Steve Jobs Commencement Speech Rhetorical Analysis

Steve Job’s commencement speech in 2005 at Stanford University, which is one of the best university in our country was very memorable and inspiring for Stanford graduates and also for audience listening to speech. In his speech, Jobs inspires students and audience to pursue their dreams and always to follow their heart no matter what even though things don’t always go according to plan and never give up. Steve Job is mainly known for his contributions in the technological world but along with that he is also recognized for his world-renowned presentations. Jobs’ simplicity in delivery and extensive use of rhetoric makes his speech effective and comparable to speeches of famous narrators. In this commencement speech, Jobs uses simplicity in the structure of his speech along with the use of rhetoric such as ethos and pathos besides usage of personal stories to make this speech effective in inspiring his audience and making it memorable.

Steve Jobs, a businessman in Silicon Valley, gave the Stanford Commencement Address in 2005. Rhetorical tools are used to persuade the audience. Ethos deals with the speaker's credibility, Pathos appeals to emotion and Logos appeals to logic. Steve Jobs’ successfully used the rhetorical tools Ethos, Pathos, and Logos throughout his speech.

Entrepreneur. Businessman. Inventor. Industrial Designer. Not to mention he was one of the most famous of them all. Steve Jobs was an American icon, and he left a lasting impact on the world through his miraculous advice. Many of his most famous quotes came from his Commencement Speech at Stanford University in July of 2005. His speech was beautifully written and organized into three emotional stories from his life, and tied together in the end so well he made it seem as though his life unraveled perfectly. He discussed the topics of love, loss, and failure, which are considered emotional topics to open up about. Through emotion, Steve Jobs conveyed his message in a unique and impactful way. Steve Jobs used all the necessary rhetoric devices of ethos, logos, and pathos. However, he used pathos arguably more than ethos and logos in this famous commencement speech to spread his message that to experience success, one needs to believe in spirit, themselves, and that they deserve that desired happiness.

Given the task of conceptualizing a man who truly changed the realm of technology as we know it today, my mind secludes one person. That person is Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computer, now known simply as Apple. For this rhetorical analysis, I will be using three biographies/profiles about Jobs including “The Real Genius of Steve Jobs” by Malcolm Gladwell with The New Yorker (June 19, 2017), “Jobs’ Biography; Thoughts on Life, Death, and Apple” from NPR (October 25, 2011), and “Steve Jobs” from Biography.com (April 28, 2017). Precise attention to the audience, purpose, and tone, allows all three of these profiles to vividly explain and represent Jobs as the truly exceptionally minded man that he was.

“And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle” (Jobs). At Stanford University’s 2005 graduation ceremony, Steve Jobs was invited to give a speech that would serve an impact on those beginning their lives. Throughout the speech, Jobs elaborated on the background story of his life, successes, and failures, which all pertained to the true purpose of his speech. His stories and lessons had the ability to grasp the audience due to his consistent use of pathos, repetition, antitheton, and logos, all of which were enveloped into a short and simple structure that supported his statements regarding how individuals should live their own lives. Steve Jobs’ 2005 commencement speech contains rhetorical devices that all contribute to his exertion of life-changing advice that could benefit all individuals of society striving for success.

A commencement speech as powerful as Steve Jobs sticks in your head and ruminates for a long time. His advice touches home and leaves you thinking about the decisions that you make in your life and whether those decisions will connect to your future. As we make decisions in our lives, we should all remember to follow Steve’s advice do what you love, don’t give

Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, addressed a speech at the Commencement at Stanford University. “You’ve got to find what you love,” he said to point out the main reason for his speech. Jobs was addressing to the students at Stanford, but he is really addressing to students at every colleges and universities. He point out three different stories to engage the listeners/readers. The three stories are the major points of his life. He was addressing them to show his listeners/readers that there is a way for anything even if you are struggling. It is effective, because as a reader; I find Jobs’ speech incredibly inspiring. Jobs uses three different stories that have a huge impact in his life. These three stories point out the strategies that he used to gain the listener/reader’s attention.

At age 50, Steve Jobs gave the 2005 Commencement address to the graduating class of Stanford. Throughout his speech, he references both his real world examples of rhetoric, and allowed the class to question their own path in life. His speech was both on his path towards failure and success, and his story on how he transformed from a college dropout to the CEO of Apple Computers and Pixar Animation. By utilizing all techniques of rhetoric, including logos, pathos, and ethos, he allows the students to be experience to his story and allows them to go down a blank path in life.

A variety of tactics are employed when delivering a speech and the speaker’s purpose is accommodated by their method. The emotion and inflection in Steve Jobs’ voice as he relays his past experiences provokes an argument about the future and the past. By passing on his anecdotes and previous experiences, the speaker solidifies his credibility as a representative of what is achievable with effort and determination.

Steve Jobs, who is known as one of the greatest innovators of our time, had given a speech in 2005 to new graduates from Stanford. As many would find this ironic since he never graduated from college, but by the end of the speech they have realized why he was there to give the speech. He successfully gives the speech by using multiple rhetorical devices such as repetition of life experiences as well as common emotion that everyone consists of. By using those, his goals are to have the new graduates continue through life by doing what they love to do no matter what obstacles comes across their life.

One element that contributes to Steve Jobs’ ethos is the fact that he is so successful in his career. Already knowing who Steve Jobs was, he led the audience to the appeal that we is successful because of his company in which he worked hard for. One of the first things he mentioned in his speech to make it so he is comes off as smart when he says he created Apple, a multi-billion dollar company, and Pixar, the “most successful animation studio in the world.” This adds on to his knowledgeable self, creating validity because the people listening view Jobs as being high in the successful level and makes the audience believe him. Jobs continues with his reliability by saying that he was a college dropout and still went on to be extremely successful.

The Rhetorical Analysis is a prepared text of the Commencement Address delivered by Steve Jobs on June 12, 2005, published by Stanford News which is produced by the office of University Communications and updated daily on the web

On his commencement speech to Stanford students on June 12, 2005, Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple computers and PIXAR animations, used carefully crafted inspirational anecdotes and rhetorical devices like ethos and pathos to move his audience to explore, follow their dream and do what they love no matter the odds.

“It turned out that being fired from Apple was the best thing that could have happened to me,” said Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs was a successful, college dropout. In his speech How to Live Before You Die he explains his journey to success. Steve gave his speech to the graduating class of 2005 from Stanford College. Throughout his speech, he uses trust, emotion, and facts to persuade the grads to find what they love and pursuit it.

Steve Jobs chooses to present his commencement speech at Stanford in 2005 with an unpretentious, humble tone stating this is the closest he has ever gotten to his actual college graduation. This tone of unpretention and humility makes it clear the speech will not be filled with hyperbole or "when I was your age" platitudes. Instead the humor and humility and set the foundation for a blatantly honest journey through his life and the need to concentrate on ones' passions and beliefs above all else. He takes the audience through his own academic journey, making sure to show them it was highly nonconformist in structure yet directly aligned to what mattered most to him. He said these years at Reed College helped to understand typography, which led to the development of proportionally-spaced fonts on the Apple Macintosh, a technological first. He can't resist taking a jab at Microsoft during this stage of the speech, staying like many other Apple innovations, Windows also stole this aspect of font design. The students loved it and erupt in applause and laughter. He's clearly connected with the audience and allowed them into his life. He then progresses to discuss what death means to him, in poignant terms, prescient of his own untimely passing. He wraps up the speech by telling the audience to "stay young, stay foolish" and never to take anyone else's expectations as your own limits to reality. As one of the