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Kumar 37 Chapter II Motivational Speeches: Steve Jobs and Dr. Abdul Kalam Delivering speeches has been part and parcel of human beings since time immemorial. Some speeches leave an indelible mark on the minds of listeners while others go in our sub-consciousness and are forgotten. Most of the speeches are delivered to motivate the audience and convince them as per the desire of the speaker. Such speeches bring about a complete change in the society. Some motivational speeches have been a turning point in the history and have revolutionized the world. Some of the famous speakers such as Martin Luther King, Theodore Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, John F. Kennedy, Patrick Henry, Nelson Mandela, Swami Vivekananda, Steve Jobs, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam etc. are still remembered for their oratorical skills as motivational speakers. These orators delivered many speeches during their life time but a few of their speeches are still widely read and listened to across the world. Most of their speeches come with one or the other inspirational motif for the people. From a research point of view, such famous speeches have been categorized as political, social, inspirational, cultural and organizational speeches. Inspirational or Motivational speeches have always paved a way for the audience to follow the speaker. Some of the speeches have been recognized as the most inspirational ones, such as: J.K. Rowling‘s ‗The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination‘ in 2008, Al Pacino‘s ‗Inch by Inch in 1999, Steve Jobs‘ ‗How to Live Before You Die‘ in 2005. Similarly, many Indian speakers have also delivered great speeches which are highly motivational such as: ‗Address at the World Parliament of Religions‘ by Swami Vivekananda, ‗Tryst with Destiny‘ by Jawaharlal Nehru, ‗Give Me Blood and I Will Give You Freedom‘ by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. Speeches delivered by epic heroes have also become very famous and are greatly motivational such as; speech by Satan in Paradise Lost Book-1 and by Shri Krishna in Mahabharata. Some of the famous motivational speakers all over the world have been recognized as revolutionary in their elocution. Some of them are Eric Thomas, Les Brown, Dr. Wayne, W. Dyer, Jim Rohn etc. Some of them are entertaining speeches as that of Wil Anderson, Julia Zemiro, Robert Motton, Tom Gleason, Jean Kittson, Hamish, Andy, Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindernath Tagore, Dr. Abdul Kalam, Narayan Murthy, Kumar 38 Shashi Tharoor etc. On the other hand, there are encouraging quotations like that of Subhash Chandra Bose ―Give me blood, I promise you freedom‖ (Tandon 461); Mahatma Gandhi‘s ―You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.‖ (www.brainyquote.com) and Lal Bahadur Shastri‘s ―Jai Jawan Jai Kishan‖ (Pinney, 170), which have proved a turning point in the life of millions of people. Some of the speeches in the history have been instigating speeches which have resulted in mass destruction and demolition as that of Adolf Hitler, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Mark Antony. Motivational Speeches are remembered for their authenticity, contemporary issues, content, connection with the audience and the style of the speaker. All the speeches delivered by different orators do not become famous speeches. But the best ones can retain their charm long after their contemporaneity has faded. They find a valuable place among the top speeches of the world. Their content is inspirational and hence these speeches have universal appeal crossing the barriers of contemporaneity. The epigrammatic and aphoristic lines in such speeches become quotable sentences in any situation. Only such speeches acquire monumental status in common parlance. Steve Jobs‘ commencement speech to Stanford graduating class of 2005 at Stanford University, California and Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam‘s ‗Teachers Should Be The Role Models‘ include most of these features. This chapter deals with the linguistic and stylistic analysis of these two speeches. Out of hundreds of famous speakers around the world and their motivational speeches, a few speeches of business tycoon Steve Jobs and Dr. Abdul Kalam, the missile man, a great leader and scientist turned reluctant politician, have been short listed. These two speakers have also delivered countless speeches, but the two speeches taken for analysis absolutely fit into the frame of the all-time best motivational speeches. These two speeches have been the much read and listened to speeches of these speakers. Their sole purpose seems only to encourage the listeners and make them learn a lot from their own experiences. That is why these two speakers reiterate their own experiences in the form of three stories of their life. After a thorough linguistic and stylistic analysis of the selected speeches of these two orators, many similarities and dissimilarities have come to the fore. They have been evaluated in comparison to each other as said by Vachek also, ―no element of language can be Kumar 39 duly evaluated unless its relations to the other elements of the same language can be taken into account.‖ (Vachek 177) They share the particular experiences of their life with the audience to motivate and teach them the lessons of life. Each of them delivers encouraging speech to the listeners of the time. Each narrates his experiences individually in different situations and through different modes, yet they cross the boundaries of space and time and reflect a universal acclaim. Though both the speakers are from absolutely different fields, yet a streamline comparison and contrast has been drawn linguistically and stylistically. Let‘s now discuss these two orators separately and try to draw comparative aspects of their speeches. The following findings emerged after a thorough analysis of Jobs‘ speech: Steve Jobs‘ stunning commencement address, ‗How to Live Before You Die‘ was delivered to the young guys of Stanford University in 2005. This speech was taken for its unrestrained force that Jobs has put in delivering the speech. Also, this speech has been chosen for analysis on the basis of its motivational touch, inspirational content and organizational relevance. This speech was addressed to university graduates and undergraduates; it seems to serve a great purpose in establishing organizational set up, for individual inspiration and for renewal of sick projects. The original title of the speech is ‗How to Live Before You Die.‘ However; the very speech came to be popular as ‗Three Inspiring Stories‘ afterwards. Thus, in this research work, this speech by Steve Jobs reads as ‗Three Inspiring Stories‘ as compiled in the book The Book of Business Inspiration (2008) Published by Lulu.Com, Dynamis House, London. Moreover, the punch line of this speech is ‗Stay Hungry Stay Foolish‘ which also popularized the speech. It is also a moral boosting lecture for all those who are going through a phase which is depressing, distressing and distracting. The speech teaches a great lesson of sustenance, perseverance and patience. It also offers suggestions for students to face the challenges of life, for tackling the problems and not getting frustrated. Steve Jobs, the then emerging business tycoon, starts addressing the graduates by expressing gratitude to the organizers saying ―I am honoured to be with you ...one of the finest universities in the world.‖ (The Book of Business Inspiration 2008, 31) This expression of gratitude in the beginning reflects a proper start of the speech drawing attention by saying it one of the finest universities. Further, in the very Kumar 40 beginning of the speech he grabs the interest of the audience in a highly dramatic style. He confidently accepts before the graduates of the college that I never graduated from a college which reflects his simple, plain and truthful nature. Not only this, in a humourous, frisky tone he tells, ―Truth be told, this is the closest I have ever gotten to a college graduation.‖ (31) With such short, small and pithy sentences at the very start of the speech, the speaker is able to infuse a sense of ease and comfort among the audience. Such a beginning also paves the way for a nicely structured and focused speech. The sentences used throughout the speech reflect his truthfulness, frankness and humility in every real story of his life. They also reflect his open and carefree nature in quoting his own examples freely before the audience. Without any hesitation, his acceptance of the dark realities of life such as, ―My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student‖ (31) reflects that he doesn‘t consider himself unlucky, rather with his efforts and labour he proves that the ups and downs of life get subsided if we are determined. After the captivating beginning, the structure of the speech is one of the biggest elements that makes it famous. Steve Jobs connects his arguments in an organized and systematic manner and makes a structural and thematic connection among the three experiences of his life that he narrates during the speech. Thematically, he uses repetitive structure and tries to reverse the common trend suggesting that adverse conditions and situations can also be a ladder to grow, provided, the people don‘t lose heart and think like him i.e. ―you have got to find what you love.‖ (33) Through such sentences, he seems to be saying the same as has been said by Abraham in the title of his book, Do What You Love and Love What You Do. Through his own examples, Steve Jobs wants

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