Question

What is the purpose of the anecdote with which David foster Wallace opens the speech? What is the effect of his returning to the line "this is water" again near the end of the speech and repeating it there?

Answer 1

The anecdote that David Foster Wallace presents in his speech is to make the students all the listeners aware of the fact that there are the most basic things in life, the most basic realities that some time are the most overlooked.

Towards the end of the speech when David repeats the line,

“This is water” twice then he is trying to convey to the audience that actual education is unrelated to knowledge but with general awareness. And this awareness is, “the water”.