Prompt 3

      The purpose and audience of these two speeches drastically impact the way they are written. In her “Nobel Lecture” Toni Morrison is addressing a crowd of distinguished scholars, diplomats and respected professors, all whom have worked many years to gain recognition in their respected fields of study. They’re all experienced in life, whereas Mr. Wallace’s commencement speech “This is Water” is directed towards a group of soon to be college graduates, whom are hours away from becoming “real” adults, in the “real” world, with “real” jobs. Toni Morrison’s speech centers on the story of an old, blind, and wise woman and the “lost” children seeking her knowledge. The speech’s tone comes off as stern, and at times feels like Morrison is lecturing her audience and telling them how they should live their life. Morrison places a lot of influence on the youths in the story depicting them as spending all their time searching for an answer through their elder. With her audience being more of an older generation it is not surprising that the speech is geared more towards the older generation and urges them to not just give younger generations the answers, but rather aid in the journey of them discovering life for themselves. “This is Water”, the commencement speech, takes a much more personable and laid back approach on the topic of life. Wallace, knowing his audience is younger than himself, uses a friendlier approach to the subject of life. Instead of lecturing the soon to be graduates, Wallace instead speaks of his own life experiences and his struggles of breaking from his “default settings”. He explains that as a society we’re hardwired to believe the worst, and think the worst, and be mad and worship all the wrong things because as Wallace points out “the world of men and money and power hums along quite nicely on the fuel of fear and contempt and frustration and the worship of self”. Wallace tells the students that they have a choice in how they live their life; it is in their hands if they choose positivity or negativity. Morrison infers ‘you must learn”, whereas Wallace admits, “you will learn”.