Rhetorical Analysis Of Outliers By Malcolm Gladwell

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. He uses the word, “Outlier” to describe those successful individuals lucky enough to be gifted with one, or more of the factors he writes about in the book. Gladwell explains using multiple stories of history's most affluent people,and the different ways each individual became successful. These factors can be based on age, family, culture, behavioral patterns, or even location.

We hear success stories everyday on the news and on television yet, there is no one who explains how these individuals became prosperous. In Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell creates a blueprint for success through a series of short stories. Gladwell dissects the stories and looks at the individual’s background to connect every story with his theories as well as using statistics and facts to show credibility and logic. This method allows the readers to better comprehend his

Gladwell begins by writing about Maurice’s past and all his accomplishments. Gladwell writes, “ He was an elegant man who dressed in a homburg and Brooks Brothers suits. In the summer, he wore a straw boater.” The imagery and emotionally charged words like, “beautiful”, “prominent”,”vibrant.” and “ fortune” all show the state of wealth Maurice was in. Then after writing about how all of Maurice’s career never blossomed, words like, “struggled.” and “floundered” shift the mood from happy and promising, to disappointed and sad. Then again the story goes from Maurice to his son, Mort. Gladwell then begins to speak about how Mort did everything his father wished to do like, successfully opening a law firm and a broadcasting franchise. “Every dream that eluded the father was fulfilled by the son.” , Gladwell wrote. This shows an example of self fulfilling prophecy and how Mort got opportunities his father had but could not achieve. Gladwell then asks, “Why did Mort Janklow succeed where Maurice Janklow did not?” This is to get readers thinking so he can introduce the reason why Mort succeeded and his father did not. He speaks mainly about how Maurice was born in 1902 and by the time he was married and felt fortunate, the Great Depression crashed the American economy causing many, like Maurice to lose all hope and money they had to prosper. Then, the author explains that Mort, on the other hand, was born