Gladwell presents us with a professional hockey player. As a child, he shows that he has talent, and is found by a talent scout. He is then placed in a higher level hockey league where he works hard and climbs through the ranks until he finally attains professional status through his hard work and dedication. It would seem that this player accomplished this level of success because he had an innate level of superiority over his peers in hockey and with practice he achieved his goals by himself. Gladwell asks if this is truly the case, or rather a misconception based on our preconceived notions of how people achieve success. Gladwell presents his main point of the book in this chapter, which is that our concept of success it flawed. It tends to …show more content… Although others might have seen his situation as a disadvantage, he found ways to turn it to his advantage, so that while his peers may have been more successful at first, he became more successful in the long run as times changed. Chapter 6 In this chapter, Gladwell shows that heritage plays a key role in people’s behavior. Back in the 19th century, on small Kentucky town experienced a family feud which began over a petty conflict and ended in terrible bloodshed. Gladwell attributes this behavior to the Scottish heritage of these townsfolk. The people of Scotland developed in an environment which favored cultivating livestock rather than crops. Since livestock is much easier to steal than agricultural goods, the society had developed a heavy emphasis in honor. A Scot has to rely on his honor to live in good social standing, and so an attack on one’s honor is more or less and attack on one’s livelihood, so people of Scottish heritage are raised to protect their honor aggressively. This feud was only one of many in the hills of Kentucky, and the culture of honor is able to explain every one of them. Not only that, it appears in the crime patterns of the south. Although Show More
