Jackson Boutin                                                                                                               12/22/13
805                                                                                                                                   ELA


                     The Book "David and Goliath" is an unbelievable tale about an underdog named David and a very powerful giant named Goliath.  As the small David slays the mighty Goliath, many readers probably think this is undoable but the message the author Malcolm Gladwell is trying to get through people is that nothing is impossible.  Furthermore, Gladwell argues that the powerful and the strong are neither powerful or strong.  He also stated an underdog can provide opportunities and make something possible that has always seemed impossible or unthinkable. Throughout the book Gladwell gave many examples within basketball, cancer research, and the challenges in being diagnosed with dyslexia to demonstrate that nothing is impossible.

                   One example that Gladwell uses in his book is dyslexia and how it could be not only a disadvantage but an advantage. For instance, in the book it said " How Boies went from a dyslexic construction worker with a high school education to the top of the legal profession is a puzzle, to say the least. The law is built around reading-around cases and opinions and scholarly analyses-and Boies is someone for whom reading is a struggle."  This quote is telling you that for people like Boies, they have accomplished an impossible task.  From a high school education to becoming one of the most famous trial lawyers in the world which involves reading at a very high level, showed how even though he had a problem with reading and writing that didn't stop Boies from achieving his goals.  Boies accomplished this by memorizing every word that the teacher would say rather than take notes.  After law school, he applied the memory technique to his cases.  It says here that "he would boil down the Key points of a long supreme court opinion to a page or so." This shows that even though he couldn't read and write as good as the other students which was a disadvantage, he was forced to utilize and strengthen his memory, advantage, in order to achieve his goals.

                   Another example that Gladwell used was a basketball strategy.  The story of Vivek Ranadive and the Redwood City girls basketball team was a story that will show that what we think of as an advantage and a disadvantage is not always correct.  For instance, Vivek new that his girls team was small and not skilled.  Therefore, in order to obtain experience, he asked someone who knew basketball to help him coach.  Also, he used soccer tactics, used a full court press and as a result they won the games because often time the opposing team did not have an opportunity to score.  That's how girls team won games. By the end of the basketball season, the girls' team went to the semi finals.

                 My final example that will show how nothing is impossible is Gladwell's example with Martin Luther King, Jr during the Civil Right Movement . Dr. King was outgunned and over matched.  He was the underdog.  He was from a community that was always an underdog.  The author stated that "African Americans had spent a few hundred years learning how to cope with being outgunned and over matched.  Along the way they had learned a few things about battling giants."  This showed how even though the African Americans were outnumbered, they learned different skills and lessons to help them throughout various challenges in order to obtain justice.

               In conclusion the giant doesn't always win and just because someone is smaller or not as strong as someone else doesn't mean there at an disadvantage.  Just like all the stories that Gladwell used as examples which showed how a disadvantage can later develop to be an advantage. 




                

 

Jackson Boutin                                                                                                                     12/5/13
805                                                                                                                                    Blog post

A  Long Way Gone

 

  

             The book "A Long Way Gone" by Ishmael Beah is a jaw dropping and heartbreaking story of a child's journey through a civil war that took place in Sierra.  There are over a million child soldiers in Africa.  The author, Ishmael Beah, was a child soldier.  At the age of twelve, he left his village, and ran away from the attacking rebels.  Ishmael and his comrades walked unrecognized holding AK-47's in search for food and shelter.  While they struggled through their journey, they protected themselves.  Often in the book, I would find myself resisting the text because of all the gruesome deaths and the drugs that Ishmael had seen and experienced.  I think the author explained these parts in such a manner that showed how terrible it was to be a soldier in a war.  Furthermore, by providing these dark examples, he hoped to stop the horrors he had endured so that no other child in the world would ever have to encounter.

            

           When Ishmael arrived in New York from Sierra, he settled down, and met his future foster mother who was a writer.  Afterwards, Ishmael realized that he must tell his extraordinary but violent involvement surrounding the war so no other child would ever go down the same path he was exposed to.  He chose to author a book about his childhood and what he experienced on his journey with his brother and friends.  He wrote about how child soldiers had different parts of their limbs cut off while in combat.  He reported that the fights were bloodied and death was everywhere.  From reading the gruesome details of the conflict, Ishmael, naturally, caused some readers to resist the text.   However, this also showed why he wrote a book about his life, particularly, what he saw and wondered during the war.

 

             Another example of why the author included disturbing and upsetting details of the war were in order to scare the reader.  For instance, when Ishmael and his companions are brainwashed to believe that every rebels death is going to avenge his own families slaughter.  Also, he becomes addicted to cocaine, Marijuana, and "Brown, Brown" which gave him and his comrades the power to fight.  Eventually, he becomes what he most feared, a killing machine. 

 

           All in all "A Long Way Gone." by Ishmael Beah is a great and true story about what he had to endure in the civil war in Sierra.  I often find my self resisting the text because of the disgusting scary images Ishmael has weaved in my mind.  The Author included these disturbing things to make sure that kids won't go through the same things he had to go through.  Also to scare the reader so that they can make sure they protect their community.  After reading this book, I have realized that child soldiers are a bad. Imagine a kid as old as 7 holding a gun and killing people to survive.  There are more wars like this one in other countries in fact there are several other wars going on in the world that have child soldiers. We must stop this and make sure that no one may experience war. Let's stop all wars.