Toni Morrison and David Wallace share different approaches
to the same topic. The speeches both
express how we are in control of our choices and how we value ourselves. The
speeches are also given to two completely different audiences. David Foster Wallace’s
speech “This is water”, was given at a graduation commencement. He expresses to
the graduates that your feelings or emotions are a choice and how often as
human beings we are “self-centered”. Toni Morrison’s “Nobel Lecture” speech was
given to a group of people who are probably already established. She mainly
expresses more on how our actions are choices. How we react to certain things
rather than how we feel about them. She talks about how we chose to react with language
and several other actions. Both Toni Morrison and David Foster Wallace use
figurative language and storytelling to get their points across in their
speeches. David Foster Wallace opens his speech up with a story about two fish;
he uses the two fish as a metaphor to transition into his speech. He also
shares other stories throughout the speech. Toni Morrison opens her speech with
a story about an elderly blind African American woman. She uses this story as a
reference to our actions being choices. Overall both speeches express how we
are in control of our feelings and actions. Everything is a choice!
I agree with all of the above similarities you gave. Like how even though each of their speeches were given in very different ways, the meaning behind them are still the same. Both of them are very certain in the fact that everything you do is a choice and everything is affected by the consequences of those choices. Toni Morrison focuses more on the verbal aspect of making a choice, while David Wallace focuses more on the mental aspect of making that same choice. I do wish you had tried to show more of the contrasting points in each of the speeches, but overall, your similarities are very nicely said.
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