On the basic level David Foster Wallace and Toni Morrison are pushing the same idea towards the audience. Society is molded by every individual's state of mind. It is our generation's responsibility to question the status quo and never be satisfied with the monotonous, the superficial, or the closed minded. Morrison warns of the people in charge forcing words into our mouths and restricting free thinking and a "mutual exchange of ideas" while Wallace warns us of the dangers of our mind's "default-setting" and how an egotistical perspective can block the kind of fraternal connection that binds us together as human beings.
In his speech, Wallace keeps a casual matter-of-fact tone to bluntly deliver the harsh realities of life at face value. At the start of the speech, David Wallace acknowledges that he is not the "wise old fish" and accepts his place as another face in the crowd experiencing the same struggles. Unlike Wallace, Morrison's story of the blind wise woman contains the implication that she has the solution to a very defined problem, and not just the acknowledgement of yes the world is cruel, here are my thoughts on that. Another key difference between the two speeches is that while Morrison believes the key to salvation is in the cerebral use of colorful language to exchange ideas, Wallace believes that the solution is simply to open your mind to possibilities to allow these ideas to flow.
Whether it be through the art of language or just the way you see a stranger in the checkout lane, the underlying takeaway is that you alone have the capacity for greatness. Don't be molded by society. Think and feel and engage in the human experience, because if you don't, you might as well be dead already.
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