Even when one has a rough childhood and upbringing, they are able to take all of these hard times and turn them into motivation to work harder to improve not only their lives, but their family and friends lives. Through this hard work and dedication comes the 10,000 hour rule. Marcus Gladwell is a very well-known author, writer, and speaker from The New York Yorker; his first four books were on the New York Times best seller list and in 2005, Time magazine named Gladwell one of its 100 most influential people. Because of Gladwell’s outstanding achievements and background, it furthers his readers to believe that he is a very credible and knowledgeable resource. Gladwell’s purpose in writing Outliers is to teach and inform the audience about what an outlier really stands for and how some people become an outlier from a young age. Gladwell’s main audience is people around the world that are interested in the statistical studies. Gladwell, through the use of several rhetorical devices and examples is effectively able to express what it takes to be successful through the 10,000 hour rule....
I found Gladwell’s first chapter of Outliers entitled “The Matthew Effect” to be both interesting, confusing, and perhaps somewhat lopsided. Based on Matthew 25:2, Gladwell simply explains, “It is those who are successful, in other words, who are most likely to be given to the kinds of special opportunities that lead to further success.” (Gladwell 2008, pg. 30) The Matthew Effect seems to extend special advantages and opportunities to some simply based on their date of birth.
Gladwell, Malcolm. “The 10,000-Hour Rule.” Outliers: The Story of Success. New York: Little, Brown, 2008. 35-55. Print.
Malcolm Gladwell, in the nonfiction book Outliers, claims that success stems from where you come from, and to find that you must look beyond the individual. Malcolm Gladwell develops and supports his claim by defining an outlier, then providing an example of how Stewart Wolf looked beyond the individual, and finally by giving the purpose of the book Outliers as a whole. Gladwell’s purpose is to explain the extenuating circumstances that allowed one group of people to become outliers in order to inform readers on how to be successful. The author writes in a serious and factual tone for the average person in society of both genders and all ethnicities who wants to become successful in life.
Malcolm Gladwell demonstrates use of figurative language including repition and exemplum, along with ethos and pathos current in the 10,000 hour rule; however, his credibility of his sources and knowledge is not present. He makes use of successful people who have impacted the world in analyzing their previous lives and how they had obtained 10,000 hours of practice. Outliers affects the audience to make them feel more knowledgable and aware of the characteristics of success, inlcuding a more relatable and understanding concept established by figurative language. Gladwell provides an ambition, or goal, for young people to achieve success in future generations. Outliers is a very inspiring novel that maintains many aspects of practice through the 10,000 hour rule, and will transform how society views success in many other generations.
Harmon, William, William Flint Thrall, Addison Hibbard, and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. 11th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009. Print.
Gladwell wrote nine chapters, each with an unique story and lesson behind it and each will try to make the reader believe towards his belief of why someone is “successful”. In Gladwell’s very first chapter of the novel, he goes into hockey players and what gave many of the players in the league today a head start over their competition. A huge percentage of players in league are born in the first four months(Jan.,Feb.,March,and April) of the year and only a small percentage are born
Family, education and a person’s opportunities are significant elements that collectively define an individual, as demonstrated by both Wes Moore’s. Depending on the opportunities offered to you and whether you decide to take advantage of them through hard work and persistence will result in your success or failure in the end. Wes Moore explains “The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his” goes to show that certain factors affect how you will be as an adult regardless of similar or differentiating backgrounds. (Moore xi).
Once in a while, it really hits people that they don’t have to experience the world in the way they have been told to. Gladwell believes that cultural legacies are powerful forces. Cultural legacies are the customs of a family or a group of people, that is inherited through the generations. According to Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers, Cultural legacies is something that’s been passed down for generations to generations. It depends on what type of legacies was passed that will affect a person. If a good legacy was passed down, someone can keep that legacy going by trying hard at keeping the legacies going. If a bad legacy was passed down; I believe that cultural legacies can be altered or changed, by good working habits, determination, and a positive mindset to succeed. Culture can affect either positively or negatively, but we have the power to turn our cultural
In the book, groups of successful people are broken down and Gladwell compares their individual characteristics to see if there are any abnormal trends. He starts with talking about how the chance birthdates of a large number of professiona...
King, Larry, and Cal Fussman. My Remarkable Journey. 1st ed. New York: Weinstein, 2009. Print.
A. A. Hard Times. Ed. Fred Kaplan and Sylvére Monod. New York: W.W. Norton.
Outliers is a nonfiction text written by Malcolm Gladwell. Gladwell came from a successful family, which was advantageous during his childhood however, he struggled during college, which led up to him getting rejected from a graduate school. Gladwell then pursued a job in advertising, while being rejected by almost every advertising agency. Gladwell eventually accepted a job in journalism, which eventually would begin Gladwell’s success in writing books. Gladwell endured failure early on in his career; eventually the hard work you put in pays off. In Outliers, Gladwell wants to describe a different way of success to his readers. He attempts to convince the readers that they can shape the world by working hard for the things that they set out to accomplish on a daily base. Even with the advantages and disadvantages that come along with it. Gladwell’s purpose throughout Outliers is to change the way that Americans today view success. Gladwell makes many claims throughout the book. The claims help Gladwell unfold his argument by describing the way success is viewed. Gladwell mentions how some things in life do matter like when you’re born and your home life. Those are the advantages and disadvantages that contribute to your
The goal of this paper is to emphasize as well as decipher the multifarious activities Gladwell used to bring his points across in the concept of “The Theory of Thin-Slices: How a Little Bit of Knowledge Goes a Long Way." (Gladwell, 2007, pg.18) Thin- slicing, the ability to gather information in a split second, naturally, as in mind over matter or by conducting experiments, coming to a conclusion. Gladwell presents two types of illustrations of how thin slicing works: natural circumstances and controlled studies.
Gladwell makes you see how things can be pushed over the edge and blossom into trends, drops in crime rates or even outbreaks of diseases. The Tipping Point can happen at anytime within the right scenarios. Gladwell said “Look at the world around you. It may seem like an immovable, implacable place. It is not. With the slightest push — in just the right place — it can be tipped”. Gladwell did a lot of case studies to be able to make the claims that he did in his book.
underclass, and how to remedy the situation. Then I will compare his empirical claims to