The Fringe benefits of failure, and the importance of imagination by JK Rowling

Class: Degree 3rd Year
Sem: Degree 6th Sem

Subject - English
Unit -1; Lesson - 1; Poem: The Fringe benefits of failure, and the importance of imagination

University: OU
State: Telangana

The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the importance of Imagination Summary

About Author:

Joanne Rowling, a British novelist and film producer, goes by the pen name JK Rowling. She is also noted for her concealment as the creator of the Harry Potter books. Her 2008 graduating speech at Harvard University provides insight into the mind of this well-known philanthropist and inventor. Rowling shares personal and professional insights with self-deprecating wit, crediting her success to a combination of failure and imagination. Rowling's eloquent, heartfelt speech, getAbstract believes, will motivate everyone who has spent a too sheltered life to take action to help the world.

Explanation:

Thousands of people, young and old, graduates and non-graduates, gathered in June 2008 to see J.K. Rowling, the famous author of the Harry Potter book series, step forth and present herself to many young Harvard University graduates. She was scheduled to deliver a vital and important commencement speech in which she would use three crucial aspects to urge the Harvard students seated in front of her to follow her suggestion on the "benefits of failure" and the "importance of imagination". J.K. Rowling delivered a terrific speech despite her nervousness. Her speech was fascinating in many respects, and it rapidly became the most-viewed commencement address on Harvard's website (it's even now available as a book!).

It's no surprise that Rowling, the beloved Harry Potter series creator and one of history's most successful novels, would advise graduates to use the power of their imagination, which she believes played a key role in rebuilding her life.

J.K. Rowling masterfully used humour to engage her audience in her Harvard Commencement Speech. She cracked a few jokes, many of which included Harry Potter references, but the most impactful of all was the significance of failure in her life that she faced before. She stated that while this may appear counterintuitive to others, it consumed and spurred her own achievement. She maintained an overarching theme of how failure invariably leads to her achievement and demonstrated it through a succession of dramatic personal experiences. Rowling also told her audience of recent graduates that they should pursue their ambitions and do something they enjoy, regardless of whether it fits society's idea of success. In her commencement speech, she reflected on how she applied these ideas in her own life, and how, in her experience, it not only brought her society's definition of success but also prosperity in pursuing something she loved despite the repercussions.