It is unsurprising for a seasoned author like J.K. Rowling to write an empowering piece; however, what is astonishing is the poignant way in which she delivered the commencement speech to the Harvard graduating class of 2008. Her speech was meant to enlighten the graduates about life after college by focusing on the benefits of failure and the importance of imagination. The commencement speech followed a topical pattern, thus she centered her speech around life after college and the equal importance of failure and imagination by utilizing her own life experiences as a mere twenty-year-old to explain her main points. Not only was the speech easy to follow because she clearly stated what she would speak about, She delivered the speech in a truly
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She describes how she was “striking an uneasy balance between the ambition [she] had for [herself], and what those close to [her] expected of her,” which is a similar problem her audience could relate to. In this section of the speech, she refrains from using any hand gestures, in order to put more emphasis on her facial expressions. It is evident that in this part of the speech she has taken a more intimate tone, in comparison to her light-hearted tone in the introduction, because she wants to sincerely stress her biggest fear at the age of twenty-one: failure. Rowling recalls how during college her measure of success was passing examinations, which she did ever so flawlessly without even attending lectures; however, that did not efficiently prepare her for life’s challenges. She then goes on to explain that she had “failed on an epic scale” because seven years after graduating college, she had a “[short-lived marriage], [she] was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it [was] possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless.” But that dark period of her life motivated her to realize the benefits of failure, because rock bottom was “the solid foundation on which [she rebuilt her life].” The intimate tone she took on …show more content…
Rowling’s conclusion to her speech was simple and effective in summing up her main points. This conclusion had a balanced mix of logos, ethos, and pathos. Just like most of her speech, pathos is evoked when she inserts her experiences into the speech, particularly the fact that at the young age of eighteen she ventured down the Classics Corridor in search of what she could not define and she found something fascinating written by Greek author Plutarch: “what we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.” Also, it’s evident that she uses logos in this section of her speech because there are a lot of metaphors, especially one that are meant to inspire her audience, such as “We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.” At the very end of her speech in a truly sincere tone, she refers to her attention-getter about remembering certain words from her speech, so she says that if they cannot remember any of hers, she hopes they will remember those of Seneca, who even inspired her. “As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters. This reaffirms her credibility and truly show her
She describes how she was “striking an uneasy balance between the ambition [she] had for [herself], and what those close to [her] expected of her,” which is a similar problem her audience could relate to. In this section of the speech, she refrains from using any hand gestures, in order to put more emphasis on her facial expressions. It is evident that in this part of the speech she has taken a more intimate tone, in comparison to her light-hearted tone in the introduction, because she wants to sincerely stress her biggest fear at the age of twenty-one: failure. Rowling recalls how during college her measure of success was passing examinations, which she did ever so flawlessly without even attending lectures; however, that did not efficiently prepare her for life’s challenges. She then goes on to explain that she had “failed on an epic scale” because seven years after graduating college, she had a “[short-lived marriage], [she] was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it [was] possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless.” But that dark period of her life motivated her to realize the benefits of failure, because rock bottom was “the solid foundation on which [she rebuilt her life].” The intimate tone she took on …show more content…
Rowling’s conclusion to her speech was simple and effective in summing up her main points. This conclusion had a balanced mix of logos, ethos, and pathos. Just like most of her speech, pathos is evoked when she inserts her experiences into the speech, particularly the fact that at the young age of eighteen she ventured down the Classics Corridor in search of what she could not define and she found something fascinating written by Greek author Plutarch: “what we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.” Also, it’s evident that she uses logos in this section of her speech because there are a lot of metaphors, especially one that are meant to inspire her audience, such as “We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.” At the very end of her speech in a truly sincere tone, she refers to her attention-getter about remembering certain words from her speech, so she says that if they cannot remember any of hers, she hopes they will remember those of Seneca, who even inspired her. “As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters. This reaffirms her credibility and truly show her