David Wallace's Theory about Education

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

In the literary text “This is Water”, David Wallace Foster states that true freedom acquired through education is the ability to be adjusted, conscious, and sympathetic. To further expand on this statement, it grounds the notion that one’s true freedom is expressed through controlled thinking, scrutinized from different perspectives and experiences, as opposed to chaotic thoughts crossing the mind’s limits, which is the natural default setting. Therefore, the act of taking into account the personal history and living conditions of others, breaks this default setting and causes the reader to sense sympathy as their perspective on those individuals are adjusted through consciousness. Even though these generous assumptions might not be true, having such panoramic awareness evokes sympathy, consciousness, and adjustment. Wallace further enhances this by demonstrating that it is a natural default setting of the human race to constantly center themselves around everything. He presents this as a flaw, causing the readers to reflect upon this and relate this flaw to their character.

Therefore Wallace’s theory about education is applicable to Alice Munro’s writing within her short stories. The overarching themes of every short story include human relationships, in which are complex, as well as the theme of coming of the age, which specifically refers to human development and personal enhancement. Sympathy is constantly conjured through characterization; in “Royal Beatings”, Flo is negatively portrayed as a vile, stubborn character, who also has strong feelings of hatred towards Rose. However when an alternative perspective of the story is unravelled, during the occasion of the ‘Royal Beating’, Flo is seen as a loving and caring character towards Rose. Rose’s consciousness of Flo’s love towards her also raises this consciousness to the readers and as a result Rose shows sympathy to Flo when she puts her in a nursing home. This also encourages the readers to be more compassionate towards Flo. In addition, in “Family Furnishings”, Alfrida is characterized as this dominant and big-headed character. However once the narrator discovers Alfrida’s true identity and health conditions as she is placed in a nursing home, The narrator's perspective as well as the readers’ point of view adjusts to become more sympathetic to Alfrida and conscious of her true character and living circumstances.

Therefore through Munro’s strategic writing, in regards to showcasing one perspective and then exposing many other sides of the story, this encourages readers to be more empathetic of the characters within the story, as they are more educated and conscious of their living and health conditions as well as their true intentions. This is achieved through Munro’s incorporation of first person narration, in which she mostly uses within her stories to narrate the story through one lens, focusing on the protagonist, their emotions, and viewpoint. The reader therefore lives through the life of the protagonist, with one side of the story uncovered. Subsequently when the climax or peak arrives, alternative surfaces of the story also unveil that cause the readers to develop feelings of empathy towards certain characters that they did not necessarily favor previous to the climax. This consequently evokes emotional intelligence, as the readers are aware of the emotions of multiple characters within the story; this is evidently present in Munro’s “Moons of Jupiter”. All in all, Wallace’s theory in conjunction with Alice Munro's short stories births the overarching premise of shared humanity.