Which parts (if any) of Wallace’s “This Is Water” speech resonated most with you? What parts (if any) did you feel were off-putting (something you didn’t really feel)? Your response should be at least four sentences long.
8 thoughts on “Blog Post #12: “This Is Water” by David Foster Wallace”
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The part of Wallace’s “This Is Water” speech resonated most with me is that the same experience that two people encounter, can mean differently from each person. I agree with this statement and I believe it is a great reminder from time to time instead of getting “lost in abstract argument inside my head.” Another part that resonated with me was when Wallace said, “the only thing that’s capital T True is that you get to decide how you’re going to try to see it.” We get to choose what to believe from what we learn or pay attention to and form an experience with it. Another part that resonated with me was when Wallace said, “the only thing that’s capital T True is that you get to decide how you’re going to try to see it.” One part that I did not understand was the “day in, day out” saying.
I liked that you picked up on the points he made about what goes on inside of our heads and how it can be so different from person to person. I often think about this as a teacher. I wonder how each student is interpreting the experience of being in the class, listening to what I am saying, and listening to one another. “Day in, day out” simply means day after day or each day. Wallace was known for his deep analysis of what happens in our everyday life.
The part of the “This Is Water” speech that most resonated with me is that most people believe they are the center of the universe. Later in the speech, Wallace speaks about being cut off by a Hummer on the road. Most people would just write the driver of the Hummer off as a bad person without knowing the reason. for his rush. The driver could be in a rush driving his sick child or wife in labor to the hospital. I believe everyone has judgmental thoughts about other people without knowing the full reason behind their actions. People might come home from work and complain about how horrible and tough their day was without realizing someone, including those that they interact with, had a much worse day.
The part of his speech most resonated with me when he was talking about the “wrongness of something we tend to be automatically sure of”. What I liked in his speech that he tried to make people laugh of the things that he described, and that is because everyone went through these things and feelings and could understand it.
Also, part that resonated with me was how he described the same things at the different perspective, and it gave people understanding of the things from different sides. “You get to decide how you are going to try to see it”. Overall, I felt almost all of his statements. And, also, I think it is important statement that “the important part of freedom involves attention and discipline how truly to care about people.”
However, I did not really feel the part of his speech when he described the strenuous shopping to the supermarket after the really hard day of work, I did not really feel this part of situation because I have never felt this way staying on the line of the supermarket at night.(has nothing to do with his overall idea, just the example).
This author is a power to grab the attention of the reader with his saying and ideas. The first part of speech that resonated with me was his believe that everyone thinks they are the “center of the universe”. This idea connects to his other idea that every head is a world, meaning that even thought different situations people only take whats important or essential to their range of understanding–everyone has a mental filter, they can have a different opinion or takeaway from the same situation someone else had a different understanding. I tend to believe that through these mental filters people only think about themselves, thinking that they are the “center of the universe”. I’ve had many different experiences with closed minded individuals who believe they are always right, I had to learn to respect everyones opinions and perspective.
The part of Wallace’s “This is Water” speech that resonated with me the most is when he discussed worship and it’s purpose in our lives. I don’t necessarily “worship” anything or anyone in specific but I’ve always had a tendency to entertain in superficial nonsense like luck or star signs. I think he explained it really well that believing or worshiping something intangible and boundless leads to less of a direct need for it. I do slightly find it off-putting how he describes the “default-setting” of people to be mean and judgmental. This is because I believe people are more likely than not willing to give a helping hand or not be so active to judge and degrade the people around them as long as they are in a decent mood.
I resonated with Wallace’s explanation of the mind’s default setting, how we tend to view ourselves as the center of the universe. I also resonated with Wallace’s claim that we can choose how and what to think so that our brains aren’t dead throughout our day-to-day lives. I had, however, difficulty resonating with the speaker’s literal definition of the concept of breaking away from our self-centered nature in the beginning. I believe the explanation used too many technical terms for me to understand when reading it for the first time.
The message of the fish story resonated with me the most, there are moment in life that I think people don’t notice essential things to our lives because it’s our reality. “The immediate point of the fish story is that the
most obvious, ubiquitous, important realities are often the ones that are
the hardest to see and talk about.” For the fish, it’s water and for us humans it would be air/oxygen. This quote in the story gives the idea that it’s hard to see from a point of view outside of ours, as mentioned by Wallace. I don’t agree with Wallace’s idea of adjustment and metacognition, it’s an essential part of learning overall, if you know how you think/learn you can adjust to anything and learn whatever you want.