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Maddie Heiner

Mr. Boyatt

Pre-AP English 9

01 February 2019

Steve Jobs Rhetorical Analysis

On June 12, 2005, Steve Jobs, the creator of the world's greatest technology based

companies Apple and Pixar, gave a speech that would be remembered for years to come. This

speech was primarily given to the Stanford graduates of 2005, but since then, people around the

world have been influenced by his words. In this influential speech, Jobs explained some life

challenges that drastically influenced his future, and how he reacted to them. In order to impact

the audience to act on his words, Jobs uses pathos and ethos to motivate the audience to be

strong and overcome life’s challenges, and to pursue their dreams.

Jobs creatively uses pathos in his speech to provoke emotion and feeling in the audience.

For example, he shares an experience in the beginning of his college years that changed his life

forever. After six months of using all of his parents life-savings to pay for the expensive college

tuition, he had no choice but to drop out. Jobs then took a calligraphy class that taught him skills

that would influence the world's greatest computer, the Apple Mac. Jobs was persistent when life

got hard, and ended up gaining information that would impact technology around the world. This

story made the audience feel like there is hope for success even when things go wrong. Jobs used

this emotional story to make the audience feel ambition to keep trying in the hard times in life.

Another example of pathos in this speech was when Jobs was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer
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and only had three months to live. This kindled feelings of shock and sympathy, because cancer

is such a devastating diagnosis for someone to receive. Jobs continued on with the story saying

that he got a biopsy that held the information that the cancer was curable with surgery, and

therefore saved his life. This experience provoked the listeners to feel inspired and believe that

they can conquer any trial in life no matter how hard.

Another way Jobs persuades the audience to listen to his words is through ethos, or a

credible source. He uses ethos and building credibility to prove to the listeners that he is

trustworthy. For example, Jobs stated “I started Apple in my parents garage when I was twenty.

We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage to a $2

billion company with over 4,000 employees”(Jobs 2). In the beginning, Jobs had nothing but a

dream to pursue. This dream escalated and grew to the most well-known and successful

technology company worldwide. Hearing this, the audience gets the impression that Jobs has

knowledge and experience, making them have an impulse to follow his example. From showing

his credibility, Jobs gained trust from the listeners, making them believe that they can follow

their dreams. Another time Jobs uses ethos is when he created the animation studio, Pixar. Jobs

uses an impressive fact that “Pixar went on to create the world's first computer animated film,

Toy Story, a​ nd is now the most successful animation studio in the world”(Jobs 3). Jobs builds

trust in saying this since it is a challenging feat to create a new company, but he succeeded and

created a flourishing business. This leads the audience to believe that he understands business,

and he knows how to prevail the challenges of the world. Therefore, Jobs uses ethos to persuade

the listeners that success comes from following their dreams and persisting through trials.
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In conclusion, Jobs appeals to the emotion and uses credibility to persuade the audience

to believe his words. He uses pathos by speaking about trials that have been a difficult rock in his

life path, but have eventually been a great blessing to his future. Jobs uses ethos by talking about

his great accomplishments, and this convinces the listeners that he is dependable and

trustworthy. Through using these rhetorical devices, Steve Jobs persuades the audience to persist

through trials, and to chase their dreams.