Lastly, Gladwell incorporates the audience’s interests to appeal to them in an emotional and engaging method in the subject of the argument, success. The goal for many is to be successful in their specific craft, and even from the title Outliers: The Story of Success Gladwell advertises his own story of success, and the audience believes if they follow the methods that successful people use then they will be successful too. Gladwell gives testimonies of people that would be predictably successful but never made it far due to not having a community to support them to open opportunities. He describes Chris Langan’s lack of credibility and success despite having a higher IQ than Albert Einstein and before he lets Langan describe a typical day …show more content…
Gladwell’s use of ethos through word choice and tone throughout the five-page case in Outliers is concerned and disappointed as if in this example he is upset that his thesis is holding true. He is displaying himself as an equal to the audience, just as sad and frustrated throughout the disappointing Langan case, “That was the lesson Langan learned from his childhood: distrust authority and be independent,” (110). The pathos employed by emotional influence is strong throughout the entire discouraging case because the audience views the great potential of Langan, lost due to a lacking background. Gladwell uses short phrases to be direct with the issue which forces his audience to ponder on the information, “He’d had to make his way alone, and no one - not rock stars, not professional athletes, not software billionaires, and not even geniuses - ever makes it alone,” (115). The mental image of Langan having to persevere in harsh conditions with Gladwell’s thesis of success against him, makes the audience feel for him. Furthermore, it u9nfortunately persuades the reader that if the super genius, Chris Langan, cannot succeed because of his lacking background, then Gladwell’s thesis that success is based on factors …show more content…
Gladwell used Aristotle’s techniques of rhetoric, by appealing to ethos, pathos, and logos successfully to further persuade his audience of his argument. First, Gladwell established his character by displaying himself as an intellectual, honest, and of good intentions through his writing style and word choice. Secondly, Gladwell masterfully used pathos to emotionally influenced his audience from their interests and concerns about success to make his argument appeal to his specific audience. Third, Gladwell utilized logos to make his argument strong without emotional and trustworthy factors interfering, and his case stood on its own. Gladwell also mentioned problems and his offered solutions which would alter his thesis of success through a hockey example that is trying to fix the age gap concerning development, “We could set up two or even three hockey leagues, divided up by month of birth. Let the players develop on separate tracks and then pick all-star teams,” (33). As a society, we must change the pattern of success and prove Gladwell’s thesis wrong; we can help one another to be the community required so everyone can prosper and create a sense of equity. Through Gladwell’s efficient use of establishing an image to
Like the book “Outliers” its author Malcolm Gladwell is also an outlier himself. Having all of his books published as well as becoming a NY times best selling author, accomplishing a great feat. According to the Huffington Post website, in human history only, 130 million books were published. While the number may not seem big, it is not a small amount compared to the people who want to be great authors. Gladwell being able to accomplish his success as an author, makes him more accomplished than many others in his field; Therefore making him an outlier. According to “Outliers” in the epilogue, Gladwell talks about how he became an outlier because of extrinsic factors Gladwell was able to become an outlier. There are several extrinsic factors
In the book, Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcom Gladwell intended to teach the readers about the many different rules that he discussed in his book, to help with the understanding people have of success. Gladwell defines outliers as “men and women who do things that are out of the ordinary” (Gladwell 17). Gladwell accurately applies the rhetorical techniques of logos, exemplification, and repetition to effectively employ how highly successful people are outliers.
The tone that Gladwell uses in Outliers is long sentences to get his points across to the readers. He uses key points. There were some metaphors used in the book when he talks about the tallest oak trees in the forest and they helped describe the situation and what was being talked about. Many people are cognitive of outliers once they have read the book thoroughly. Some imagery was also showed when Gladwell talked about the winning team and how all of the players and reporters crammed into the locker room. Some people fancy the way that outliers think, act, and how they are successful. These
People do not rise from nothing, according to Malcolm Gladwell. There are many components that effect the way an individual becomes successful. Gladwell argues that where, when, and how the person was raised has the biggest impact on their future successes. The use of pathos, logos, and ethos benefit the points that are being convey by Gladwell. They persuade the reader in thinking with the same mindset as the writer. In Outliers, pathos, logos, and ethos are found throughout the book, multiple times, through examples of people that achieved success. For pathos, connecting to the reader emotionally is essential to convince the readers of Gladwell’s argument. He uses pathos to evoke an emotional response. One of many examples of Gladwell’s use
An Outlier is someone who stands out in a group due to their mastery of a certain skill and because of that they are successful. According to Gladwell not anyone can become successful; it takes the right circumstances and opportunities. Human’s capability seems limitless, and if we put in the time and hard work we can achieve our goals. We as a society love to think that a person may become successful and that we all have the same opportunities and chance of succeeding if we just work hard enough. According to Malcom Gladwell, the author of the book Outlier’s these common beliefs are incorrect and are not the means of a person becoming successful. The main theme throughout Gladwell’s Outlier’s is that successful
Outliers is Malcolm Gladwell 's examination of what makes some people excessively more successful than others. These "outliers," as he calls them, are commonly thought to possess talent and intelligence far above that of the average person, but he challenges this popular belief by looking at the background of some notable outliers.
In Outliers, Gladwell’s main argument or claim is that the way people initially see success and intelligence, should not just be the individual itself, but where and how that individual became who they were. Gladwell highlights the fact that “People don’t rise from nothing. We do owe something to parentage and patronage” (19) and that outliers don’t “sprout from the earth” (269) but are made because of various factors such as age, race, where they were born, and the environment they grew up in.
Gladwell’s overall writing style in Outliers managed to convey his message using formal yet simple diction and mostly uncomplicated syntax. His writing was symbolic at times, but also quite literal at others. The book was relatable, memorable, and easy to understand. He uses some rhetorical devices, such as this polysyndeton: “he’s tall and gawky and sixteen years old” (Gladwell 42). He also used other literary devices, such as dialogue: “‘it came out of the blue’” (Gladwell 248). These devices added complexity and depth and also caught my attention. They are key to writing a book that keeps the reader interested and helps them pay attention to and remember key details. The impact of organizing the book into “Part 1: Opportunity” and “Part 2: Legacy” was that it showed there was a clear division between the two parts of achieving success. Having this distinction helps the reader to learn each concept and in the end, be able to understand the overall theme. For opportunity, he describes how opportunities need to emerge in order for success to be reached, such as how “[t]heir world—their culture and generation and family history—gave them the greatest of opportunities” (Gladwell 158) in the case of many people. Gladwell distinguishes the two parts of the book in part two, saying that so far, we have seen that “success arises out of the steady accumulation of advantages… [that] all make a significant difference in how well you do in the world. The question for the second part
"The biggest misconception about success is that we do it solely on our smarts, ambition, hustle and hard work” (Gladwell, 42). Outliers is a book that praises the success of great men, then cuts them down to size by explaining how it wasn’t pure hard work and sweat. Gladwell studies those who have already achieved society’s idea of “success.” Every chapter is filled with detailed examinations of cultural heritage and environment in relation to the idea of “success”.The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore is a detailed analysis that undergoes a comparison between two characters with outwardly similar beginnings but entirely different destinies due to personal choices, self-determination, and effort. The book values the importance of discipline and
In Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, he depicts certain situations that created success stories. In Jeannette walls’ The Glass Castle, Jeanette is raised in a crazy and poor family that gives her no chance for success, but she is able to overcome her family’s history. In both the Glass Castle and Outliers, Jeanette Walls and Malcolm Gladwell develop a central idea that people become successful based on the their families cultural legacy. Gladwell believes that the advantages given to people at birth is their cultural legacy and will go on to affect how their success in the future. However, Jeanette Walls’ life negates Gladwell’s belief as her parents legacies completely set her up to fail but she does the opposite.
Then goes and re-examines each story in such a detail matter, that he pinpoints the unknown facts that led to that person success. Gladwell unmasked our so called "big shoots" in our nation through a series of factual, ethical, and emotional evidence. He uses a structured balance between logos, and ethos to truly define an outlier in our society. In the first chapter of the Outliers Gladwell
What exactly is an Outlier? Malcolm Gladwell explains to his readers in "Outliers" that an Outlier are "men and women who do things out of the ordinary." Gladwell explains to us that an in order to become successful, there are many factors that can lead to it including birth dates, community and culture, and legacy. He doesn't entirely believe that you can achieve success just from individual merit and hard work but that it takes the environment around you and opportunity to become successful. In the contrary, Gladwell writes a whole chapter titled, "The 10,000-Hour Rule" which he explains that it takes ten thousand hours of practice to become successful in something. Then he mentions that it opportunity plays a part in this success, when speaking about The Beetles, and how they were giving an opportunity to play at a club for about ten thousand hours. If it wasn't for this opportunity that was given to The Beetles, Gladwell believes that they wouldn't be as who they are now and would have never been as successful and wealthy as they are now. Gladwell claims that social and economic background can determine whether or not a individual will succeed. This claim is false becaus a person who is wealthy can not be as successful as one who is not wealthy.
In the novel Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell, he explores the idea of of misunderstandment of relationships among individual talent and opportunities. Gladwell argues this statement by showing that talent is necessary but not the reason to achieve success. I agree with Gladwells statement: The opportunities that are offered creates a straight path to success.
In Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers, he portrays many stories of success. He writes about many situations that produced being successful. Jeannette Walls wrote a memoir, The Glass Castle, about her crazy upbring. In doing so, she wrote about her success story. Her story proves some of Gladwell’s theories.
Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: The Story of Success. 1st ed. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2008. Print