Answer: Pausch wants to help people achieve their dreams, so he explains how he achieved his own dreams. Pausch uses a central idea and supporting detail structure so he can talk about several different examples that connect to the central idea of achieving dreams and goals. He ends his lecture by explaining what lessons can be learned from his experiences so that other people can also fulfill their dreams and help others do the same.
The novel opens with Randy Pausch attempting to explain why he even agreed to give a "last lecture" in the first place. His beloved wife Jai, whom he has always regarded as his biggest "cheerleader," was initially opposed. Why, with so little time left, would he decide to devote so much of it to an academic pursuit rather than to his beloved wife and children?
Pausch explains that it was not despite his children, but rather forthem that he has agreed to give to this lecture. He is dying. His eldest child Dylan is only five years old. He will grow up with very few memories of his father. His two year old son Logan and one year old daughter Chloe will have no memories of him at all. Pausch hopes that this lecture, which will be recorded on video tape for posterity, will one day give his children some idea of who their father was and what he stood for. Long after he's gone, this lecture will remain. “An injured lion,” he says, “still wants to roar.” Having won over his wife, Pausch dedicates himself to crafting his last lecture.
