Analysis Of The Last Lecture By Randy Pausch

“Hypothetically, if you knew you were going to die and you had one last lecture, what would you say to your students?” That is how Professor Randy Pausch, from Carnegie Mellon, began his last lecture, a speech entitled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” while in fact he was dying of Pancreatic Cancer. He knew he only had months left to live and put together this last lecture to read to his students. His lecture focuses in on points such as the importance of: making sincere apologies, not whining, being gracious and being humble. To stress his thoughts and views on life and following one’s dreams, Randy Pausch used a great amount of repetition, metaphors, allusion, humor, ethos, and pathos in his last lecture.

In Randy Pausch 's "Last Lecture," Randy discusses how he achieved all of his childhood dreams throughout his life and how he helped others achieve their dreams. Often times, childhood dreams are forgotten due to life stressors, other opportunities and interests that come along and, ultimately, believing that those childhood dreams are unachievable. However, this was not the case for Randy Pausch. Randy created a list of things that he desired to experience throughout his lifetime, and through persistency, acceptance and some modification, he was able to complete his list. Similar to many children 's "being an astronaut" dream, Randy had a couple dreams that seemed impossible. These seemingly impossible dreams on Randy 's list included: "being in zero gravity," "playing in the NFL," and "being Captain Kirk." While Randy never received the opportunity to play football for the NFL, his understanding and lessons learned from his football experiences made up for this shortcoming. Nonetheless, Randy was able to conquer all of his other dreams. With each dream Randy discusses, he explains each "brick wall" he hit along his way and what he did to get around these walls.

The lecture was about how he achieved all of his childhood dreams in some way. He never played professional football or grew up to be Captain Kirk, but he did play football in high school and was able to meet the man who played the role of Captain Kirk. His goal was not to teach us ways to achieve those dreams but it the goal was rather to teach us how to lead our lives by pursuing those dreams.

Randy Pausch was determined to finish his last lecture for his kids. He was determined to leave a little bit of himself for his children, so they could see what type of person he was and so they would learn the lessons he would have thought them throughout their lives. With his determination, Pausch was able to get many of his childhood dreams and more accomplished. He lived his life to the fullest and I would bet that if he hadn’t done so, we wouldn’t have had the honor and opportunity to learn about his life. I can relate to his determination, but only on a small scare. I have a passion for cooking and I am determined to follow that passion by any means possible. I have made changes to my life and education to support that life, but there have been some situations in my life that I’ve had to learn to adapt and deal with, to continue my dream. You could say I had to be resilient.

The last paragraph of his essay he changes his pronoun usage to “you” in order to make the audience realize that he has spoken his part on his feelings toward education and now it’s left to the audience to continue. “It is your responsibility to change society if you think of yourself as an educated person.” He continues to end his essay with a bright and inspiring tone using repetition and the example of what he would do if he was a teacher. The ending is the most powerful part because it appeals to the reader in both logos and pathos when explaining how society should have been taught.

1. In the novel, The Last Lecture, the main character Randy Pausch explains how he is able to change or grow depending on the situation in his life. He says “We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.” What he means by this is that a negative situation can be reversed into something positive depending on how you look at it. He also says “The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.” This quote means that you will face many challenges in your life, but if you want something bad enough you can get it. A third quote that shows how Randy Pausch is able to grow or change is “If I work hard enough, there will be things I can do tomorrow that I can’t do today.” This quote shows that if you try as hard as you can for something, it can be done.

Throughout the memoir, Moore portrays the value of education and how small judgments can shape one's life forever. Moore wanted the reader to know the value of having an education and how the choices you make from your childhood stick with you forever. A great example that Moore mentioned

In the novel, The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow, Pausch recalls painting his bedroom walls after the permission of his parents. If my parents gave me permission to paint my bedroom walls, I would first paint on my favorite quotes on one wall. They could be quotes from my favorite books, movies, or important historical figures. For example, Mahatma Gandhi’s quote, “Be the change you wish to see in the world,” is a quote that I have to remember to follow when I am afraid to become a leader and change what needs to be changed in life. Basically, the quotes would be up on the wall just so I can look at them everyday for inspiration, or when I need them when I hit rock bottom. In addition, I would paint on all the ideas and hobbies

In his closing, he states that his whole speech was a pair of “head fakes”; The final one confronted his audience with the fact that everything he had just told them was not actually meant for them; Instead, it was meant for his kids as a lasting legacy for them to remember him by. It is rare that a speaker would give a speech not specifically intended for his audience, but in this case, Pausch used this to his advantage to create an even more intensified closing. This single phrase makes audience members reply his entire speech over again, with a new sense of context at

Jerry Heron, the dean of the Irvin D. Reid Honors College at Wayne State University, gives a lecture to

The audience in the reading is the students. He basically explains to them why it is important

Henry Reyna played an essential role as the main character of the Zoot Suit and Other Plays book, written by Luis Valdez. Henry Reyna a 21 year old, who was the leader of the 38th St gang, continued to inform the readers throughout the book of the injustices that occurred involving the Mexican American population. Henry Reyna, including the members of the 38th. St. Gang was identified by Law enforcement based off their style of dress, language, demographic area, and culture. Henry Reyna’s character is constantly battling discrimination by the law enforcement, and the tabloids throughout this play.

The main idea of this passage is that there are obstacles in life to show how dedicated you are to something and how much you want something. The passage in which this is said, Pausch has a minor setback. When he was a child, he went to Disneyland. After arriving, he was completely amazed with the place, as many children are. He had wanted to work at Walt Disney Imagineering, so once he got his PhD in computer science at Carnegie Mellon, he sent off letters of application. To his surprise they did not have any positions for him. He was of course disappointed by this, but it gave him the opportunity to show how bad he actually did want this. Years later, he tries to get in on a top secret Disney Imagineering project. After much persistence, he got ahold of the Imagineer who was running the entire team. This was a huge success for Pausch. After meeting in person over lunch, Pausch was invited to spend more time with the team of Imagineers. After he thought he had overcome all brickwalls, another one appeared. He needed permission from his boss which turned out to be harder than it appeared. He took his situation to the dean of sponsored research. He gave Pausch and go ahead, and Pausch's dream was now a reality. He had overcome many obstacles but he never gave up and showed just how much he wanted this, and in the end he was rewarded!

The Last Lecture began as a good-bye speech, made by Randy Pausch, a 47 year old professor diagnosed with terminal cancer. His speech at Carnegie Melon University became an Internet phenomenon. It has also been published as a book. I really thoroughly enjoyed his Last Lecture speech. He had a lot of good talking points and brought up some new perspectives, or ways of looking at life situations that got me thinking. He talked a lot about his dreams when he was a child and was very humorous and inspirational throughout his speech. He also had a lot of quotes that I really enjoyed and they are what I want to focus on.

The Last Lecture is equally a telling of how Randy Pausch lived his life and a guide on how others should live theirs. Pausch was a professor at Carnegie Mellon and gave his last lecture after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. However, this lecture was not filled with weepy memories of his family or things he wished he could change. Instead, it was a recount of how he was able to achieve all of his childhood dreams and steps for anyone to do the same. Almost everything Randy says in his lecture are extremely quotable words to live by. He touches upon some of the most fundamental themes that everyone can understand, like the benefits of a positive attitude and how to overcome obstacles to achieve your dreams.