During our last lesson we focused on emotional intelligence, which led us to explore the emotional aspects in Alice Munro's short stories as well as David Foster Wallace's speech 'This is Water'. For this discussion we relied on the question "How can literature develop empathy and emotional intelligence?" in which both authors provoke a sense of empathic awareness and consciousness in their writing. Wallace discusses the idea about the way our mind's think, how to think differently and the impact it has on one's self. He emphasises the idea to maintain an emotional balance that allows us to appreciate the simple things of every day life rather than to let our selfishness mind believe that our own identity is the center of everything. Moreover, he stresses the fact that once we are able to control our minds, it enables us to adjust our thoughts in order to develop sympathy and empathy. Throughout the speech, Wallace encourages the audience to become aware of the choices we have and make in everyday life. He shows us how we allow our negativity to absorb us to then rush us through life. We can choose to overlook the obvious due to our surroundings or we can choose to make effort and create understanding for the alluring qualities of life. He highlights everyone's 'natural default setting' in which we have a self-centred outlook on the world. He continues to talk about activating our emotional intelligence which enables us to empathise with the people around us. In fact, he stresses this idea as a way of freedom; once we are able to turn on that switch, our minds will be set free. We are the only ones that can change the way we think, but most importantly we must choose to do so.
When relating this to Alice Munro's short stories, it becomes evident that Wallace's theory serves as a parallel to Munro's writing. Munro allows her audience to appreciate the simplicity within her work. She shows us how once we look beyond that which is on the surface, and learn how to appreciate the observation, we will be able to understand our surroundings with much more intellect. Moreover, in her short stories, Munro incorporates aspects of everyday life and emotional intelligence in order to develop empathy amongst her many characters. By doing so, Munro enhances the idea of becoming aware of our emotional intelligence so that the way we choose how to think can be impacted positively. Lastly, similarly to Wallace's work, Munro's use of realism reveals that the simplicity of life offers a sense of beauty.
