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Success in our careers, in our investments, and in our life decisions, both major and minor—is as much the result of random factors as the result of skill, preparedness, and hard work.…
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Success is mostly recognized by the person who succeeds, but most do not realize the factors that upturn someone to great success. In the book Outliers: The Story of Success, written by Malcolm Gladwell, lists prime examples of what it takes to be a true Outlier. An Outlier is someone that fits out of the ordinary and does not fit under the category of normal achievement. Gladwell demonstrates that almost all of society’s success stories are a paradigm; a pattern of fortunate events. Realizing that maybe we should be more aware of the paradigm of success in our world. Our perspective over the years has been that people complete success on their own, however, success has other driven forces. A true outlier does not obtain…
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Much of Holden’s separation from society is due to his standing between childhood and adulthood. Holden does not have the maturity to become an adult, and expresses his many weaknesses by talking about how “phony” or “ignorant” people are. “It's full of phonies, and all you do is study so that you can learn enough to be smart enough to be able to buy a goddam Cadillac some day, and you have to keep making believe you give a damn if the football team loses, and all you do is talk about girls and liquor and sex all day, and everybody sticks together in these dirty little goddam cliques” (Salinger 131). Holden expresses his desire for being different from others and does not want to live by societies norms. Much of Holden’s confusion and lack of desire to be involved with other individuals is caused from the pain and disappointment received by it. Holden finds himself being lonely for much of the novel, and whenever he finds a companion, he will lead him/her on resulting in pushing a possible new friend away. Due to Holden’s lack of friends and involvement with other groups, he does not participate in common events that other kids his age would. “I remember around three o’clock that afternoon I was standing way the hell up on top of Thomsen Hill…You could see the whole field from there” (Salinger 2). Caulfield lives his life as a “spectator” standing far away from the events that are happening, just watching the…
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However, Holden’s defiance toward society is not completely unreasonable. Throughout the novel, Salinger carefully creates Holden as someone who constantly makes attempts to interact with society, however is let down. Instead Salinger forces Holden to develop a society based on the premise of “they” vs. him. This separation between Holden and society is seen multiple times throughout the novel. When Stradlater is leaving to go on a date with Jane, Holden asks Stradlater to give his regards to Jane, however Holden sums up the exchange with, “They never give regards to people” (33). Lastly, when Holden is playing with a snowball while entering the the bus to go into town, the bus driver refuses entry, believing he will cause problems on the bus. Holden sums up this moment with, “People never believe you” (37). Having Holden refer to other characters in the novel as “they” or “people” demonstrates the disillusionment Holden has. This separation that Holden has for society fuels his individualistic actions. An example of Holden’s individualistic attitude towards life is when Mr. Spencer asks Holden how he feels about leaving another school; “I didn’t flunk out or anything. I just quit, sort of ” (13). Holden’s response to Mr. Spencer demonstrates the independence and freedom of action that Holden owns. Salinger also uses this…
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In the novel “Catcher in the Rye” by J. D. Salinger, we are given this protagonist by the name of Holden Caulfield who feels like he’s trapped on “the other side” of life. Throughout the novel, we read into why Holden is the way he is.…
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The world today is very deceptive and phony. J.D. Salinger’s well known novels, The Catcher in the Rye and Franny and Zooey attack this fake and superficial society which is evident through the lives, ideas, actions, and words expressed by the characters in these literary pieces. The transition from childhood, through adolescence and into adulthood is inevitable. The protagonist of The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield goes through this stage and finds himself in a crisis. He alienates himself from everyone who is around him and tries his best not to grow up. Holden often dwells upon his childhood and the life he had with his family. Franny in Franny and Zooey has already passed this stage but finds it difficult to live in a world where everyone she is surrounded by is only concerned with outward appearances. In these worlds, both characters, Holden and Franny, reveal their struggle of growing up and trying to live as an adult in a world full of deception and shallow-minded people who only care about appearances.…
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| 1) I think this interprets how society puts a bunch of stress and pressure on people to succeed in schools or the workplace. They also use success as a main example and never really talk about when people fail. 2) This relates because Holden feels because throughout the book he realizes every once in awhile how he is failing,…
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Holden is unsuccessful in satisfying the academic expectations set by his family and teachers. He shows no concern or motivation to succeed in his studies despite having the intellect to do so. This is apparent when Mr. Spencer and Holden converse about his failure in history class, “Do you blame me for flunking you, boy? He said... What would you have done in my place? Well you could see he felt pretty lousy about flunking me. So I shot the bull for a while. I told him how I would have done the exact same if I`d been in his place…” (12). This reveals how unimportant Holden finds formal education, as Mr. Spencer seems more apprehensive about Holden’s expulsion than he does. Moreover, it implies that Mr. Spencer recognizes Holden’s academic potential, yet observes him failing to apply this intellect and further his capacity for knowledge. In addition, Holden’s poor performance in academia due to his apathetic attitude towards school is perceived as failure in the eyes of his family members. This is evident when Holden says, “I’m the only dumb one in the family” (67), and also when Phoebe discovers his expulsion from school, “You did get kicked out...Oh, Holden… Daddy`ll kill you!” (65). The notion that Holden’s parents and siblings are successful in their academic or work related pursuits while he is unable to strive in this manner, clearly demonstrates Holden’s failure to achieve the standards set by his…
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Holden often plays around with his identity while around other people. The article states that,…
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Becoming successful is what most people aspire to be. Most people fantasize the dream house, car, and having the dream job. Even though success is viewed so highly, not everyone can be successful. Malcolm Gladwell explains that idea throughout his book Outliers. Gladwell’s chapters contain endless amounts of evidence that support his claims exceptionally well. But, Michiko Kakutani, a critic for New York Times, exposes Gladwell’s evidence as unreliable and unconvincing, and upon further research, Gladwell’s faults grew deeper. Even though Gladwell provides an extensive amount of evidence, that evidence is one-sided and relies on suggestion.…
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Success is mostly recognized by the person who succeeds, but most do not realize the factors that upturn someone to great success. A well-presented book of people conquering success is, Outliers: The Story of Success, written by Malcolm Gladwell, lists prime examples of what it takes to be a true Outlier. An Outlier is someone that is above normal and achieves success beyond the regular. Gladwell demonstrates that almost all of society’s success stories are a paradigm: a pattern of fortunate events. Realizing that maybe we should be more aware of the paradigm of success in our world. Our perspective over the years have been that people complete success on their own, however, success has other driven forces. A true outlier does not obtain random…
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Many people believe that success has a direct correlation to one’s intelligence, ambition, and personality traits, but in fact, those are not what someone successful. As described by Malcolm Gladwell in the book Outliers, the successful become that way as a result of many factors that come their way. Gladwell shows that surrounds the successful are their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experience of their upbringing. Malcolm Gladwell’s theory of success is correct because success not only need to intelligence and hard-working, and also social environment and opportunity as same as important.…
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Loneliness is a ginormous factor into the discovery of oneself proclamation. Holden constantly faces loneliness through the book. In trying to find out who he was/is Holden finds himself constantly searching for someone’s approval. “I was surrounded by jerks. I’m not kidding.” (Salinger, 95) Holden reacts to his own personal insecurities by judging others. He can’t see the good in himself so instead he makes others appear worse, he pulls them down onto his “level.” Loneliness consumes Holden’s life and he constantly…
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Various settings in The Catcher in the Rye serve as markers of Holden’s alienation as well as his growth. The novel begins with Holden at his school, Pencey Prep, which he is being kicked out of because of his unsuccessful grades. Throughout the novel, Holden acts as if he is excluded from the world. One of Holden’s previous teachers, Mr. Spencer explains to Holden, “Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules” (Salinger 8). In response Holden indirectly reveals to Mr. Spencer that he feels trapped on “the other side” of life. Holden says, “Game, my ass. Some game. If you get on the side where all the hot-shots are, then it’s a game, all right- I’ll admit that. But if you get on the other side, where there aren’t…
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In his book, Outliers, Gladwell’s claim that success is determined as a result of one’s opportunities, legacy, and their ability to capitalize on them is valid and holds its weight when closely examined.…
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