In what ways could Wallace’s theory about education be applicable to the writing of Alice Munro? Justify your conclusion.

“This is Water” by David Foster Wallace talks about the “natural default-setting,” Wallace says that all humans have a natural“default-setting”. Humans only care about situations that revolve around us and not others. Within the article, David Foster discusses how the “default-setting” can be overcome through the use of education by developing emotion intelligence. His message within the article is to show people that freedom can be earned through education, learning how to think, awareness and being emotionally intelligent in situations.

Alice Munro has a similar message in her stories. When reading her stories you almost get a feeling that you’re pulled into the story, experiencing everything the protagonist is. There is a strong emotional connection between the reader and the novel. We start to experience empathy and a mix of emotions towards the characters. Through her writing we learn how to be “well adjusted”

The focus of Munro’s stories are the plots and conflicts and resemble everyday situations which can relate to many peoples experience. This is also the main focus of “This is Water”, but without the plots and conflicts. In “This is Water”, David Foster Wallace talks about the life of a typical adult. He emphasizes on how being open-minded and empathetic and have emotional intelligence is very important. Both these writers connect with their readers through the use of situations that they can relate too and feel empathy toward the characters in the case of Munro’s stories. Where as Wallace doesn’t use characters to spread his message instead he uses everyday situations such as grocery shopping.

In conclusion we can establish a link between Alice Munro and the work of David Foster Wallace. “This is Water” urges us to gain knowledge on our own emotional intelligence and put it into practice. And on the other hand, Alice Munro encourages us to become more sympathetic and break away from our “natural-default” that us humans have acquired.