Outliers: The Story of Success
Malcolm Gladwell’s writing style in the book “Outliers: The Story of Success” was based on a series of case studies. He starts out the book with the Roseto example to introduce the thesis of the book, which is that successes and failures can be clarified in unexpected ways. The organization could not have been any more improved. Each study led into the other, and related to each other so he could reflect on past studies in his book when explaining the present study. Gladwell did not use much of an extended vocabulary, for the most part he kept it simple enough for all readers. Part one was about the opportunities and chances given to people and how they choose to seize them. Part two was about a person’s values,
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He explains how success is not achieved through genetics, nor can a person inherit it. Success is attained through the events of life, a person’s cultural upbringing, and the opportunities/advantages given and how many there are. Success is all about time and place, and the impact it has. Gladwell defines an outlier as an extraordinary, accomplished human being, so accomplished that they’re quite confusing. Outliers are the people who break the human normality. They reach above and beyond the average person. “The lesson here is very simple. But it is striking how often it is overlooked. We are so caught in the myths of the best and the brightest and the self-made that we think Outliers spring naturally from the earth” (Gladwell 268). There is much more to an Outlier than being “self-made”. What makes an Outlier are factors such as age, residency, values, and upbringing. An Outlier is a person who was brought up in a great environment, and has respected values. A person’s values affects their personality and their behavior. Positive personality and behavior is a major part of being an …show more content…
It’s also not something that you can achieve just by putting in some hard work. My personal views on success is quite similar to Gladwell’s. I feel that he is spot on about how success is conquered. I think success has so much to do with where someone comes from, when they were born, what their values are, and how many resources are available to them. For example, I believe my close relative Kevin is considered to be successful. Kevin played football since he could run. He was one of the best quarterbacks in the state of Pennsylvania, and broke many records at Kutztown University. That is not all, he also received his Master’s Degree in law, and is present day a spectacular, well-respected lawyer. Not only did he work hard to become the person he is today, there is much more to him. Kevin is the perfect height of six foot one inch, and was born on February sixth. He comes from a wealthy, Christian-Catholic family. He lived next to a high school football field, and a couple blocks away from a library. He had plenty of opportunities to work on his football skills, and study at the community library as well. He maintained excellent grades, and he definitely exceeded the ten-thousand hour mark. Kevin was genuinely passionate about football, practicing hard in and out of official practice. Later on in his school career he found a love for law, and I believe the work he put in to get where he is now was truly
Throughout the book, Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell focuses on using the rhetorical technique of pathos to aid his readers in understanding the formula for success. In one particular part of the book, Gladwell uses experiences and human problems as examples to support his idea that plane crashes and ethnicty are related and the greater idea that success is based on opportunity.
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.
In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell argues that there is no such thing as a self-made man, and that success is only the result of a person’s circumstances. However, throughout the novel Gladwell points out that your circumstances and opportunities only help you become successful if you are willing to take advantage of them and work hard. From a twelve year old living in the Bronx, to those who were born at just the right time to become millionaires, one thing is the same throughout; these people because successful because they seized the opportunities they were given. The advantages and opportunities that came from their circumstances would not be important if they had not grasped them. Every successful man is self made, because he has seized the
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.
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
The ideas presented in Outliers are surprisingly aligned with my own. It makes sense to me that a person’s success isn’t all about ability and his or her individual merit. In the past I have reflected upon my successes to find that I was not alone while achieving them. I have been given tremendous opportunities in life. I have always challenged my own definitions, and I like the spin Malcolm Gladwell puts on his.
Another piece of evidence that supports my claim is in the epilogue on page two hundred-eighty-five with Gladwell’s second to the last conclusion paragraph of “[The successful] are products of history and community, of opportunity and legacy . . . grounded in a web of advantages and inheritances, some deserved, some not, some earned, some just plain lucky - but all critical to making them who they are.” Of course, his word alone is not enough to support his purpose, so he included studies from researchers such as Lewis Terman Richard A. Easterlin as well as the dissection of success stories of successful people and geniuses such as Bill Joy, The Beatles, and Christopher Langan (288-291). By including these elements in his book, Gladwell is able to persuade his audience into thinking that the opportunity is all one needs to be successful. With this in mind, his readers, including myself, are almost compelled to connect the pieces of the puzzle and figure out for themselves that Gladwell’s purpose for writing the book is
The popular saying “practice makes perfect” has been used for many years encouraging younger generations to strive for success in whatever area they wish to excel in. Success is something everybody in society strides for but some do not know how it is achieved. However, there are many people throughout history who are known for achieving success in many areas. Malcolm Gladwell, a best selling author and speaker, identifies these people as being outliers. Gladwell identifies the word “outlier” in his story Outliers as “a scientific term to describe things or phenomena that lie outside normal experience.” Although Malcolm Gladwell does not establish credibility for himself in his novel, his targeted audience of a younger inexperienced generation feel the need to be informed by his detailed theories about becoming successful and eventually becoming an outlier. Although the reality of becoming successful can depend on instances one can not control, Gladwell tells his readers there is a great portion they can control through his theory, the 10,000 hour rule. He does this by using well presented logical persuasive appeals and interesting rhetorical devices such as: onomatopeias, exposition, and argumentation.
Everyone has their own vision of success. For some,it is being rich and famous and for others it is to have a great impact on the world. In the first chapter of outliers Gladwell claims that success is something you need to work for in some ways, he fails to come up with a solution for people that became successful without working for it.
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
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.
In Chapter 8 and 9 of Outliers: The Story of Success, Gladwell exams some of the ways that Asian and American students learn math, arguing that some of the principles in the US education system should be reconsidered. I generally agree with Gladwell’s point of view. I believe in two ways, students ' principal spirit and the length of students’ studying, the US education system leaves much to be desired, though an overhaul is in progress.
Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: the story of success. 1st ed. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2008. 1-91. Print.
Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: the story of success. 2011. Reprint. New York: Back Bay Books / Little, Brown and Co., 2008. Print.
Success is within the mind of the individual. A large portion of ones life is spent working to become successful. People are told throughout childhood to work hard so they can grow up and make lots of money. But success takes many different forms. Different people have different interpretations of what success means to them. For some, success is measured by social status and wealth; for others success is determined only by the amount of happiness one feels.