JK Rowling

1. What are the benefits of failure? Do you fear failure?
2. In your life is there a difference or a bridge between what is expected of you and your own ambitions?
3. Who would J.K. Rowling most befriend from the two novels we have read in class? Why?
4. According to the novels discussed in class, who best discovers oneself after failure? In what ways?
5. In Rowling's speech she states, "we touch other people's lives simply by existing." In what way or ways are you proving her statement true?

"I was striking an uneasy balance between the ambition I had for myself, and what those closest to me expected of me." - Rowling
     I chose this powerful quote from Rowling's speech because it depicts how personal ambitions and others expectations can be in disordance. People so often shape themselves to others views, instead of doing what is right for themselves. While some people may have good intentions, only you know what is best for yourself and it is your responsibility to take control of life and move forward. Do not let others shape who you are, one must be different and become what they themselves fancy and personal quirks. If one does not do this they will never find true happiness and never fulfill or show their true potential.

"He was a foot taller than I was, and seemed as fragile as a child" - Rowling
     I chose this quote becuase it shows no matter what shows on the outside, everyone has a story. No matter size, race, or religion everyone can connect and has a story in which everyone can relate. Every person must experience failure, it is inevitable, but what we choose to do with it is our own choice. Whats on the outside matters only slightly, but what character and story one shields on the inside make them who they truly are. This quote depicts these traits because the man who was taller than Rowling was as nimble as a pin.

"Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes failure, but the world is quite eager to give you a set of criteria if you let it." - Rowling
     I chose this quote becuase it highlights how we ouselves must decide and have a hidden point where we constitute failure. Also, society can and will easily label us as failures by the actions, decisions, lifestyle, and purse (money) that we inhibit. We must ultimately decide our fate, in which we decide our own failures, because failure is inevitable. In order to decide our own failures we must have goals for ourselves, because without a goal there is no point to failure. At the forefront, one must recognize that failure is going to make itself evident and we as people must be able to grow from our personal failures into a better, more well rounded person.