Wallace's theory of education and Alice Munro

In the essay “This is Water” by David Foster Wallace, the author suggests that freedom acquired through education is the ability to be conscious, sympathetic and adjusted. This is seen in the essay when he says that “You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn’t.” David Foster Wallace develops this thesis through the use of various examples, such as the supermarket and the traffic. These examples aid the thesis of the story, it being to not be so self centred. Through these various examples, the reader is presented with the possibility that other people are or could also be in a similar situation of just wanting to relax after having a had day. This is however only recognisable when people stop being self centred. This theory relates to our inquiry question of “How can literature develop empathy and emotional intelligence?”. This is because when you stop being self centred you will have the opportunity to have empathy with other people as you will stop continuously thinking about yourself, and will instead also think of the rough time that other people may have. This is portrayed in the essay through the various people that are listed who, even though you might not know for sure, might have also had a rough day or more. The emotional intelligence also relates to this, as it is the ability to pick up on body language and the emotions which people give off. 

Wallace’s theory about education can also be applied to the writings of Alice Munro. Many, if not all, short stories by Alice Munro are not plot driven and prompt an emotional response rather than a intellectual response. Munro’s plots have more of a day to day routine aspect instead of the whole story which builds up the a dramatic climax like in many plot driven stories. In the short stories, Alice Munro’s deep meaning can only be appreciated once it is thoroughly analysed as the stories are not plot driven and Alice Munro rather raptures the emotions of the characters and the emotional relationship between them. Furthermore, the Alice Munro stories also often relate to the inquiry question as these short stories often develop empathy and emotional intelligence. This is often done through the use of the first person perspective in the stories, as this perspective allows has the ability to have empathy with the other characters by understanding the feeling that these characters share with the narrator. Due to the first person perspective in many of the Alice Munro short stories, the main character is in the centre of the action, a theme which is also seen in the “This is Water” essay by David Foster Wallace.