Malcolm Gladwell Outliers Rhetorical Analysis Essay

A Closer Look into Chapter Two of Outliers
To those of you that are willing to open your minds and consider the possibilities of new and different concepts in regard to the way our society views successful people and the reasons behind their success. Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers includes a variety of different interpretations in regard to who becomes successful and how they became successful. By reviewing and analyzing the logical, ethical, and emotional appeals that Gladwell uses in “Chapter Two” to convince the audience of his philosophies, you too will surely be enlighten and convinced.. This will also clearly show that Gladwell relies more on a logical approach for his argument, then he does on his subtle ethical and emotional appeal

used in his writing to connect with his audience.
To begin, let’s first discuss Gladwell’s obvious references to logic in “Chapter Two”, in which he clearly chooses to use a more logic appeal to gain the audiences attend, rather than an ethical or emotional appeal. Gladwell dedicates about six pages of the short- thirty eight page chapter to include a table that contains information about the wealthiest people in human history (56-62). By the use of this table, Gladwell is not only presenting facts to support his logical argument make a logical argument, he is also using a visual approach to prove his point. Gladwell continues this approach by devoting an additional half of a page to logical, this time by listing only those wealthy individuals from the same country and a single generation (62). By doing this he uses another factual and statistical example to emphasize that, those individuals make up almost twenty percent of the wealthiest people in human history (62). Though the other eighty percent of those wealthy individuals do come from different counties and different periods in history. Those twenty percent cannot be a coincidence as none of the periods in time come close to the remarkable twenty percent found in the 1800’s. Gladwell proves this by explaining that this phenomenon only occurred because those individuals happened to be from the precise country and be the exact age needed in order to take advantage of the opportunities that the changing economy in the mid 1800’s presented (61-62). In this example he uses factual and historical information to support the claims he is making.
Gladwell also uses a simple question and answer style of writing to present logical facts.

For example Gladwell discusses whether being born in either the year 1954 or 1955 would provide an individual with the perfect birth date in order to be the exact age needed to take advantage of the computer revolution. Instead of providing a table or list as he did in the two previous examples. Gladwell chooses to ask a simple question, “When was Bill Gates Born?” (65). He then lists Bill Gates birthdate and at the same time places a gap in-between the question and the answer. He also chooses reiterate the similar opportunities that both Bill Gates and Paul Allen received in regard to the use of computers (65). Gladwell does this to create a smooth transition from Gates date of birth to Paul Allen’s. This allows him to move on and ask the question, “When was Paul Allen, born?” (65). This allows him to answer that question and to continue the use of this organizational style, up until the end of “chapter two.” Using this specific choice of relying information allows Gladwell’s readers to follow along easily as he presents the information, by highlighting the answers, and while at the same time not bombarding the readers with tons of tables, charts, or

graphs.
In this chapter Gladwell chooses to use an indirect approach to present ethical appeal. An example of this is the use of well-known individuals and their reputations to appeal to the audience such as Bill Joy and the Beatles. Gladwell succeeds in gaining the audience’s trust by doing this, only because of the great credibility and high social status that these individuals have in our society. For instance, Gladwell first establishes how successful Bill Joy’s is by presenting the details of his success, then also choices to use this quote about Bill Joy, “among Silicon Valley insiders, Joy is spoken of with as much awe as someone like Bill Gates of Microsoft.” (38) He uses this quote in order to gain common ground with those individuals that do not have a profound knowledge of computer programming, this helps those readers realize how important Bill Joy is to our society by using Bill Gates’ reputable name. Once joy’s success is established Gladwell explains this success is actually a result of one extraordinary opportunity after another. This helps Gladwell prove to the audience that Joy’s success was only possible because of the opportunities that allowed him to gain the ten thousand hours of practice time needed in order to be successful (47). Another example of this indirect ethical approach is when Gladwell discusses the Beatles, describing them as “one of the most famous rock bands ever” (47). By using this description, he stressing how important and successful the Beatles are to our society. . Gladwell tells their story of success, and explains how “the Hamburg Crucible is one of the things that set the Beatles apart,” (50) because it allowed them the opportunity to practice. In this example Gladwell continues to use other people’s reputations to gain the trust of the audience and using this trust to present and prove the idea he is trying to get across to the reader which is that ten thousand hours of practice time is essential to success.
The emotional appeal that Gladwell uses is even more indirect than that of the ethical approach he uses because it is hardly noticeable. For instance, when referring to Wolfgang Mozart’s early works and the possibility that Mozart’s father probably wrote down and improved his childhood compositions (40). This emotional appeal doesn’t automatically cause any emotional reaction from the reader but the more the reader processes the information, the more emotion that surfaces from the information being given. Gladwell is challenging the idea that Mozart was a gifted prodigy, an idea that has been taught, and passed on for generations. This demotion of Mozart’s status in society a gifted prodigy to an outlier, creates some emotional uncertainty, which leaves the readers unsure as to whether this information should upset them and make them want to defend Mozart’s prodigy status or be open-minded to the possibility that Mozart is an outlier. All of these uncertain emotions and thoughts are running through the readers mind as they then go on to read that even, “the greatest prodigy of all time-couldn’t hit his stride until he had his ten thousand hours in,” (42) which is used reflect his practice time. This statement leaving a lasting emotional impression on the reader and a profoundly different idea about Mozart’s gifted talents
In reviewing and analyzing “chapter two” of Outliers, it’s certain as to why Gladwell chooses the logical, ethical, and emotional appeals that approaches he does. The main appeal to logic allows Gladwell to provide facts and statistical data to the reader. While at the same time this approach gives him the freedom to present the information in a variety of ways. The subtle ethical and emotional appeal lets Gladwell’s readers to gain a sense of trust toward Gladwell, this trust that he allows them to come to their own conclusions about the concepts being presented. Any bolder approach would make the reader feel as though they are being manipulated by Gladwell to believe the concepts being presented. The three appeals permit the audience to be convinced that one of the core elements that makes a successful person is ten thousand hours of practice, which is not possible without extraordinary opportunities being achievable. Allowing readers to recognize for themselves that ten thousand hours of practice and extraordinary opportunities is what makes an outlier.