Rhetorical Analysis of Malcolm Gladwell’s “10,000 Hours”
Is success is achieved through hard work and dedication? Most people seem to think in this way, only one person who does not think in that way: author Malcolm Gladwell. In his article “10,000 Hours,” he talks about a rule you must follow to be successful; that rule is the 10,000-hour rule. Gladwell uses a study from Anders Ericsson in his article to support his thought; therefore, this article is rhetorically effective because he has credibility and he uses logical evidence to convey his argument. He has credibility for many reasons. He is a writer of the bestselling book “Outliers: The Story of Success.” In his book, Gladwell discusses studies about success in any field (576). Also,
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First, he uses the study from the psychologist Anders Ericsson. That study was done in the 1990s by psychologist Anders Ericsson and two colleagues at Berlin’s school for violinists (576). Gladwell talks about legendary Bobby Fischer, the best chess player. He said “To become a chess grandmaster also seems to take about ten years. (Only the legendary Bobby Fischer got to that elite level in less than that amount of time: it took him nine years.)” (577). Also, he tries to explain the Czech and Canadian national sports teams. Here is the explanation for what was so puzzling about the rosters of the Czech and Canadian national sports teams. He said, “There was practically no one on those teams born after September 1, which doesn't seem to make any sense.” (578). From the study, he proves his thought of the 10,000-hour rule. With the study, he uses effective logic, but he does not use emotional appeal. There is in the article an effective logic. Although he has logic, Gladwell does not use emotional appeal. He talked about the study from the psychologist, Anders Ericsson. Also, he uses the successful example of famous people, such as Mozart and Bobby Fischer. From the study and the examples, he proves his idea of the 10,000-hour rule. Since he is not using emotional appeal, his audience will not feel anything and believe that success needs 10,000 hours. So, he will not achieve his purpose to persuade the audience by using
In chapter 1, Gladwell used examples of professional hockey players to support this theory. He supplied data charts reflecting that the most successful hockey players were born in January, February and March. With January being the cutoff month, this would give those
If someone wants to succeed in life and stay recognized by superiors, then he or she ought to appear hardworking. A person begins with setting goals. There are two categories, the first, “be” goals and the second, “do” goals. In other words, ask yourself, "What to be?" or "What to achieve?" Four categories of goals consist of wealth, health, relationships, and self-fulfillment which equal success. Working diligently to finish a task demonstrates how to live a successful life. Given these points, Thomas Edison, Helen Keller and Harriet Tubman, all exceptional achievers, found that prosperity undoubtedly comes along for everyone who perseveres.
Gladwell, Malcolm. “The 10,000-Hour Rule.” Outliers: The Story of Success. New York: Little, Brown, 2008. 35-55. Print.
Malcolm Gladwell is a canadian-english journalist, speaker, and bestselling author. In his bestselling book “Outliers”, Malcolm Gladwell discusses success and what patterns correlate with it. He states that how much time you put into a certain activity, specifically 10,000 hours, can put you in a elite level of proficiency. This in turn can give someone the tools to allow them the ability to be successful. Using historical citations, patterns, and real life examples, Gladwell forms his 10,000 hour rule. Due to his knowledgeable yet calm tone Gladwell seems to show credibility. His intended audience could be people who enjoy statistics or people who want to be successful and find possible ways to do so. Gladwell uses a logical appeal to show the patterns he has found through his studies of success. He supports his claim with overwhelming statistics which back it. He also uses similes to help better understand how he can relate the patterns he has found for the elite in a certain activity to other things. Foil is probably Gladwell's best means of convincing the reader to his thesis of the 10,000 hour rule. He uses Foil to compare success and we define to legends such as Bill Gates The Beatles and Bill Joy. Overall Gladwell uses Logos, similes, and foils to support his claim of the 10,000 hour rule.
Booker T. Washington once reminiscently wrote, "Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome" (Washington). Washington's conviction that success is to be defined by tenacity and achievements throughout one's lifetime directly corroborates David Brooks's credence that success derives from a sound work ethic and perseverance as demonstrated in his article, "A Nation of Grinders." The speaker, who is typified as philosophical and sage, argues to an audience comprised of average American citizens striving for prosperity, that success is not merely calculated based on materialistic possessions but rather by the acquisition of knowledge, experience, memories, and happiness throughout the span of an entire life. In rebelling against the traditional connotation of success, which is worldliness and superficiality, Brooks redefines success as the amassing of happiness through diligence throughout a lifetime. In his article, "A Nation of Grinders," Brooks utilizes histrionic allusions, insightful analogies, and cogent logos to generate a didactic tone which contributes his redefinition of success as the accumulation of memories and experience through hard work and unyielding ethics.
David and Goliath is the story of a young shepherd whom lacking of any kind of combat training, managed to overcome a giant, who was sophisticated in combat tactics, just using his wit. In modern times, that act is used as an analogy to compare people who against all odds overcome a difficult situation in their lives.
I agree with Gladwell that hard work can lead to success. Too often we think success happens because someone has money or gets lucky. This is wrong. Success takes hard work, imagination, and motivation. “Success is not a random act. It arises out of a predictable and powerful set of circumstances and opportunities.” (Gladwell 52) If you assert yourself and use your mind and imagination, you can create those
...heir 10,000 hours of practice to become successful in their passion, therefore making his writing effective. Gladwell provides information to his audience that success is achieved by many factors and some of these factors they can control, such as the amount of hours they practice. His writing style provides hope for the future in young generations who may not know how to go about achieving success in their desired area. Gladwell's writing is truly timeless in a sense that in two hundred years from now, younger generations will be able to read his writing about the 10,000 hour rule and it will still have the same effect in giving them hope of becoming future outliers.
Gladwell effectively uses rhetorical devices, tone, and factual evidence to support his claim of the 10,000 hour rule. Using rhetorical devices such as parallelism, facts and statistics (logos), and style of writing, Gladwell reinforces his idea of practice. Malcolm Gladwell uses his evidence to make a reader truly think about those who are successful as being hard workers, not just “lucky”. He illustrates how many well-known experts became legends in their field. This not only shows how software moguls and tycoons became wealthy or successful, but how the reader can as well: by following the old piece of advice “practice makes perfect”.
Malcolm Gladwell’s “Troublemakers” is an article in which he explores the way societies make generalizations. Malcolm explains how Ontario has banned pit bulls due to a boy being attacked and people viewing that one example to be enough to distinguish all pit bulls as vicious and bloodthirsty. He goes on to employ that all dogs even resembling pit bulls or that have some pit bull mixed into them have been banned as well, because anything that looks like a pit bull has now been deemed dangerous for the people in that society. Not only does Malcolm point out other ways societies generalize people, like racial profiling a terrorist, but he distinguishes how steps could have been taken to eliminate the threat of the pit bull but it seemed to just
The North Korean government is known as authoritarian socialist; one-man dictatorship. North Korea could be considered a start of a dystopia. Dystopia is a community or society where people are unhappy and usually not treated fairly. This relates how Ray Bradbury's 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451 shows the readers how a lost of connections with people and think for themselves can lead to a corrupt and violent society known as a dystopia.
The motivation to be successful is very powerful. Some people will work twelve hours a day, seven days a week in order to feel successful. These people will work so
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...
Outliers-The Story of Success is a sociological, and psychological non-fiction book, which discusses success, and the driving reasons behind why some people are significantly more successful than others. Malcolm Gladwell explains this by dividing the book into two parts, opportunity and legacy. Opportunity discusses how select people are fortunate enough to be born between the months of January through March, and also includes the idea that those who are already successful will have more opportunities to improve and become even more successful. The 10,000-hour rule proves the idea that in order to become successful in a certain skill, one must have practiced that skill for at least 10,000 hours. In addition to the 10,000-hour rule, timing is also a major component that implies being in the right place at the right time, which brings the author to discuss Bill Gates who was born during the time where programming and computer technology was emerging, therefore sparking his interest in computers, later bringing him to create Microsoft. Another point Gladwell brings forth is the notion of one’s upbringing, race, and ethnicity can be a factor behind their success. And lastly, pursuing meaningful work will cause one to continue working with their skill and not give up. Legacy is a collection of examples that support the idea: values are passed down from generation to generation, which may cause a certain group of people to be more persistent in a skill, or occupation.
If people work hard, focus, and are disciplined, they will succeed in the future. This has become a universal idea taught by parents, teachers, and peers. People have passed down this idea to the younger generations and they chose to live by this moral that makes sense. In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell debunks the universal idea that working hard will allow people to play hard and get further in life. Gladwell eliminates the traditional ideas of success by showing that opportunities, family background, and being born at the “right” time are actually what lead to success.