James Joyce's Outliers: The Story Of Success

In the late 1800’s, there was a massive racial split between whites and blacks. If you had even the slightest amount of white in you, than you had an advantage. The darkest of people, were treated awfully and without respect. In the epilogue in the book Outliers: The Story of Success, tells a story of the history of the Ford family. The main focus of the story is Gladwell’s grandmother, Daisy, who did everything she could to get her twins into any school. Gladwell’s mother’s name is Joyce and she was put through high school and college because of her mother’s determination. Not only does she owe it to Daisy, but to W. M. MacMillan, the rioters, and to Mr. Chance. This story shows how Joyce was given help, that ultimately brought her to get
On page 285, Gladwell writes, “The outlier, in the end, is not an outlier at all.” An outlier is someone or something that is valued different from a main body. Gladwell is saying that in the end these outliers are not as different from everybody else. These people were just given advantages, or born into a well off family that helped them grow into a highly successful individual. Others are not as lucky as some and they grow to be the ordinary working-class individual. This quote by Gladwell, affects my outlook on my upcoming academic life by making it hazy. I was always so sure that somehow I was different and that I have achieved all I have on my own. Therefore, I thought for sure I could make it into an ivy league school. However, now I see that I will need some help to get there and who knows if it will come. In the end, I’m going to continue to study and thrive in my academic life ,so that hopefully I can reach my university goal. While reading this book and understanding its lessons, I have come to conclude, that I am only at the beginning of the story of my own success. First of all, there are many more things for me to achieve and I haven’t even begun to attempt