Gladwell Rhetorical Analysis

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Desiray A. Brown Professor Newsom English 18 October 2010 Rhetorical Analysis: Malcolm Gladwell “The Tipping Point” The biography of an idea and that idea is simple. Epidemics, ideas, products, messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do. Have you ever wondered why changes within our society happen the way they do? Or why some ideas or behaviors or products start epidemics and others don’t? In The Tipping Point, author Malcolm Gladwell looks at why major changes in our society so often happen so suddenly and unexpectedly. Ideas, behavior, messages and products, ideas often spread like outbreaks of infectious diseases. Gladwell states, “Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a few graffiti artist fuel a subway crime wave, or a satisfied customer fill the empty tables of a new restaurant. Social epidemics and the moment when they take off, when the reach their critical point is the tipping point”. Malcolm Gladwell’s novel, the tipping point, is one of many influential pieces of rhetoric written. Rhetoric is usually associated with effective communication and understanding. As an effort to understand how people attempt to influence others author Malcolm Gladwell spends a great amount of time explaining those implications, particularly the idea of a critically point before which an idea may fade quickly and then spread like a epidemic in 3 precise ways: the connector someone who knows people, the maven people who know a great deal about one area of general interest and can easily distill and communicate what is new and finally the salesmen people who can get others to buy into a idea. Gladwell states, “These types of people help facilitate tipping because for an idea to spread it has to be widely disseminated, easily absorbed and retained and operate in a supportive context. Gladwell is one of New York's best-selling authors best
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