Steve Jobs Rhetorical Analysis

Following His Footsteps

To even begin to really love life and take forth all that it presents, its critical to decide what it is that one loves. With an impeccable role as a wealthy entrepreneur, Steve Jobs and his ideas should not be taken for granted. In the Commencement Address to Stanford University, Steve Jobs expresses that it’s essential to follow one’s dreams. Although Job’s ideas are somewhat cliche, he is speaking from experience and what he has witnessed. With the ideas that one should follow their heart, not settle at all costs, and that life is too short; Steve Jobs left the Stanford graduates with motivation to fulfill their personal yearnings and ambitions. For many, the idea that their dreams can be fulfilled is talk of fantasy,

but Job’s lets one see that these dreams can be reached.
According to Jobs, free of fear and embarrassment, one must try to follow the unattainable.

It’s made clear that logic may not always fit into the picture. Sometimes the choice to do something drastic has to be made. It’s a process that may not always make sense. In Steve Job’s case, he felt that school was not going to guide him in finding what he would love for the rest of his life. With a naive spirit he dropped out of college. In doing so, Job’s found an undiscovered liking towards calligraphy that would later benefit him in the typefaces of his Mac computer. To imagine one’s self commit the same act may be very difficult but looking back, things may make sense as Steve Jobs said himself, “[y]ou can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards” (9). Also, within the pages of The Pact ,written by Sampson Davis, George Jenkins, and Rameck Hunt, are the success stories of three boys that did not know what they were going to be part of, but contrary to the world around them they strived for what seemed so unattainable in their beginning situations. Through trial and error the boys achieved and fulfilled their dreams of becoming doctors, all the while, the lives of many friends who had not followed their hearts still trudged in the difficulty of the

streets.
Equally as important, one should not settle even when surrounded by strong factors that try to sway one’s opinions. Jobs goes on to speak on this matter with the wise words, “I had been rejected, but...still in love...decided to start over” (12). The point made by his statement is that, although people may and will face hardship trying to find what they love, “...the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work,” and believing that it is great work will lead people to start over and keep moving forward. A case in which one settled with their circumstances can be Hamlet, a character from one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays. Hamlet found himself wealthy with everything one could possibly ask for, but he never truly found what he loved he settled with the material things that did not give him what truly satisfied his soul. Thus, this poor, in life, man lived with torment and suicidal thoughts, leading him to his death. Hamlet’s discontent could all be rooted to his acceptance of what he could only see. On a much smaller scale, the current condition of my beloved friend exemplifies one who has not followed their heart and quickly chose the first act they stumbled upon. Even though in the beginning for her all seemed well, now after 3 years of the same high school curricular activity dread fills her heart as she attends practice. If these two characters had followed Job’s words, “[d]on’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it,” their dissatisfaction could have been replaced by jubilation. These are examples one should take into consideration when dreams seem too distant.
One should not live the entirety of their life dissatisfied; everyone is granted with a limited amount of time, thus it should be a motivator to follow one’s desires.

To articulate on Job’s own understanding of this he expresses his encounter with death and the reality that dreams and desires of the future can be lost at any moment. Steve Jobs showcases the story in which he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and faced with the almost unbearable reality of having to say goodbye to everything and everyone he cherished. Because of this experience he was able to understand that “ [one’s] time is limited so don’t waste it living someone else’s life” (23). Living life for one’s self is what matters and one should not put their dreams long after everyone else's. To illustrate this comprehension in a different light one could look unto the life of Roger Ebert. It is apparent that he found what he loved which was being a movie critic. After almost meeting death and having to then live without a jaw, Ebert found himself still using his words to convey his thoughts and opinions but in an even more meaningful form. Even when under the scrutinizing opinions by those that cared for him to stop what he loved, he kept critiquing films until his death in 2013. It takes a certain passion to do work without ceasing and it requires a great deal determination to find it.

Steve jobs embarked into a journey that many would not dare follow due to fear and uncertainty. Through his commencement speech

Jobs showcases that to follow one’s heart logic may not be part of the path, that settling does not bring content, as well as the idea that life is finite and it should be spent on what one finds to be their passion. Job’s success should let people see that his ideas are not deceitful.