Rhetorical Analysis Of Steve Jobs Speech

“Death is the destination we all share.” While a somber statement, the words came from a commencement speech that Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple and Pixar Animation, gave to Stanford University’s Class of 2005 this Tuesday. In his speech, Jobs shared “three stories”, anecdotes of being adopted, fired, and diagnosed with cancer, among others, to approach themes of life, death, love, and the future.
The first detailed his adoption and early college education, the second, his being fired from Apple in 1985 and his subsequent return. His third story detailed his cancer diagnosis and how it influenced his day-to-day life. One story the the founder of Apple spoke about was his dropping out of Reed College, saying that dropping out was what allowed him to actually attend classes that interested him, through drop-ins. In particular, he attended a
He told the audience that it is “impossible to connect the dots looking forward”, saying that although he didn’t know what would happen when he first dropped out of college, looking back, it was easy to see how the dots were connected.
Jobs focused deeply on telling graduates to “live life to the fullest”, explaining how he had been diagnosed with cancer. Originally told he had only three to six months to live, he was able to have surgery to remove the cancer. Jobs said that this prompted him to ask himself every day if he would be happy with his day if it turned out to be his last. “When the answer is no too many days in a row, that’s when I know I have to change something.” He also told students to follow their hearts and intuition, saying that “everything else is secondary”. He told graduates that although they “will gradually become old”, while encouraging them to not be “trapped by