Outliers The Story Of Success Essay

Malcolm Gladwell’s overall purpose of Outliers: The Story of Success is that success is largely determined by an individual’s socioeconomic and sociocultural environment, and individual ambition, effort, or talent, are less significant, contrary to the societal notions associated with success. In other words, success is not something that someone randomly gained; success is earned through opportunities that develop dedication, interest, and skill over time. By doing this, will one become an outlier, or “something that is situated away or classed differently from a main or related body,” (Gladwell 3) that distinguishes great from good and best from great, as exemplified by “The striking thing about Ericsson’s study is that the and his colleagues couldn’t find any “naturals”, musicians who floated effortlessly to the top while practicing a fraction of the time their peers did.” (Gladwell 39) Gladwell also acknowledges societal norms such that “All of the fourteen men and woman on the list above had vision and talent,” (Gladwell 62-63) to assert hard work, ability, et cetera can lead to success, but a social environment that offers such opportunities immensely increases the likelihood of success.

The author’s target audience is composed of high school and college students who reside in today’s

first world countries and seek to achieve success. As Outliers in its basic essence is a book of hidden insights to become successful, it particularly appeals to students, who have not yet reached success, but are studying to hopefully reach it. Less fortunately, the first world has significantly more opportunities and producers of success (i.e. Microsoft, Samsung, Apple) that fosters the desire for and expectation of success, and establishes the belief that socioeconomic barriers can be overcome. Marita is a middle school student at KIPP, a school that helps impoverished students exit poverty, in the Bronx. She says, “ The book is also titled: Outliers: The Story of Success and is an often-selected favorite among AP Lang students. *INSERT QUOTE ABOUT COLLEGE FROM MARITA
The award I would designate for Outliers would be one for its insights that are derived from everyday, non-special information and accentuates the details that are looked past.

At Canadian hockey games, players’ birthdays, in addition to names are provided on a pamphlet to attendees, yet the fact that “...there were an incredible number of January, February, and March birth dates” (Gladwell 22) is not widely known. Also, “‘...A mature scientist with an adult IQ of 130 is as likely to win a Nobel Prize as is one whose IQ is 180.’” by the logic of “A basketball player only has to be tall enough--and the same is true of intelligence. Intelligence has a threshold” (Gladwell

80).