MYTHS AND HEROES: JK ROWLING

Myths and heroes

   The notion that I'm going to deal with is myths and heroes. To begin with I'd like to give a defition of the terms myths and heroes. Myths are stories that are based on tradition. Some may be real , while others are completely fictional, but they are just as important to us today as in ancient cultures because they help explain the world and man's experience. Just like myths, heroes can be real or completely fictional. A hero can be a person who is admired for his or her achievements, a superhero or maybe a role model or an icon. Heroes are people we can look up to. They show how vital they are to society when they inspire younger generations to do great things. In my mind, the theme which best illustrates the notion is "from rages to riches". And I took the world famous writer J.K Rowling as an example for her astonishing novels and her inspiring story. We may wonder to what extent this theme illustrates our notion?

 "Rockbottom became the solide foundation on which I rebuilt my life" said JK Rowling in her speech about the benefits of failure at the Harvard commencement in 2008. Rowling was born on 31 July 1965 in Yate. As a child, she often wrote fantasy stories. But she had unhappy teeange years beacuse of her mother's illness.

In 1982, Rowling took the entrance exams for Oxford University but was not accepted and read for a B.A. in French and Classics at the University of Exeter. In 1990, while she was on a four-hour-delayed train trip from Manchester to London, the idea for a story of a young boy attending a school of wizardry "came fully formed" into her mind. she began to write immediatly. But life wasn't yet smiling to her , In December, Rowling's mother Anne died after ten years suffering from desease. Rowling was writing Harry Potter at the time and she stopped . She moved to Porto to teach English as a foreign language in 1991. She was married to a Portuguese television journalist. Sadly, she was victime of domestic abuse and despite the circumstances gave birth to a beautiful girl. In December 1993, Rowling and her daughter moved to Scotland. Seven years after graduating from university, Rowling saw herself as a failure. Her marriage had failed, and she was jobless with a dependent child .During this period, Rowling was diagnosed with clinical depression and committed suicide. Then she realised that her true passion is writting. She continued to write her book with hope and commitment in her eyes. Today, she is the first self made billionaire author. she has sold 400 million books in more than 200 countries. The Harry Potter movies are the highest-grossing movie franchise for over 5.3 billion dollars. The last chapter of HP was the fastest selling book of all time. Oprah Winfrey described the interview she made with her in 2015 as " the most fascinating interviews I've ever done". Oprah is also  self made women. She's the only african american woman billionaire and one of the most influential women in the world.. But she also started from scratsh. she was born during segregation to a very poor family. she was abused and fell pregnant at the age of 13 and the lost her child. She faced alot of rejection from tv shows beacuse of her color and because she was too emotional as they described . But that did'nt hold her back just like the danger did'nt hold Ruby Bridges from going to school dressed in her white dress we see in Norman Rockwell's painting " the problem we all live with" done in 1964 that shows the bravoury and innosence of that little girl facing hatred and discrimination. These women are both myths and heroes. They show us that nothing is impossible if you have faith , hope and strength.  

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