Adversity In I Know Why The Caged

Throughout life, humans acquire specific traits or personality type depending on the circumstances they must live with. Although difficult situations are thought of as being unfavorable, they often bring about individuals most admirable qualities. The Roman poet Horace makes this point by saying, “Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant.” By this he means that people often have hidden qualities which only emerge in harsh conditions. These qualities or talents, which are usually buried deep within the individual must develop in order to allow the individual to move past the current obstacle. This is exemplified in real life situations written in the books David and Goliath, Unbroken, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and Nickel and Dimed. The individuals in these books prove that without the struggles in their lives, there would be no lessons learned.

It is especially prominent when he speaks of people who live with dyslexia. An example used is David Boise, a boy who struggled in school and had concerning behavioral issues due to his dyslexia. As a child he thought acting out was the only option, but later on this disorder proved to have a silver lining. Since this disability made him a bad reader, “he had to scramble and adapt and come up with some kind of strategy that allowed him to keep pace with everyone else” (Gladwell 112). For him, this meant becoming a superb listener just to compensate for what his dyslexia caused him to lack. Ultimately became an extremely successful lawyer since he saw the advantages to his disadvantages. Many versions of these compensation success stories exist. When people are confronted with this learning disorder, they are able to discover talents they never knew they had, which oftentimes turn out to be more valuable than the skill they are missing out