Update: Be sure to read John Granger’s excellent thoughts on the speech, which are far more insightful than my own. While my favorite quote was Seneca, his was Plutarch. Thanks for the great work, John.
Yes, there was a gay Dumbledore reference.
I think it’s also safe to say that, for the most part, John Granger’s three predictions came true (or at least the latter two).
It was a great speech in many ways. The text of the speech is here, and the video is here. There were many windows into her creative process, to be sure, including stories that informed how she constructed Voldemort, her pictures of tyranny, the effects of the cruciatus curse on the Longbottoms, the importance of Harry’s failures, and the fundamental place of the creative hero. She referenced none of these aspects of her books directly, but the links are apparent.
Failure, Rowling says, is a “stripping away of the inessential.” It brings people to an end of themselves and forces them to focus solely on the people they really are – which means, focusing on the genuine contributions one can make to the world.
Imagination is what enables one to make those contributions. There is great stuff in this speech about the importance of imagination, but the fundamental point is this: those with power and privilege can either ignore the world’s tragedies and oppression, or they can enter imaginatively and creatively into them and work for change.
If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped transform for the better. 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.
And she finished it all off with a quote from Seneca:
As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.
That final line is a good summary of the entire point of my book. I have to say I’m really encouraged in a lot of ways by this talk, and I’ll need to get some of the quotes into the manuscript in the editing process. The themes of this commencement speech sum up, in short form, the themes of my book, which leads me to believe that, at least to some extent, I’m on the right track at understanding Rowling.
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Wonderful speech by JKR, and Travis I look forward to getting my hands on your book !
Yes, but the gay wizard reference was a joke. One could probably say she’s not being sensitive to homosexuals because she’s using them as a one off joke in her speech. That’s the whole problem with this issue is that no matter who you are, you can, if you’re so inclined, take offence at it & thus get distracted from the bigger issues.
On the whole, I think she hit a home run. I won’t say it’ s a Grand Slam, hit completely out of the park homer. But at least a three run dinger that wins the game.
I like how she focused on failure. I’m guessing that’s not what most people were expecting, even John Granger. Yes, it’s kind of similar to his one point of “(2) Believe in Yourself and To thine Own Self be True (Look What Happened to Me!)” But it comes at it from a totally different direction than normally done & it is uniquely Jo.
I also liked, to an extent, her use of imagination, that it not only can take us to wonderful, magical places, but it also enables us to empathize with other people. To get inside their heads & understand their problems. And that not being able to empathize lessens us as people & also may enable others to perpetrate evils upon the world.
Some other comments I could make, but I’d like to see what other people think. No matter what one makes of her speech, it certainly was interesting. Look forward to discussing it.
(This post might duplicate. Sometimes my posts don’t seem to go through right away & if I try to repost, it says I’ve already said that. So, I’m never quite sure my comments will show up when that happens.)
It was a good speech. Some stuff was fairly predictable (as evidenced by John’s thread!), and I was surprised by the extent to which she talked about herself and her own struggles; but there was some really great stuff in there.
Travis,
You write:
“There were many windows into her creative process, to be sure, including stories that informed how she constructed Voldemort, her pictures of tyranny, the effects of the cruciatus curse on the Longbottoms, the importance of Harry’s failures, and the fundamental place of the creative hero. She referenced none of these aspects of her books directly, but the links are apparent. ”
The links were not very clear to me. Could you just take a moment to make the connections, if it doesn’t mean giving away the major arguments in your book? (I’ll buy it anyways, I promise).
How about if I start by mentioning the possible links I see, and ask if you agree?
The part where she talks about failure, what failure does for you, does remind me a bit of Harry digging Dobby’s grave, especially the phrase “a stripping away of the inessential”. The part about “my greatest fear had been realized” reminds me of Harry’s death and resurrection:
“Simply because 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. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had already been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.”
She directly says that what she saw at Amnesty International influenced her writings, so I suppose we must accept that. But the only link I can make to Voldemort is this:
“Every day, I saw more evidence about the evils humankind will inflict on their fellow humans, to gain or maintain power.”
And the African torture victim is the progenitor of the Longbottoms?
What else?
Right, all of those things. And then, off the top of my head:
- the concept of the power of imagination to change things
- everything pertaining to her social vision in the books
- criticisms of the privileged
And actually, I thought of Harry’s failure in Order as the fundamental “failure” that was a turning point in his life.
That was a fantastic speech. She may have become cynical at times gone by, and teased us to the point of offending her fans but she has done a wonderful job overall. This speech left a smile on my face. Thanks Travis for posting it. Truly wonderful, professional and everything I wanted it to be. I cannot wait for more material from this author in the near future. Harry was simply an amazing ride. If that remains to be the pinicle of her career, both quality ans success wise, then it’s a true testament to her that we are all hear discussing her work. Jo, you’re awesome!
From Frank Herbert’s Dune:
This came to mind as I read the details of Rowling’s address. I imagine if you’ve been groomed for great success and it does’t occur like you think it should the fall could be long and hard at the bottom. I think Rowling is a wise woman.
I remember reading a story about an ancient king who kept a slave beside him at all times to whisper in his ear that he was but mortal.
Does anyone know the source?
I think JKR was trying to remind the kids that they are but mortal, and can fail. And then made the link to those less fortunate than them, to try to empathize their reality in order to work to make the world a better place.
It’s a very moral message.
There’s a lot of stories like that. In the movie Patton, the lead character tells the story of how a Roman general returning to Rome victorious would be honoured above all others & yet at his side would be a slave whispering in his ear, “All glory is fleeting.”
From The Rocky Horror Picture Show, we also have the great song The Sword of Damocles Is Hanging Over My Head. Although the real story of the sword of Damocles may have predated the Rocky Horror show.