TOW #21 IRB

Malcom Gladwell's Outliers uses many statistics, allowing for a very convincing argument in that Success is reached through opportunity. He constantly utilizes charts and clearly explains the significance of them throughout his book. Whether he is showing the correlation of Hockey Players' birthdays or why Asian countries are good at math, Gladwell never fails to back up his statements. He uses many cases of anecdotal evidence in order to prove real life applications of his research as well. He backs up his claims through not only theory and cold numbers, but he also shows how this data can be used; what does it actually entail for people, rather than statisticians. Gladwell also uses the repetition of ideas and concepts very often. Malcom's argument is cumulative. It lacks the ability to have its points stand individually for his purpose. The fact Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were born in the same year means very little to overall idea of success that Gladwell is attempting to paint. However, the ethnic theory of plane crashes, combined with KIPP schools and the story of Christopher Langan all build onto each other. A seemingly helter-skeltered mess of somewhat impressive results would analytically mean nothing. But with each idea, Gladwell constantly connects new ideas with the old, slowly narrowing the idea he wishes his reader to achieve. Gladwell is blunt in his explanation and subtle in his message, making his conclusion all the more convincing. He makes sure every individual example is explained as clearly as possible so the reader can come to their own conclusion. Gladwell's Show-Don't-Tell approach to writing has the reader led to his message, rather than spoon-fed an answer to a question. Just as the story of Renee in Gladwell's book shows the importance of coming to your own conclusions, Gladwell does nothing but water that idea into tree. A tree titled, Outliers: The Story of Success.

Tow #22 Image

This image is meant to stop driving with your phone on. Though many would blame the drivers, this ad blames those who talk to the drivers despite their endangering of the drivers' lives. By having the blood splurge out of the phone's speaker, the reader is allowed to understand what has happened. The driver on the other side of the phone call has undergone an accident. In red underneath the tide of blood is a message, "Don't talk while he drives." This message is pivotal to the image because it clarifies completely what the image is meant to provoke and addresses its audience directly. The use of color is also important here. The image is predominantly gray scale, with the use of white being very prevalent. This allows for better contrast of the foreground and the background, putting the focus on the most powerful part of the image, the blood. Another way the image manages to emphasize the foreground is in the use of camera focus. The background is significantly blurrier than the foreground, again, trying to avert the audience's attention to the woman and the blood. The fact that the person is a woman is also important to the appeal to pathos. By placing the woman in a kitchen setting, she is automatically assumed to have a family, supposedly a husband and most likely children as well. This is provoking to the idea that calling someone who is currently driving is detrimental not only to the driver's physical health, and the caller's emotional well being, but the situation will also affect anyone with a relationship with the driver in question. This is a powerful image overall that encapsulates the dangers of and the responsibility of driving while talking on a cellphone.

Tow #23 Malcom Gladwell's The Art of Failure

This article in The New Yorker describes the importance of what it exactly means to "choke." Gladwell describes what happens when you choke, as well as distinguish it from panicking. Through his use of allusion, specifically in sports, Gladwell is able to relate the idea of choking with near perfect scenarios. The rookie Jana Novotna about to utterly dominate her match against the longstanding veteran, Steffi Graf, loses 5 sets in a row, being one away from victory. He also uses the example of Greg Norman and Nick Faldo. Norman ahead several strokes by hole 9, is down 4 by hole 18. Gladwell also utilizes a well varied sentence structure. This allows him to add more impact to his writing. Statements like, "The two men began to cry" and "Graff gave her two kisses" are extremely short phrases surrounded by tension built, wordy exposition, thus by comparison, making these dramatic and climactic conclusions to his allusions all the more powerful. Gladwell overall does an excellent job at making his writing exciting as well as meaningful.

However, there is one part that requires addressing as to what may have been improved in this essay. Gladwell does not have the most optimal way of  organizing his essay. He goes from an example of choking, to an example of panic, to the implications of panic, to the implications of choking, to a more granular form of choking, to his conclusion. Though the flow on paper may not sound too atrocious, when actually reading it had made it difficult to understand exactly what the essay was about. I felt like I was being led in circles rather than be led to some climax or "So what?" I had assumed the paper was meant to distinguish between choking and panic, but in reality, the whole thing was about choking.

Overall, Gladwell does well writing his paper's details, always conscious of sentence structure and detail, but on the whole, he fails to flow things properly to convey his message consistently throughout.