Christopher Dolge Mr.

Padget English 1101 10 October 2013 Interpretive Essay In Outliers, Gladwell writes about how people are prisoners of their own ethnic background. When he talks about this, it is obvious that he strongly believes people cannot escape their heritage and culture. He somewhat stereotypes Japanese people by saying that they are all bad at communicating, or so it seems to me. It is understood that Gladwell is trying say that it is difficult to act differently than what most people surrounding a person; yet, it could be said much differently in order to get away from a stereotypical feel. It is also understood that Gladwell might also just be coming up with reasons that a person, or multiple people, does not succeed solely for the purpose of the book. This is highly unlikely but it also a possibility. Gladwell designates a large amount of the chapter on being a prisoner of ones ethnic background towards the Japanese flight attendants being bad at communicating. When he writes about this, it seems that he is being minutely stereotypical. Gladwell more than likely did not mean to come off as being stereotypical, but it did seem that he was categorizing all Japanese people as being bad at communicating. More than likely the reason why Malcolm put this example into the novel is that he wanted to convey a sens e of someones ethnicity being a downfall for an entire organization. Although the Japanese airline having more crashes than that of other airlines is more than likely just a coincidence than having anything to do with the actual people and their ethnic backgrounds, Gladwell probably wants to present an intense situation that
Comment [AP8]: You need to use direct quotes to prove that this is his point of view and then discuss why you disagree with his perspective, use specific reasons. Comment [AP7]: Youre being very redundant here and getting some of the facts wrong. Comment [AP3]: What is a stereotypical feel? why not just stereotype? Comment [AP4]: This person/people phrasing here is throwing me. why have to chosen to construct this sentence is this specific way? Comment [AP5]: What do you mean by this? Are there true events detailed here? so how is it unlikely? Comment [AP6]: Korean Comment [AP2]: Isnt he talking about Koreans? Comment [AP1]: Can you come up with a more creative title? Formatted: Font: Italic

will intrigue his readers and make them hopefully believe what he was writing. When it comes to choosing examples for backing up an idea, it may be a good idea to choose something that will not come across differently than one intends. Although some of the book Outliers is very reasonable, such as the ten thousand hour concept and some parts of the timing idea, the idea of a person being unable to escape their ethnic and social backgrounds does not seem very accurate. It just seems unreasonable for a person to say that if a person is born into a certain ethnicity or social class that they will be less successful than another person who is born into a more thriving background. Yes, it is understood that some ethnicities such as some African countries do have less of a chance to be successful than others; but it is not one persons place to say that Japanese people are bad communicators and that has caused many deaths due to plane crashes. It seems that it is a possibility that Malcolm Caldwell may have just used this example as a filler to extend a not very notable argument. Although, as stated before, the idea and example both seem slightly stereotypical, Caldwell more than likely was trying to convey the idea that it is hard for most people to break away from what the people around them are doing. When someone is born into a culture of farmers then it is very likely that this individual will be a farmer also based on the fact that most everyone that they are around farms. Although this is only one example, a similar situation may apply to a decent amount of people throughout the world which is much more understandable than the example of the Japanese airline. Yet, it is believed that if a person who is born into one of these cultures is motivated enough to break away from what their norm is then they are more than capable of doing so.
Comment [AP11]: Why not, if they have evidence to support their claim? Comment [AP10]: Why? Comment [AP9]: This is lazy writing. Be specific. Say which chapter and use precise clear and accurate language when making a reference to a different chapter/discussion.

Gladwell uses a controversial example of stereotyping Japanese people as being bad communicators to back up the idea that a person is a prisoner to his or her cultural, social, or ethnic background. Although this idea is as debatable as it is, it is believed that Caldwell wants to convey the concept that if a person is surrounding by people that are all doing the same thing then the person will more than likely do what the others are doing as well. Chris, Your argument here seems rooted very much in the outrage of your perception of stereotyping. Gladwells commentary seems to be largely about culture rather than race or ethnicity (though I think he uses the word ethnicity to incite interest). You have a lot of claims here about your disagreement, but you are without reasons for your position. Your reasons seem to be no more rhetorically effective than simply saying its wrong because it just is. Be specific. Also, you are getting a lot of the facts wrong and you fail to make proper use of direct quotes to support your claim.