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Rhetorical Analysis On Steve Jobs

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Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Steve Jobs was arguably one of the most intelligent people of our time. He wasn’t born into success. In fact, he was born into almost the opposite. He was able to rise above his circumstances against all odds, and accomplish incredible things. When someone so successful speaks on his own experiences on the road to success, it is important to listen and analyze his message, to better understand how one truly becomes “successful”. In 2005, Jobs was chosen to speak at Stanford University, specifically to address the graduating class and offer them words of wisdom for the road ahead. In his speech, Jobs told multiple stories from his own life, and eventually he ties them all together with one simple, yet thought-provoking quote. Most people in the world see someone like Steve Jobs and think that in order to get where he is, he must have been blessed with a prodigious gift. There must be something that makes him so special, special enough to be able to reach that level of success, …show more content…

"The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting." This seems ironic to be saying to the graduating class at one of the most prestigious colleges in America, and Steve Jobs uses this irony to make an even stronger point and to keep the audience's attention. Then, after saying this, he immediately follows with, "I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in my friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5 cent deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across every Sunday night to get one good meal a week". This is again, very ironic, since in 2005, Steve Jobs was living the complete opposite of all the circumstances he had been describing. How can someone possibly go from homeless to multi

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