In his autobiographical novel, The Last Lecture, well known Professor and speaker, Randy Pausch, reminisces on the fulfillment of dreams he has had since childhood and the principles and lessons he has learned along the way into adulthood. Pausch’s purpose is to render a transformative vision of being in the world by simply focusing on what life could be, rather than what one is given. He adopts a sympathetic tone and utilizes various anecdotal strategies in order to invoke empathy within the reader and convey the importance of optimism in the face of hopelessness. Randy Pausch is a computer science professor at Carnegie Melon. It is a tradition at Carnegie Mellon University that when a professor is retiring, he gives one last lecture as his final goodbye. The aim of this lecture is to encompass everything one would want to say if he was to hypothetically die. Ironically enough, shortly after being asked to give this lecture, Dr. Randy Pausch is diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer with an …show more content…
Pausch was sitting at a table with an old friend of his, looking at a picture of his three children and discussing the components of his final speech to the world. A pregnant waitress approaches him, comments on the picture of his kids saying they're cute, and proceeds to take his and his friends order. When the waitress returns, Pausch congratulates her on her forthcoming child, only to find out that her pregnancy was unintentional. Appalled at the irony and unfairness in the comparison of their situations, Pausch says, “Here was a woman, having a child by accident that she surely would come to love. As for me, through the accident of cancer I’d be leaving three children to grow up without my love” (Pausch 28). By stating such a realization, the author is trying to invoke a feeling of pity within the reader; a strategy commonly referred to as an appeal to
In 2005, David Wallace Foster delivered a memorable commencement speech to the graduating class of Kenyon College. It was not the standard US commencement speech with “the deployment of didactic little parable-ish stories” which then turn out to be “one of the better, less bullshitty conventions of the genre”. By using pathos , Foster created an intelligent argument that wasn't overpowering but thoughtful and understanding. The argument made by Foster in his speech is about the capital-T Truth. And to Foster, the capital-T Truth is about life before death. The point of Fosters speech is to expose the importance of education, the value it possesses and the awareness it brings. Its modest amount parables, proverbs and cliches revealed the honesty behind his words and ugly truths that caused a stir the audience. Wallace Foster stripped away the standardness of such monotone and basic writing of commencement speeches to his advantage. By using pathos he builds bridges, sustains his arguments and emotionally influences his audience.
Diagnosed with cancer and given just months to live, Randy Pausch decided to give a last lecture. Randy felt this was important so that he may give a sort of goodbye to those who he cared about, share advice and life-experiences that he felt were important, and most importantly for his kids, whom would never really get to know him because of their age. This book is a collection of stories and general life advice that Randy felt was important to share before moving on.
Humans live constantly in flux between vulnerability and invincibility. The change in the state of being is so fluid that it has blurred together into the medium of the human experience. The fact that the feeling self-consciousness is what develops the character of people has become lost on the masses. However, Michael Chabon’s “The Lost World”, uncovers this deeply buried secret. “The Lost World” directly supports the fact that vulnerability is the key to the human condition and a more perfect life. Life is about tradeoffs- with all disappointments come surprise and with all joys come disappointments.
These two novels spoke about real powerful momentous events that occur in the authors’ lives. The authors emerged from the shadows and transformed their mishaps into motivation of overcoming life’s hardships. These two stories exemplify ways of overcoming Life’s hardships and finding sense of oneself. These authors break their vows of silence to prove the beauty of a broken person. They both converse on racial discrimination, relationships with God, & coming into themselves.
Michalopoulou is selectively descriptive when it comes to the main character of the unnamed father. With Michalopoulou's description of the father the reader is led to believe that he does not care about his children: "He'd gotten used to their backs, but it had been a long time since he'd seen their faces" (Michalopoulou, 77). Throughout the story one can see that the father is not completely like what he is first perceived to be. The father sneaks around and begins to cheat on his wife. The reader is informed that the wife is wheelchair bound and unable to move due to paralysis. When the father is "caught" cheating he leaves home and begins a life with his paramour, a young real estate agent. Feeling bad about leaving his two children he attempts to reconnect with them.
To conclude, disillusionment played a sizeable role in the lives of Finny, Gene, and Leper. The source of their disillusionment stemmed from their dreams, ideas, and hopes that were never realized. Disillusionment is a natural and crucial part of life as it allows us to learn new things and discover new ideas. Every experience teaches us something new and helps us progress as people. The most important aspect of this book is disillusionment because, as George Santayana said, “Wisdom comes by disillusionment.”
Jean’s current situation relates to Erickson’s final psychosocial stage in late adulthood; integrity versus despair. This stage marks a period of self-reflection, and the associated value of one’s life. Integrity is achieved by individuals who are happy and content with their lives. On the contrary; despair and upset, are feelings expressed by those regretful of life choices, and missed opportunities, now too late to pursue. These negative emotions also exacerbate fears of their impending demise (Clairborne & Drewery, 2010; Berk, 2010).
Weinstein, Arnold. A Scream Goes Through the House: What Literature Teaches Us About Life. New York: Random House, Inc. 2003.
A bad book, so-called, has just as much to teach us as a good book. It is often a far better teacher than any work that is uniformly artful, where excellence disguises the nuts and bolts of craft. A bad book also teaches us something a better book cannot: humility. Not the humility of resignation — that of admitting that we will never be very good at what we do, no matter how earnestly we try. Such humility can easily morph into the indulgent self-flagellation that either demands the commiseration of friends or brings our vocation to a standstill, where thereafter we are those people who petulantly claim we “could have been
Every creation cannot continue, projects stop, and somebody else takes the place, The poet feels as if several works, accomplishments, and traditions can instantaneously vanish. The end is not a prime time to look forward and wait for. The pinnacle already happened in life during the time of accomplishing desires, plans, and goals. The poet fears the worst is yet to come. “It is the finality of it all that seems to bother Updike the most.” (Batchelor 217). Readers perceive a feeling from mr. Updike’s expectations of old age are to get stronger and better, while being able to pass on accomplishments and establish eternal achievement. Expectations are far away and dealing with the end is
“Into The Wild” by John Krakauer is a non-fiction biographical novel which is based on the life of a young man, Christopher McCandless. Many readers view Christopher’s journey as an escape from his family and his old life. The setting of a book often has a significant impact on the story itself. The various settings in the book contribute to the main characters’ actions and to the theme as a whole. This can be proven by examining the impact the setting has on the theme of young manhood, the theme of survival and the theme of independent happiness.
Nathan, Rebekah. My freshman year: what a professor learned by becoming a student. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2005. Print.
In Kate Chopin’s short story, a woman named Louise Mallard suffered of a heart disease. When her sister Josephine reveals to Louise about her husband’s tragic train accident, causing his death, her reaction was bizarre. After she is notified about her husband’s decease, she goes upstairs and locks herself in her room. She sits on her armchair, looks out her window, and fantasizes about what her life will be like without her husband, Mr. Mallard. Shortly after, Josephine comes for her, thinking Louise will get ill about the news and they both walk down the stairs. To Mrs. Mallard’s dismay, the door flings open: Mr. Mallard was alive! Mrs. Mallard was in shock but mostly disappointed, for the future she dreamed of without her husband was ruined, and dies. According to the doctor she had died of the joy that kills. There is no doubt that Kate Chopin included an abundant of symbolic and ironic references in her short story “The Story of an Hour.”
Randy Pausch was a man who found much success in his life. He received his bachelors degree from Brown University, and went on to earn his Ph.D in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University, later becoming a professor there. He had been employed with major companies, such as Adobe Systems and Walt Disney Imagineering. In September 2006, Randy Pausch discovered that he had terminal pancreatic cancer, and was given 3-6 months to live. He underwent a pancreaticoduodenectomy to remove the tumor from his pancreas, but by August 2007 the cancer had returned. After giving a lecture at Carnegie Mellon University in September 2007, called “Really Achieving your Childhood Dreams” (also referred to as “The Last Lecture”), it went viral, and led
I expected to be reading long and boring books about topics that did not pertain to my life; as it turns out, this assumption was completely false. All of the three essays that we were required to read in class were fairly difficult to understand, but after a second reading, the essays meaning became clearer. I also feel as though their messages and key ideas were captivating. I definitely thought they would be extremely dry and difficult to understand. When I first read Richard Rodriguez’ “The Achievement of Desire,” I had the feeling that I could closely relate to this man. Everything that he said about education and sacrifice reminded me of my own schooling. The same idea can be echoed in Michel Foucault’s essay “Panopticism”; I found his ideas fascinating. I was extremely intrigued with how he explored power relations and being able to examine a panoptic structure in my