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Christian Scalf
Professor Skutar
Essay #2 First draft
02/11/2012
Rhetorical Analysis of J. K. Rowling’s Harvard 2008 Commencement Speech
In June of 2008 (posted on TedTalks on January 2010), best-selling author J. K. Rowling
delivered the commencement speech to the graduating class of Harvard University. A
commencement speech is a speech given at a graduation, most generally by someone of note.
Harvard University is one of the oldest, most famous, and most prestigious universities in the
country and, quite possibly, the world. Commonly thought of the smartest students of America,
Harvard needs a prestigious commencement speaker. J. K. Rowling’s reputation precedes her,
being the first author to become a billionaire from writing. As a writer, a professional writer that
has become the very first billionaire writer, the pressure is on her to be memorable and articulate.
A commencement speech has some basic (loose) guidelines: provide inspiration, provide
perspectives, connect with the audience, and tell jokes. J. K. Rowling delivers this speech very
well rhetorically (as well as content, though I will not discuss this in this essay) by following the
(albeit loose) guidelines.
The fact that the speaker is J. K. Rowling had a significant effect on the rhetoric. J. K.
Rowling is renowned for her writing; she is a writer and, as a writer, the expectations are higher.
Her words were educated and sophisticated, and as a college graduate (her having had to sit
through the speech delivered at her own graduation) she understands exactly what the people she
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is addressing (through not the whole audience that composes of the graduates their family and
friends, the dean, and the faculty and staff). She talks about her own experience in their seats:
“Delivering a commencement address is a great responsibility; or so I thought until I cast
my mind back to my own graduation. The commencement speaker that day was the
distinguished British philosopher Baroness Mary Warnock. Reflecting on her speech has
helped me enormously in writing this one, because it turns out that I can’t remember a
single word she said.”(Rowling).
This provides an example, not just stating, that she has been in her shoes and does understand
where they are sitting (both metaphorically and literally). With “I cast my mind back to my own
graduation” she establishes a connection with her audience as having been through this very
event herself. She acknowledges the dangers that even “distinguished” speakers have if they
don’t realize with whom they are speaking to: “because it turns out that I can’t remember a
single word she said”. She can better shape her speech for the audience because she, herself, has
been there. Her experience colors her words, letting her speak in confidence.
She knows how to approach what her point is, and what content is appropriate and
relevant for the audience. As a past audience member to the genre, she has a better grip on what
the audience cares about. “I have asked myself what I wish I had known at my own graduation,
and what important lessons I have learned in the 21 years that have expired between that day and
this.” (Rowling). She recognizes what should be given, lessons to help them later in life. She has
sat in their seat, has felt the excitement of graduating, but also the fear that comes with that. She
knows what to say and how to approach the audience effectively. She is now in a place in her life
to give the lessons she wishes she had been given, lessons she alludes to that she will impart onto
the audience.
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Consequently, the audience has a substantial effect on the rhetoric. She acknowledges her
audience and who they are:
“I am not dull enough to suppose that because you are young, gifted and well-educated,
you have never known hardship or heartbreak. Talent and intelligence never yet
inoculated anyone against the caprice of the Fates, and I do not for a moment suppose
that everyone here has enjoyed an existence of unruffled privilege and contentment.
However, the fact that you are graduating from Harvard suggests that you are not very
well-acquainted with failure. You might be driven by a fear of failure quite as much as a
desire for success. Indeed, your conception of failure might not be too far from the
average person’s idea of success, so high have you already flown.” (Rowling).
This shows that she has put thought into what is about to say and the relevance to them. She lets
them know that she understands that they have had experience with heart break, that even though
they are in a privileged situation that it doesn’t mean that they have been “inoculated anyone
against the caprice of the Fates”. She, however, makes them aware of all they have
accomplished, in comparison to most. She starts to open the channel to thinking in ways that they
are not familiar, gradually helping her later points. This keeps the speech smooth and decreases
bumps that might disrupt her audience.
In the same way, the purpose of the speech is just as vital, for the two are interwoven.
The purpose shapes her words, for it would be a very different speech if it was not a
commencement speech. She is giving the commencement speech for a reason, the reason why
there are commencement speeches, to help guide a graduating class with words of wisdom from
someone “successful” (i.e. politician, CEO, author, etc.). And while she jokes with them and
makes a connection, the setting is formal: they are at a ceremony for an Ivy league school, her
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speech pattern and clothing are formal, the graduates are in caps and gowns, the parents are
dressed-up, and there are note-worthy people there (Ted talks). If it had been a speech to fellow
authors on the a similar subject of failure, she would not have used the same exact speech; her
speech would do more with her years as a writer, not as a young person just out of college. For
elementary school students, different examples would have been given with more of a casual
atmosphere, for middle aged people a whole different approach. But since her purpose was to
give a commencement speech, to impart the virtues that failing can have, she chose her examples
and presented them in the way she did.
Rowling starts her speech with stating her intentions “On this wonderful day when we are
gathered together to celebrate your academic success, I have decided to talk to you about the
benefits of failure. And as you stand on the threshold of what is sometimes called ‘real life’, I
want to extol the crucial importance of imagination.” (Rowling) . She uses personal experiences
to illustrate what she means and how she came to this lesson. She first talks about her
“exceptionally short-lived marriage” that left her “jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is
possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless” and then connects it to her first point
with:
“… failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I
was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the
only work that mattered to me…. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been
realized, and I was still alive,….so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I
rebuilt my life.” (Rowling).
With this she starts to strip away the fear associated with failure, the myths that we all have. She
demonstrates that failure is not permanent, but just a pit stop. She is there talking to freshly
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college-graduated young people, whom she wishes to impart lessons she thinks will be relevant.
What could be more relevant than failure to people entering the “real world”? She beautifully
exemplifies how her subject is not only appropriate but how it’s accurate.
She talks about her second point by starting out explaining her position at the African
research department at Amnesty International’s headquarters in London:
“Every day, I saw more evidence about the evils humankind will inflict on their fellow
humans,…. And yet I also learned more about human goodness at Amnesty International
than I had ever known before.” (Rowling);
and connects it with “Unlike any other creature on this planet, humans can learn and understand,
without having experienced. They can think themselves into other people’s places.”(Rowling). In
sharing this experience she is imparting the lesson she learned: … those who choose not to
empathise enable real monsters…..without ever committing an act…we collude with it, through
our own apathy…. What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.” (Rowling). She is
promoting them, the future generation, to acknowledge that they have a duty to see beyond their
lives. A lesson pertinent to her audience.
J. K. Rowling shapes her message using small, very subtle speech giving tools, like the
repeated phrase—“… down the Classics corridor”— which seems to me like a metaphor for
following your dreams, a theme she uses throughout her speech. She uses this to bring a point to
a close and to transitions into the next. She similarly makes use of pauses before and after an
important point, and as a transition tool. .She gives her audience time to absorb what she gives
them and to adjust to the next subject. She intersperses jokes throughout to help break the tension
created, like “If all you remember in years to come is the ‘gay wizard’ joke, I’ve come out ahead
of Baroness Mary Warnock. Achievable goals: the first step to self-improvement.” (Rowling),
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and “There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the
moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you.” (Rowling). She does
this provide a contrast to the heavy subjects she explains, acknowledge her audience, and to help
the audience connect to her. She also changes her tones with her messages—from joking tone, to
personal tones, to serious tones.
J. K. Rowling’s commencement speech at Harvard University on June 8 of 2008
is a perfect example of the genre. She understands her audience and what is pertatent to their
experiences and future, and forms her speech appropriately to them. She shapes her purpose to
her audience, and uses appropriate examples and lessons to hone in on them. She dresses and
addresses the situation and occasion properly, as is expected by the setting. She uses personal
experiences and quotes to connect to her audience. She uses a repeated phrase to connect her
points, tells jokes to relieve tension, and uses changes in her tone to emphasize her points.
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Work Cited.
J. K. Rowling. “Text of J.K. Rowling’s speech 'The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the
Importance of Imagination'”. Harvardgazette. Harvard University. 5 June 2008. Web. 10
Feb. 2014.
“JK Rowling: The fringe benefits of failure”. Ted talks. TED Conferences. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.