J.K. Rowling gave a powerful commencement speech at Harvard entitled “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination.” During the speech, she talked about her own life experiences, her failures, and how she experienced poverty. Her speech tells a story and she gives meaningful insight into her life that is relatable to most people. Rowling motivates people and shows great emotion throughout her speech. She inspires people to not be afraid of failure and to know that great things can come out of bad situations.
Rowling talks about herself rising out of poverty and hardship and achieving great things. During her speech, Rowling states, “Climbing out of poverty by your own efforts, that is indeed something on which to pride yourself, but poverty itself is romanticized…show more content… In those nine years, all four of my older siblings dropped out of high school. I was alone in school, I had no one to help me graduate. In that moment, I decided that I was going to live a better life. I was going to graduate and go to college. I was the first person in my family to graduate. I paved the way for my two younger siblings. I showed them that poverty does not define us. It does not tell us we cannot, but instead it inspires us to achieve greater things. I am now in college for dental hygiene. I am eating three times a day and I do not have any worries besides school. I am proud of where I come from. I am proud of who I am and who I will become. J.K Rowling stated in her speech that she lived in poverty for some of her life. She talked about the hardships of being impoverished, the feeling of being a failure in her eyes, and how she overcame those hardships. Rowling has overcome many things and so shall I. I can relate to her and I stand today, just as she does, as a testament to the fact that poverty is a heartbreaking thing to endure, but people can achieve great things. I will be just as great as J.K.
