TOW #24 - Shipping OutL On the (nearly lethal) Comforts of a Luxury Cruise

David Foster Wallace is one of those authors who has experienced a great deal of pain in his life.  He dealt with depression, and ended up killing himself in the later years of his life.  However, through his writing shines a certain stubbornness and willingness to understand the world and all that comes with it.  In Shipping Out: On the (nearly lethal) Comforts of a Luxury Cruise, Wallace's darkness shines through as well.  He discusses a young kid, 16 years old, who jumped from the top of another cruise ship.  Through this anecdote, Wallace is able to highlight the grossness of American cruise culture, and American culture in general.
Wallace wrote the piece for Harper's Magazine after they sent him on the cruise.  However, it is clear that being on a cruise is not exactly where Wallace is meant to be.  He discusses almost objectively the different aspects of the cruise that push him towards suicide.  The terribly ironic part is that when the article was first released it was entirely humorous, and the audience had a good time laughing at the clear stereotypes of cruise-goers from far away.  When looked at on a deeper level, the essay has a dark tone.  It picks apart each of the people Wallace meets and looks at them in the broadest sense possible so as to identify the characteristics of an entire group.  Wallace many times will say, "I like him/her but...".  He can't seem to directly interact with anyone around him, and everyone he meets seems to be below his standards.
Wallace is an extremely interesting writer to read because of the way he is able to distance himself from the topics he talks about.  Although this tone often comes off as snarky and pretentious, Wallace has a distinguished way of viewing the world that is fascinating to a reader.  His comments about the ship are definitely insulting, but it is the way in which they are clearly true that shows Wallace's genius.  Wallace knows how to look at those around him, and his attitude of feeling as if he is better than them comes from the fact that, in many ways, he is.  Wallace went through the darkest times anyone can go through, yet his commentary reaches for generations to come.