Well, I AM an English Major...

This is an essay I wrote my senior year of high school.  Exciting, right??  Well, I wanted to post it here just for the fun of it :).  I spent several weeks editing it until I was satisfied until I ran out of time to work on it, and I ended up with more than 10 drafts of it before I was satisfied enough to turn it in.  I really do like it, and I think it's one of the best essays I've ever written.  It's about my hero/role model, and I wrote about Jo Rowling.

Note: The only source I used was Melissa Anelli's Harry, a History (which just so happens to be one of my all-time favorite books and one that I consider a must-read for any Potter fan).

Here it is!!  Hope you like it, dear Ghost Reader :).

From Writer to Role Model

            Everyone has his or her own ideas of what classifies someone or something as heroic, and these ideas may vary from person to person.  Heroes can be real people who work hard to achieve success or fictional characters who go on fantastic adventures.  A person who saves or protects lives can be one type of hero while someone who battles evil or fights for justice is another.  My individual definition of a hero is someone with great courage and integrity who triumphs over obstacles through hard work and perseverance.

            My personal heroine does not possess formidable strength or power.  She has never saved a town from ghastly monsters nor has she ever slayed a ferocious dragon.  Her accomplishments were not wrought with swords and fighting but rather with words and ideas.  My heroine is Jo “J.K.” Rowling, author of the Harry Potter septology.    

            Rowling’s fairy tale rise to success is inspirational and legendary.  Before writing Harry Potter, Jo Rowling was a poor, single mother on welfare who struggled to support her infant daughter.  She dreamed of being a writer, but never possessed the confidence or opportunity to pursue her dream.  One fortuitous day in 1990, while on a delayed train traveling from Manchester to London, Harry Potter suddenly came to her as if by magic.  She had been writing all her life but felt particularly excited about this idea.  Unable to find a pen and too shy to borrow one, she spent the next few hours developing and expanding her idea about the boy wizard in her head.  Rowling finished writing her first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, in 1991 and thought she might like to publish it.  Ironically, publishers repeatedly rejected her book because it was too long, the subject matter too unpopular, and they did not believe it would sell.  After many rejections, Rowling found a publisher willing to publish her lengthy and unconventional novel.  Bloomsbury published the first Harry Potter novel in 1997 with low sales expectations.  By the time the seventh and final book in the series was released in 2007, Harry Potter had become one of the best selling series in history (Anelli).

            I came into the story a little earlier than 2007.  I read my first Harry Potter book in early 2001, about seven months after the fourth book was released and just three months after my eighth birthday.  The story captured my young imagination in a way that nothing else ever had.  Harry, Ron, and Hermione became my best friends.  I earned the nickname “Harry Potter Girl” at my school because I talked about it so often, and I made many of my friends based on a common love of the series.  As I grew up and entered junior high, my friends and family told me that I would “grow out of Harry Potter.”  If anything, I loved it all the more as I grew up because I was better able to understand and appreciate the writing and plot elements that I missed when I was younger.  I spent hours analyzing minute details in the books and interviews with Jo Rowling to discover the secret of what was coming in the next book.   The last book was released on July 21, 2007, the summer before I started high school.  I still remember that night as one of the best and most exciting nights of my life.  I celebrated the big event with hundreds of other fans at a packed Barnes and Noble.  I wore costumes and cast pretend spells, watched people of all ages wait in long lines at midnight for a book, and saw my love for Harry Potter mirrored in the people all around me.  This made me realize how Jo Rowling’s gift of storytelling had linked millions of different people all over the world.  Because of her, I really felt a connection with the rest of the world that night.  Her story has helped me to develop my view of the world around me, my sense of morality, and the standards that I set for myself and the rest of the world.  If I ever feel overwhelmed, upset, or anxious, I can simply open one of her books and be taken back to that eight-year-old little girl who was so fascinated with Harry’s magical world.

            Jo Rowling is my heroine because of the inspiring stories she has lived and written.  She overcame hardship and adversity to make all her dreams come true by taking full advantage of every opportunity and chance that came her way.  I admire her strength of mind and heart in the face of all who predicted her failure.  Her hard work and determination to write and publish her novel took her from the rock bottom of poverty to the height of success.  Her influence has helped shape me into the person I am today.  She has changed my life and the lives of millions of others around the world with her story and her remarkable success.  Her books inspire and captivate me every time I read and reread them. The messages present in her life and her books have struck a chord with me and helped inspire me to follow my dreams and be a good person.  Her characters have taught me to do what is right over what is easy and stand up for my beliefs no matter what challenges I face.  The bravery, love, and loyalty portrayed in her story shows that anyone can achieve greatness, whether they are a scrawny teenaged wizard with broken glasses or an intelligent high school bookworm afraid of growing up.  She has given me a story to love, learn from, and emulate for the rest of my life. 

            Heroes come in many different shapes, sizes, and types.  Some exist as epic legends passed down through generations as tales of bravery, strength, and pride.  Some are great leaders who triumph in war or politics.  Still, others heal the sick or discover new worlds.  There are some heroes, however, who struggle and work hard to follow their dreams and whose heroism comes from their determination and strength of character in the face of adversity.  Whatever the case, heroes are incredible people, whether real or fictional, who inspire others to attempt the impossible and improve themselves and the world around them.