Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Response to the Kenyon Commencement Address
David Foster Wallace was a thoughtful, self-aware, and critical person. His commencement speech appears to be written for himself, primarily, as a reminder to stay humble. Graduation is a time to congratulate yourself, gloat in your achievements, and energize yourself for the opportunities in front of you. This is especially true for graduates of a prestigious school such as this one. His tone in the speech is critical and honest. This is untraditional for a graduation speech. Wallace took a risk by using a critical tone and I respect that risk. I think Wallace considered the level of intelligence of his listeners. He understood their sense of pride and wanted to remove focus from themselves and their achievements. While Wallace's speech contained elements of celebration, he was sure to bring the listeners back to earth with brute force. He wanted to ground the graduates by shocking them with stale reality that faces them. The speech holds relevance for both graduation and everyday life because it reminds the reader of what is important and what is not such as inevitable death, painful suffering, daily gratitude, versus petty annoyances, and shallow pride. I'm not sure who would feel excluded from this speech as it holds lessons applicable to just about everyone. Ultimately, I agree with Wallace's humbling attitude. It is important to be your own biggest critic. Wallace was honest when he said most humans live as if they are the most central part of the universe; being self-centered is part of human nature. While some people would like to act as this is not true, Wallace states this as a forgivable fact. This speech refocuses the listener/reader from pride and self-importance to a perspective that encourages humility and understanding. I also appreciated how the speech had a sense of unity. Wallace wanted to remind the listener that all humans struggle. Despite our nature to be self-centered, we must push outside ourselves to sympathize with those around us. He humbled the crowd by reminding them, as well, that a mundane job as a grocery store cashier can also be a struggle that the students will not understand.
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I would like to agree with you and also add more about how tone plays a big role in his speech. Graduation is a time of celebration but the celebration will be short lived because life will strike faster before we know it. His critical, yet honest, tone is crucial because although it may sound like he is trying to scare his fellow graduates, Wallace simply wants to keep his audience aware that life is going to strike with an iron fist. Tone is a big element in writing and Wallace uses his critical, yet honest, tone effectively. Another aspect of his speech that I want to praise is his use of different points of views he uses when describing what everyday life will become. He starts by narrating the first person point of view, which is when the typical American will go through life doing the same thing. Frustration begins to build but then Wallace gives insight on the other side of the story, the side where other individual’s lives may be harder than they seem to be. Bringing in two different points of views helps the graduates understand that although life may be tough, they can get through it by just choosing a different way of thinking of things. Learning how to think is the ultimate point Wallace wants to stress on his audience and he does so successfully by showing his audience two opposing views. Wallace gave a speech that was different yet effective in teaching his fellow graduates that know how to think is the true meaning of education.
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