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Chapter 32
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Last Lecture, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Dreams in Reality
Teaching, Learning, and Feedback Loops
Obstacles as Opportunities
Attitude and Positive Behavior
Entitlement vs. Earning
Summary
Analysis
When Randy was a young man, he dated a woman who was totally stressed about being a few thousand dollars in debt. Every month, interest raised Randy’s Ex’s debts higher, and to deal with the stress, she would go to a meditation and yoga class every Tuesday night. Thinking the class helped her to de-stress, she went to it for a long time. One day, Randy looked through her finances and determined that if she got a part-time job on Tuesday nights instead of going to yoga and meditation class, she could pay off all her debts within a few months. She took his advice, became a Tuesday-night waitress, paid off her debt, then went back to yoga afterward and found herself truly able to relax.
When Randy gives his then-girlfriend feedback about how she can confront her problem head-on, she changes her attitude and her behavior and fixes her debt problem by getting a job on Tuesday nights instead of going to yoga class. Being able to take in feedback (and look at yourself critically) is an important way to solve problems and, ultimately, achieve your dreams.
Themes
