The dictionary defines the term outlier as “a person or thing situated away or detached from the main body or system”. In both Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers” and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self-Reliance”, a person being an outlier is something that is a fairly common thing. The term outlier is consequently the theme of Gladwell’s “Outliers”, whereas in Emerson’s “Self-Reliance”, being an outlier means not conforming to society's norms. Emerson’s “Self-Reliance” and Gladwell’s “Outliers” tend to contrast quite heavily in as in Emerson’s “Self-Reliance”, self-reliance is key to achieving peace, whereas Gladwell seems to believe that you need to be successful to achieve peace and happiness, and success doesn’t happen on your own. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self-Reliance” …show more content…
Emerson believed that one can’t be themselves if they did conform, as conforming was almost like copying another person’s image in Emerson’s eyes. In this essay, he states that it’s important to believe in your own ideas in order to be a genius. “To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men,- that is genius” (Emerson, 19) Nonconformity continues to be a very common theme, as Emerson relates nonconformity to infants. “Infancy conforms to nobody: all conform to it, so that the babe commonly makes four or five out of the adults who prattle and play to it” (Emerson,
Malcolm Gladwell 's Outliers: The Hence of Attaining challenges assumptions around congenital skill and unaffected-indigenous faculty. Flick flip a succession of sufficient examples, Gladwell explains out of doors these know-how by attributing them to reference, arsis , victim, distance, allay, and round. In alternative book, those naturally pain, major family we admire—Mozart, Act Gates, the Beatles—weren 't born adjacent to natural ability. In preference to, they had the pertinent history, were in the proper assignation at the fit grow older, and through 10,000 noontime of fixed act and a not many inadvertent opportunities, durable end.
In the excerpt, Outliers: The Story of Success, the author Malcolm Gladwell supports his claim, the ten thousand hour rule, by discussing about a study from Berlin Academy, experts’ opinions, and an anecdote of Mozart. Gladwell’s evidence however, is either insufficient or faulty logic. The study of violinists from Berlin Academy is not enough to prove Gladwell’s claim. In this study, violinists were divided into three groups: the elite students, the merely good students, and the students with little potential aiming to become music teachers (11).
Also, Gladwell uses pathos in his writing by emotionally appealing to his audience by incorporating their concerns and interests. Throughout the entire book of Outliers, Gladwell incorporates emotional influence through his word choice and his dramatic testimonies. Moreover, Gladwell uses Marita, a hard working middle-schooler in the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) in New York, applying herself and making up for the “missing ingredients” of success, as an emotional testimony when writing about people that want to interfere in their factors of success. He prefaces with a testimony from Marita herself, describing her issue and the end of having friends outside of KIPP by using strong emotional words, “Here is Marita again, in a passage that is a little short of heartbreaking,” (266). Another emotional persuasion method Gladwell uses to incorporate the audience’s concerns is his reoccurring use of children focused evidence.
Emerson also wrote about change. He believed that if one wanted to change they could, all they had to do was change their thoughts, attitude, and perspective. Emerson wrote, “If we live truly, we
Success: Belief vs. Reality Many people in the U.S. assume that as long as they work tirelessly and strive towards their goal they will achieve it because they were told to have that attitude while growing up. Malcolm Gladwell thinks otherwise. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell is a book that spreads the truth upon success and explains the different variables that can exponentially affect one’s career, and their future decisions. Gladwell touches on the conversation of whether the age of children really matters when enrolling them into school, stating that the older the child is the more likely they will be given greater opportunities.
Outliers Malcolm Gladwell does an excellent job in taking the expected and making it the unexpected. He shows that although hard work and dedication are important to be successful, they are not the only determining factors. Each chapter started out with a story of someone who seemed to have risen from nothing into something, and he carefully broke the situation down and analyzed the time periods, what their religion/ ethnicity were, family life, and what was occurring in the world during their youth. In each part he connected back to previous stories/examples to continue making the point that it is almost impossible to truly make a successful career out of nothing on your own.
Many people rely on the opinions of others, never truly stopping to personally consider the subject at hand. Ralph Waldo Emerson, an impactful American writer, wrote a piece entitled Self- Reliance. In Self-Reliance, Emerson’s purpose is to promote ideas of individualistic thinking. Emerson uses strong, rhetorical strategies, such as figurative language, allusions, and complex syntax and parallelism to effectively persuade his audience to trust their own thoughts.
This essay, Self-Reliance, is very insightful for its time, and many of the themes written are still relevant today. These allusions used here were put together to further explain his main point on trusting one’s genius. This ignites people to become brave, and trust themselves more, rather than being afraid of their own thoughts and mind. After reading, people may even embrace their thoughts and run with their genius. Emerson again backs up his original statement, but instead uses analogy to express how society rejects individuality, but you must be brave enough to be your own part of this group.
In Emerson's views, people should “not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail”(citation). Based on Emerson’s thoughts, people should not follow the crowd, but instead live their lives and leave their mark on the Earth. Emerson thoughts come from a philosophical movement of the nineteenth century called transcendentalism. Transcendentalism focuses on religious renewal, literary innovation, and social transformation (encyclopedia.com). Because of their belief that God exists in everyone and nature, and that knowledge comes from individual intuition, led to the highlight of individualism, self-reliance, and breaking free from traditions(citation).
Pod Cast Malcom Gladwell is author of Outliers The story of success. Gladwell speaks on success how circumstances may out come your success but that may not be that case. Tony Robbins a motivational speaker, author, and philanthropist. Robbins doesn’t see circumstances as a determined factor.
Outliers: The Story of Success Writing about Reading Defense of Passages In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell challenges those who assume hard work is the only path to success. “It is not the brightest who succeed. Nor is success simply the sum of decisions and efforts we make on our behalf.” Gladwell states that success can happen through a series of different factors.
How does intelligence and “practical intelligence” differ from one another/ 4. Why does Gladwell feel as there is no such thing as a self-made person? Aren’t there people who have overcome great odds to achieve success? 5. What are some reoccurring themes in the book Outliers?
One of the few negatives about book Outliers is that the author provides many arguments that an individual's success is influenced on situations in their lives that are inherited. For example one of the first examples Malcolm gladwell provides in the book is with hockey players. Gladwell explained that kids born in February have a better chance at playing professionally. This gave the impression that success is based more off of inheritance or ecology instead of individual merit and hard work.
Emerson emphasizes, “what I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think... It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion... but the great man is he who
Outliers, written by Malcolm Gladwell, is an informational book regarding the intricacies of success and how it comes to fruition in individuals. Outliers has served to teach students the means of being successful and the importance of seizing opportunities as they come. Personally, Outliers has changed my views of success in numerous ways. Before reading said book, I had always assumed people who were naturally talented or had specific privileges were the only ones who could get far. However, Gladwell’s writing has informed me that anyone, if they are prepared to work hard, can reach their goals.