The Last Lecture

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August 25thth, 2013 The Last Lecture Pausch, Randy. The Last Lecture. New York: Hyperion, 2008. Print. Journal #1: Pages 1-50 (50 pages) Randy Pausch opens his story, The Last Lecture, by telling us that he has only been given a few more months to live. Randy had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and having many tumors on his liver, he will have to do whatever he can in order to spend every waking moment with his family. The biggest conflict that will face Randy throughout the story is that he will not be able to raise his children and spend the rest of his life with his wife. With this in mind, he begins to create his “last lecture”, which will allow his children to learn from him, long after he is gone. College professors often have these lectures before their retirement and they allow them to reflect on what they have learned and what they are grateful for. Randy had been asked to share his last lecture at the school he had taught at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh. The problem with this is that he would have to travel on his wife, Jai’s 41st birthday. She knows that he will be busy with the project; and that it will be the last birthday that they would get to spend together. Randy delivers his talk to “an unexpected full house of 400” (Pausch, 15), and proves to both the world and himself that he is still alive. Quote #1: “If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want our legacy” (Pausch, 3)? This quotation is important because it provides a foundation for the entire work of literature. Since Randy has been given such a short period of time to live, he seeks to leave his “last lecture” for his children as his legacy. Randy spends most of his time during the first section of the book reliving his life through old photos and memories. His legacy that he is leaving will show his children how he would have wanted them to live. August 26th,

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