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Hong 122

Homework Assignment on “Commencement Speech”

For this homework assignment, please summarize and respond to the commencement speech by David Foster Wallace.

Your
summary should answer the following questions, and include what you think is the main purpose of his speech:

· What is the point of the “this is water” story?

· According to Wallace, what is the real value of a liberal arts education?

· What is he referring to when he talks about his default-setting, and how does it relate to the idea of making choices?

· What does he mean when he says that in adult life, there is no such thing as atheism?

*By the way, the above questions are not meant to be answered in order. But you should address these specific questions at some point in your homework assignment to demonstrate your reading comprehension.

Somewhere in your assignment, you should incorporate a quotable quote from Wallace’s speech. Think of quotes as
evidence that you use to back up your ideas. For example, if you state that Wallace uses a surprisingly casual tone in his speech, you should follow up with a quote that
illustrates your point. Do
not just throw in a quote without
doing something with it (in the previous example, I might choose a quote that illustrates Wallace’s casual speech).

Your
response should consider the rhetorical triangle (author, audience, purpose), and provide an opinion about how effective you think his argument is. It can include your personal response, but you should
primarily refer to how Wallace presents his argument and comment on his speech style and how effective or ineffective you think this speech is.

Grading Criteria

9-10 = Exceeds expectations. The summary and response clearly show that the student read the reading carefully, and thought critically about the topic at hand. Contains negligible grammatical errors.

7-8 = Meets expectations. The summary and response show that the student read the reading, but may only have partially understood its main points. Contains some grammatical errors.

5-6 = The summary and response show that the student did not comprehend the reading. Contains major grammatical errors.

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