Randy Pausch The Last Lecture Analysis

When I was a kid, I loved being outside and jumping rope. One day was different, I kept falling and was getting bruised and hurt. However, I stayed optimistic and went back outside. I was failing every time, but I was determined to get it right. Therefore, even though I was in a bad situation and kept getting hurt, I stayed hopeful and positive that I would get it at one point. The book titled, “The Last Lecture” is the story and knowledge of Randy Pausch. Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was given the prognosis of only a couple months to live. He knows his kids won't have a father growing up, so he puts his parenting and life lessons into this book. The purpose was for his kids, that way they would have some kind of understanding

During Randy’s lecture, he tells his audience that since he got his cancer, he learned that the only decision you get in life is how you react to the things it throws at you. He states in his speech, “We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.” (Pausch, 17). It is important because it shows that you have to deal with what happens to you and not just stay in denial on the bad situations, which is exactly what Randy did. That is how Randy stays positive about his cancer. He knows he can’t change what had happened, so he changes how he lives his life. In another chapter where Randy has to make decisions based on his cancer is in chapter 12, titled ‘The Park Is Open Until 8 p.m.’. Randy learns while knowing he has a couple months to live, that he is willing to do anything for his family. Pausch goes to the hospital and states, “I told doctors that I’d be willing to endure anything in their surgical arsenal, and I’d swallow anything in their medicine cabinet, because I had one objective: I wanted to be alive as long as possible for Jai and the kids.” (Pausch, 58). Randy acknowledges and realizes the main effect his terminal cancer has on him. The effect is his willingness to do anything to spend more time with the people he loves. Staying alive for as long as possible becomes his main mission in life, because