This is Water

This is Water, By David Foster Wallace

In his essay 'This is Water' David Foster Wallace suggests that true freedom acquired through education is the ability to be adjusted, conscious, and sympathetic. He develops this thesis through his use of metaphors everyday examples that we can relate to. He begins his essay, video (as can be seen in the video above), through his use of fish in a fishbowl, when one fish says to the other two "Morning, boys, how’s the water?" and one of them replies "what the hell is water?", and ends his essay with "This is water, this is water". Throughout the essay everyone is trying to understand what Wallace meant through his symbolism of the fish, in my opinion the two fish represent average people who he later describes as having a judgmental pessimistic default setting when put in certain situations that will later be discussed. And the other fish that says "this is water" could symbolise an empathetic person who has developed the ability to change their process of thinking through a quality education.

Throughout most of the video/essay Wallace describes to university students what their future will soon look like when they get a job and grow, he uses relatable situations such as going to the grocery and driving to places one would need to go, to show the different perspectives one could have for approaching these situations. He describes the thought process of two people waiting in line at the grocery checkout line, at first he shows the more usual situation where the person waiting in line would be complaining and thinking rudely of all the other people surrounding them, which Wallace describes as everyone’s ‘default setting’, which we need to change.

He discusses changing your default setting by empathising with people and trying to look at everyone’s situations in another perspective, he gives examples such as while you’re being cut off by someone on the road, they could be driving their loved one to a hospital, or the woman who appears rude at first in the grocery store could be the automobile worker that helped you settle a misunderstand the other day, although unlikely he reminds us that it is not completely impossible.

This can all be related to our unit inquiry question stating “how can literature develop empathy and emotional intelligence?”, because our knowledge of literature helps us develop greater skills to be able to turn off our ‘default setting’ and be able to empathise with people better. As this famous quote by George R. Martin states “a reader lives a thousand lives before he dies”. Which could further relate to the topic at hand. Reading different stories and understanding different contexts and perspectives helps people greater develop the skill to understanding others, and helps change ones mindset into a more understanding one that can help people go on through their lives feeling better about themselves, and their surroundings.