Randy Pausch The Last Lecture

Joseph’s narrative voice exhibits images of truth and story within a story. He completes Becca’s chapter on her quest for her Grandmother’s past. The novel is divided in 4 sections. Home, castle, home again and the author’s note. They separate the steps that lead to Becca’s journey.

In the book, The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch is dying from pancreatic cancer and is only given a few months to live. With the time he has left, he makes it his priority to spend it wisely. Pausch states that he has an engineering problem and he’s going to do his best with his limited resources. His engineering problem is his health. Even though his body is failing him, he is going to push through and overcome the new obstacles he is facing in life. Pausch is also faced with “brick walls” but he doesn’t give up when things get tough. He uses the brick walls as an opportunity to show how badly he wants whatever is blocking his path. My “engineering problem” is being able to afford college for as long as I can. I’d say that my “brick walls”

“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.

You would think a man dying of cancer would not be so happy and willing to spend the last few months of his life giving a lecture. But, Randy Pausch, who has 10 tumors in his liver, does not want people to pity him for having cancer. Rather, he wants to teach people how to follow their childhood dreams. Looking at the seven elements of communication we see how he is so effective in his last lecture.

If I had made a list of my child hood dreams, I admit, it wouldn’t be very impressive. I never wanted to be a firefighter or a policeman. I never had the urge to be a millionaire, and I never even thought of being a G.I Joe or Army Man. If you could see my list, you would see only two words scribbled down in that chicken scratch hand writing of mine. But only one of those words would follow me out of that first grade class room and stick with me to this present day.

Randy Pausch’s “The Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” was given on September 18th, 2007, shortly after being diagnosed with cancer. Randy made his goal of the speech not more than five minutes in, stating the importance of achieving your childhood dreams. The language he is using is very formal, and he appeals to the audience by making several references to common things such as movies, and a humorous quote after he states his current condition, “I’m in better shape than most of you!” as he proceeds doing pushups on stage. In various points in his speech, he is speaking to certain individuals in the audience about things pertaining to his story, and how he achieved some of his childhood dreams with the help of others. Randy really hit it off with everybody, and made the speech untimely, so that anybody at any point in time can view his speech and wonder “is this still relevant?” Near the closing of his speech, he states that he wasn’t giving to speech for everybody in the audience; he was giving the speech for his children, as he wouldn’t be around for them growing up. At several points in his speech he makes references to common things and statistics, such as MacBook’s and how few people have one. At other points he referenced things such as Steve Jobs + Wozniak in their garage, as him and his team build his VR setup for under $5,000.

“Brick walls are there for a reason. They’re not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.” This was the mantra Randy Pausch lived by in his terminating life. In his book, which I learned the quote from, he talked about many challenges he overcame throughout his life. The largest obstacle I have had to overcome is the challenge of being a part of many extracurricular activities while maintaining above average grades in my rigorous schedule throughout the years.

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

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.

A seminar series titled “The Last Lecture” took place at Carnegie Mellon University. Professors were prompted to deliver lectures as if it was their last, while containing a “message of a lifetime”. Professor Randy Pausch delivered his speech titled “Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” as a part of this seminar on September 18th, 2007, a time in which had just been given life-threatening news. It had recently been estimated by doctors that this was the last three to six months of his life. Instead of speaking as if he was hypothetically dying like his fellow professors, Pausch was in an extremely ironic situation, as for in his case he really was dying, of pancreatic

What provokes a person to write about his or her life? What motivates us to read it? Moreover, do men and women tell their life story in the same way? The answers may vary depending on the person who answers the questions. However, one may suggest a reader elects to read an autobiography because there is an interest. This interest allows the reader to draw from the narrator's experience and to gain understanding from the experience. When the reader involves him/herself in the experience, the reader encounters what is known and felt by the narrator. The encounter may provide the reader an opportunity to explore a

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.

Susan begins her TED talk with a backstory about her first experience at summer camp when she was just nine years old. While sharing how she packed her suitcase full of books, and all the crazy expectations she had for what camp was going to be like, she immediately grabs the interest and attention of the audience through her humor and wit. Summer camp, or something similar, is an experience that most people are familiar with and can relate to. Therefore, Susan has just shared a common experience with her audience and in the process, became more engaging to them. Susan describes how she went along with the enthusiastic and cheerful tone of the camp while waiting expectantly for the opportunity to read a book. However, the many people at camp who saw her reading, thought of it as going against the outgoing spirit of the camp, and so she reluctantly put her books away for the rest of the summer.