David Foster Wallaces speech This is Water presents a way to perceive situations through multiple lenses. He believes a default way of thinking can lead to an overall unhappy life and urges students to step outside of their singular perspective. Unfortunately, David Foster Wallace exhibited that he was perhaps dealing with the symptoms of his argument and committed suicide at the age of 46.
In this paper, you will analyze the argument put forth by David Foster Wallace in his speech, This is Water. You should articulate his main argument, analyze its rhetorical appeals and discern elements of the context that affect its overall efficiency (i.e., Who is the audience? Who is the author?) Then you will evaluate whether the argument was likely to be persuasive in the context.
In this paper, you will do the following:
Formulate one singular thesis statement that posits a debatable argument on why Wallaces argument does (or does not) persuade his audience.
Articulate Wallaces argument and the basic contextual situation in the introduction.
Analyze the three rhetorical appeals that are specifically intended to sway his listeners.
Support your thesis with textual evidence from the speech
Discern why the speech would (or would not) likely be effective given the context
Evaluate whether the argument is ultimately effective.