Ethos Pathos And Logos

Sometimes all the pain in the world can seem unbearably, especially if you are able to sympathize with those in pain. At the same time this compassion is what makes us human and unique. Our empathy is what makes a better tomorrow, and therefor the message of compassion should always be spread.
This is one of the main messages in J. K. Rowling’s speech at Harvard University, back in 2008. It is a speech to the graduating students, in which Rowling tries to give the students some advises for their future.

The speech is split up into two parts, which contains two morals. In the first part she is focusing on failure as the main theme.
Rowling uses her status as a best-selling author, to create an ethos appeal right from the start. She does

She wants them to be prepared, and be able to overcome this failure. This is an important message, which supports her intention with the speech, but more on that later. Rowling also uses her own story to support her argument, that you faillure is unaviodably. After the quote above she tells how failure helps you realize what is essential to you, and most importantly teaches you how to survive . So Rowling’s message is both to prepare the students for their failure, but also to make them rethink what defines them.
This is where the second part of her speech comes in. Because Rowling also tries to form these students. Rowling is covering the importance of imagination, a subjekt which is supported by her ethos. Being this fictional writer, plus the fact that she has studies Classic, supports her ethos appeal.
The moral of her story comes through her job at Amnisty international, where she encountered evil, but found the goodness in mankind . The toture and pain which she experienced, supports the message she tries to tell. This message is told with a lot of pathos, for example when she talks about certain events from her time in AI .
Here Rowling ones again uses her own expirences to support her

When telling the students how badly she failed, she tells them that you should never compromis, no matter how bad things look. She portray herself as the ultimate failure, but she kept believing. She found herself and the meaning with it all, in the darkest hour. This realisation is what she is trying to teach the students, but it has a much greater impact when she is a living example of it herself. This is also why Rowling speech is not about her own succes, because it is not the important part, according to her. The important part is that she was able to imagine better, even though she herself had failed. She did not compromis, and neither should the student, however their lives may