Rhetorical Analysis Of What The Hell Is Water By J. Wallace

Beyoncé Knowles’s Lemonade video album brings the words of Beyoncé into a visual media and shows the viewer a deeper meaning behind the album. After this video came out many articles came forward analyzing Lemonade. One article, in particular, that was intriguing is Bell Hooks “Moving Beyond Pain.” Hooks starts her article saying that the Lemonade video was created as a money-making, business strategy, but as the text continues the reader can conclude that “Moving Beyond Pain” is actually about African American women, and women in general, standing up for themselves.

“This is Water”, a commencement speech by David Foster Wallace to the graduating class of 2005 at Kenyon College, talks about how they, the students, haven’t faced real life yet and how their surroundings are what they’ve been in and are used to. Wallace conveys his message very well because of his use of emotional appeal as well as his word choice. He reminds his audience to look beyond yourself and think about how life is not just your story and your world, it’s about others and stepping into their shoes for a minute and seeing other perspectives. Most importantly, he is able to speak from personal stories and relatable scenarios which makes him credible and his speech becomes applicable to the audience at the graduation.

In his essay Consider the Lobster, it’s apparent what David Foster Wallace is trying to tell his audience: we should really think about the lobster’s point of view before cooking and eating it. Wallace uses multiple rhetorical strategies to get his point across, including pathos and ethos. His essay is very good in how it gets its point across, and how it forces even the largest lobster consumers to truly contemplate how the lobster might react being boiled alive. It brings up many controversial topics of animal rights that many people tend to avoid, especially people who are major carnivores. Wallace’s use of rhetorical strategies really gets the reader thinking, and thoroughly captures the argument of many vegetarians against the consumption of animals. Wallace captures the use of pathos in his essay and uses it in a way that is incredibly convincing to the reader. For example, he compares the Maine Lobster Festival to how a Nebraska Beef Festival could be, stating, “at which part of the festivities is watching trucks pull up and the live cattle get driven down the ramp and slaughtered right there…” (Wallace 700). Playing off of people’s natural tendency to feel bad for the cattle, he shows that the killing of lobster is, in reality, no different than the killing of cattle, but we treat it much differently. We tend to think that lobsters are different because they are less human than cows are, and, maybe to make us feel better about our senseless killing of an animal,

Brown open with a dedication, then quotes from George Yeoman Pocock and Homer. Then comes the Table of Contents, followed by an image of the men rowing on Lake Washington and a five page prologue. The narrative begins on page 17 and is divided into four parts, each telling the story of different years in Rantz life. Following the story comes a 24 page epilogue, six pages of author’s notes, 48 pages of notes, 2 pages of photo credits, and a page about the author.

In the text “Once More to the Lake” author E.B. White focuses on appealing to fathers or even possibly parents in general. The text is eloquently written to ultimately reiterate that change is constant and at some point in life all people will eventually die. His primary goal of this text is to enjoy the moments in one’s life before life is over. A nostalgic tone is used throughout when comparing his childhood memories to the current memories he is making with his own son. White is effective in illustrating his purpose by using techniques such as logos, ethos, pathos, and imagery to encourage his audience to be aware that their own lives are inevitably growing older each day.

1. David Foster Wallace opens his speech with an anecdote about fish and water. Metaphorically, what does this anecdote represent? What impact does it have when Wallace returns to the line “This is water”again at the end of the speech?

Everyone has an opinion when it comes to animals being killed and eaten. If a person agrees or not is completely their own opinion and will not be the focus of the essay. David Wallace’s essay “ Consider the Lobster,” is used to address perspectives of varying opinions while trying to persuade the reader. The author accomplishes this throughout the essay through the excellent use of multiple rhetorical techniques. Rhetorical devices such as ethos, lothos and pathos are all used in the essay to convey the author's opinion and try to convince the reader to choose a side.

Wallace establishes a humorous tone in the first section to convey his argument. “There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, ‘Morning, boys, how's the water?’ And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, ‘What the hell is water?’” (233) This anecdote introduces the fact the many people don’t understand what is going on around them and why Wallace believes it is important to be conscious of what is happening around you. “This is not a matter of virtue- it's a matter of my choosing to do the work of somehow altering or getting free of my natural, hard-wired default-setting, which is to be deeply and literally self-centered, and to see and interpret everything through this lens of self.” (233) Wallace argues that it is hard to get into a state of awareness because humans have their “hard-wired default-setting”. People need to get out of their own self-centered habits and see things in a different point of view. By using a humorous tone, Wallace can effectively get people on his side of the argument.

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade" this is an old phrase used to inspire hopefulness and an encouraging, positive can-do attitude in the wake of hardship or disaster. Lemons symbolize the inevitable sourness or difficulties in life, while lemonade is the sweet drink that is the product of the lemons. Often life offers trivial disappointments with almost no explanation and sometimes it seems almost impossible to break the misfortunate spell. However, for some people, each mishap in their lives leave them not only perplexed but eager to see the glass half full rather than empty. Beyoncé is a prime example of making the best out of a bitter situation. On April 23, 2016, Beyonce released her groundbreaking fully visual album “Lemonade”. Lemonade debuted as number one album on the billboard charts and allowed Beyoncé to have the biggest first-week sales count. Nevertheless, with greatness comes a few flaws and “Lemonade” was no stranger to faults. To some, “Lemonade” was the cultural awakening that they needed but for many it was the conversation starter that would strike both emotionally and politically which is why it is such a powerful album but an even more important conversational piece.

If you have ever cooked a lobster, you know the sickening image of it clinging to the pot to avoid the boiling water, or the stomach churning sound of it scratching the insides of the kettle during its final moments. In David Foster Wallace’s essay, Consider the Lobster, he explores the complex and uncomfortable ethics of eating lobsters. After a vivid description of all the happenings of the Maine Lobster Festival, Wallace asks the reader to consider the inhumanities of boiling lobsters alive for the sake of consumer satisfaction. Wallace employs the rhetorical appeals of logos, ethos, and pathos to enhance his argument. Although some people may disagree with Wallace and assert that cooking Homarus americanus cannot be considered a moral decision,

Yuling Lu (Gipsy) ENGL 202B Prof. Charnesky 2/3/2015 Explication for Consider the Lobster In "Consider the Lobster", David Foster Wallace argues that the process of cooking lobsters is an issue both uncomfortable and complex.

An old adage has floated around the education pond for centuries. Scholars have found it lurking since the 1800’s without a definite author. While the adage has gone through a number of changes and variations through the years, it has carried the same weight and meaning since its genesis. The clearest adaption of it was given by “The Education Times” in 1907, which stated, “Education is that which remains behind when all we have learned at school is forgotten.” The authors that used the old adage to describe education likely did it from their timeframe, and regardless of its extensive history, the adage is unfortunately and exceedingly relevant in today’s American secondary education. The adage is indeed a paradox. It seems contradictory to

pathos-n. the quality or power in an actual life experience or in literature, music,speech, or other forms of expression, of evoking a feeling of pity, or of sympathetic and kindly sorrow or compassion.

Wallace establishes a humorous tone in the first section to convey his argument. “There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, “Morning, boys, how's the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, “What the hell is water?”” (233) This anecdote brings awareness to the fact the many people don’t understand what is going on around them and why Wallace believes it is important to be conscious of what is happening around you. “This is not a matter of virtue…and to see and interpret everything through this lens of self.” (233) Wallace states that it is hard to get into a state of awareness because humans have their “hard-wired default-setting”. People need to get out of their own self-centered habits and see things in a different point of view. By using a humorous tone, Wallace can effectively get people on his side of the argument.

Wallace uses a tremendous use of examples in his speech to provide to his audience a better understanding of his main point. In my opinion Wallace’s main purpose of his speech is that so much knowledge, facts, and information are giving to us that’s it’s interesting to see what we do with it. He states in his speech “learning how to think 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.” From this he’s conveying the point that we have the power to decide what matters and what doesn’t. When hearing his