The Last Lecture Rhetorical Analysis

Esperanza’s Struggle with Poverty In his book, The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch, who was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer, gives a talk about prevailing over life’s obstacles. He asserts the idea of perseverance and tackles his daunting diagnosis with a positive attitude: “We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand” (Pausch 17). Pausch uses a metaphor, comparing life to a card game. He explains that everyone is born into a life with accompanying adversaries, but the situation one inherits should not dominate and determine one’s future. Rather, one can make change, persevere through challenging experiences, and choose how to reach happiness and success. In parallel, Esperanza lives her childhood in economic hardship; at first, her …show more content…
Also, the image of the trees being the only ones who can empathize with her highlights her loneliness. Additionally, the image of the trees not belonging emphasizes her sense of isolation and feeling rejected by society. Feeling alienated and insignificant, Esperanza is diminished by her low economic status. In response to her situation of poverty, Esperanza develops a resilient attitude and seeks freedom in an autonomous manner. When seeing other women in her life having to marry out of poverty, Esperanza expresses her liberation and “decided not to grow up tame like the others who lay their necks on the threshold waiting for the ball and chain” (Cisneros 88). Words like tame, threshold, waiting, and chain show ideas of restraint, and Esperanza resists being trapped, demonstrating her resilience. Furthermore, the word decided expresses Esperanza’s desire to take control and for independence. Wanting complete control of her future (PrPP), Esperanza has an autonomous desire when planning out her house: “A house all on my own”. With my porch and my pillow, my pretty purple petunias. My books and my