“Genres have the power to help or hurt human interaction, to ease communication or to deceive, to enable someone to speak or to discourage someone from saying something different” (Dirk 252). Dirk elaborates that genres are more than filling in the blanks following a specific format. They are used to help convey a point and to ultimately accomplish a goal, whether it be getting a job through a resume or winning the heart of a college through an effective personal statement.

When analyzing David Wallace’s, This is Water, we examine if this commencement speech accomplished the goal of what most graduation speeches aim to do: inspire us to look forward to our adult years and leave a lasting impact on the importance of our education. Wallace’s commencement speech leaves an emphasis on the benefit of attending a liberal arts college: the ability to control what one thinks about.

Wallace connects with his audience by being direct. He does not choose to reminisce about the good memories about college or how adult life is a new, terrific journey they should embrace. Instead, he tells the graduating class that being an adult essentially sucks.

In comparison to other graduation speeches, he leaves his formality behind and uses casual language to describe that yes, they will feel miserable and angry at the world most of the days, but they also have the ability to realize that everyone else in the room will probably feel the same way.

Although his word choice and anecdotes move away from the typical format of what an audience would expect he is still able to accomplish his goal establishing his point and grabbing the attention of his audience, following Dirk’s definition of what a genre should be. He includes elements of both following the genre while moving away from expectations.