has a slightly better effect.
I agree wholly with Wallace's message; however, it may not apply to as many people as he thinks it does. I don't feel hard-wired to be self-centred. Rather, my life is and almost always has been structured around other people, with an emphasis on the 'really important kind of freedom' that involves attention, awareness, discipline, and a genuine care for others. Then again, I am coming from the Stuy bubble, and I have some pretty terrible mood swings, despite my gender. Have you folks found yourself in a similar situation to what Wallace describes? How do you think his take on life would affect you in such a situation? I find it uplifting.
I think Wallace is trying to say that we should realize how we view ordinary, boring daily experiences.
ReplyDeleteNearly everyone thinks of himself or herself as the center of the universe. Perhaps this relates to Descartes' quote "I think, therefore I am" in that the only person he is certain is real is himself. Many people are likely absorbed in the idea that they are the only one whose feelings matter. A person like this thinks everyone will read his mind and act in a way that pleases him. In reality, nothing will please him because if he wants anything done right, he has to do it himself.
Personally I try to be aware of the possible reasons why a driver might run a red light or squeeze into a subway when there's obviously no space. The driver may be rushing someone to the hospital, as Wallace suggests. Even thinking of the subway rider's motives, however, is difficult. I'm struggling to avoid the thought that the person is simply an impatient New Yorker.
Do Wallace's words about worshipping have any relation to the phenomenon that people crave certain things because they cannot have them? Does it work in reverse? Are people restricted from something because they crave it? What's worse than an itch you can't scratch?
I thought the structure of Wallace's speech was very crucial to his message. I was very bedazzled by his introductory paragraph and I'm pretty sure the college graduates were as well. I wanted to read more and to find out how the fish would relate to anything in the paragraphs to come. The second paragraph broke the barrier between Wallace and the audience and I can imagine the graduating class familiarizing themselves with him.
ReplyDeleteI believe Wallace's message can be expressed with the question "Who am I and how do I fit in here?" I believe he wanted the graduating class to be a little less self-absorbed, to be aware of their surroundings and how they interact with others, and to think about their role in something bigger, something more important than themselves.
I agree with Daryl and I feel that Wallace's take on life has made me appreciate my surroundings more. I feel his perception on life is narrow-minded. What about the happy, simple, and reassuring aspects of life? Why must every aspect of living have to be so complicated in this day?
-Andrew Xie
I just did some research and found out that Wallace had committed suicide. Why do you guys think he did it and how does it connect to his message in the speech?
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Initially reading this I was immediately hooked with the water and the fish, and thought that all it would play a role as in the speech, a hook. However, he did bring it back all the way at the end which I found as a nice touch. "This is water, this is water." Those words ripple through my mind as I write this now and I immediately think back to the poem we read in class today. Wallace is basically addressing the same thing with the ending that he provides. water is water, that is what it is. We do not need to torture ourselves over searching for an answer, which quite frankly is not there. Just like the narrator in the poem we read in class Wallace wants to break away from this whole calculative process and enjoy things for what they are. Also another thing I wanted to note is how after the opening statements, the majority of the speech was extremely boring to me, to a point where it was just rambling. And then he saved the whole speech with the idea that if you over obsess over something you wil just keep pushing yourself to a point of destruction. "Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly." After reading that I realized just how true that is. On certain days that I want to dress up specially fine I just feel like crap. I keep questioning, am I making the right tie and shirt combo? and all these other questions that just keep running through my head. This reminds me of a particular scene from a tv show called, "Suits," where a girl is scared of taking the BAR exam because she is worried she will get questions wrong. The male figure in the story, who is a genius tutors her and sees this ambition she has in her that is actually leading to her downfall. He then tells her a story of how all through out his life, in every school he has every been to he would always be on top of the class, however he would always be in the 99th percentile. He keeps saying this and then asks her why he never made the 100th percentile, and the answer was because there was none. This I feel applies to this and shows that perfection is overrated. There is no such thing and we need to learn to live with what we have because we, all in our own ways, are perfect the way we are.
ReplyDeleteJUST REALIZED HOW LONG THIS POST WAS.
-Mohammed Ismail
Reading their comments, I understand how Daryl and Andrew read Wallace's speech as an optimistic outlook on life because of the constant stretches of imagination employed to give others the benefit of the doubt, but I interpret this address to the students at Kenyon College in the opposite way. My differing opinion is that the speech was an attempt of Wallace to change his own point of view on life. This speech may reach the graduates, but I think that Wallace was using this gig to write an argument to himself against his own current state of mind.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read "then get told to 'Have a nice day' in a voice that is the absolute voice of death" I think of a pessimistic author who is doubtful of a positive life experience. Whenever I hear an employee at a store tell me "Have a nice day," I understand that they are not enthusiastic, but I would not describe their voice as the "voice of death." Considering the huge improbabilities considered by Wallace later in the speech as he describes possible scenarios that could put other people in a bigger hurry than himself, I do not understand how none of the same feelings can be extended to these workers at the supermarket. Why could Wallace not suggest that the employee was genuinely wishing people a nice day, but they were just tired and could not display a vibrant exterior to the customers? In addition, the possible scenarios for the drivers that Wallace describes is unnecessarily negative. Instead of a possible injury being the cause of someone's hurry, a wedding could have just as easily been the precedent.
Maybe I am only reading this speech this way because I am tired after a run, but I mostly see a contempt for the world in the speech. Unfortunately, I think that this speech displays the characteristics of someone who is struggling with life and the possibility of suicide, problems which Wallace incurred. Despite my opinions on the text, I am glad that the speech was able to have a positive effect on people because it is extremely beneficial, on yourself and the others around you, to stay positive throughout life.
I agree that this speech made the idea of thinking as yourself at the center of universe, but I believe he made that reference to that idea to help the reader see that it is a "default" setting which prevents us from viewing things in a different manner because nothing else seems important than that of your own needs. As Eric made the point of A New Yorker trying to squeeze on a subway, or a driver that's trying to rush through traffic, we have the ability to understand that other people have circumstances that they are under too and they may do actions that aren't very pleasing to the people around them. On the other hand I think he brings up the idea of people thinking of themselves as the center of the universe because it gives them power. The power to choose what ever they want to believe and you get to decide what everything means to you, and i believe that no one has the right to tell you what to make of things. He brings the idea that you can decide. With this idea of deciding i think what he was trying to say is that with the power of decision we can choose whether or not we can view things in our own selfish way or trying to be understanding and that we can choose whether or not we can see the world for what is and be aware of what is around us or choose to continually be in an ignorant bliss thinking that nothing else matters.
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