In the story David and Goliath, the author Malcolm Gladwell tells us the significant stories of individuals who overcome personal battles in their own unique way. The biblical story of David and Goliath is used as an example of real world problems today. An article writer from the website Word Press explains “Sometimes what we think is an advantage becomes a disadvantage – and vice versa (where a weakness becomes a strength as we learn to compensate against it).” In addition to this quote, I would like to add that the outcome is not always successful, but it still takes an enormous amount of courage to step out of the norm and do what is unexpected. I chose the story of seven-year-old Olive from the movie Little Miss Sunshine. Olive participates
…show more content…
Every girl at the pageant had a talent; some girls sang, tap danced, but Olive did a dance routine to the song Super Freak. People were outraged and thought she was not taking the pageant seriously; some booed, some left the crowd. But, Olive was doing the dance routine that her grandfather taught her. Lee, writer of the book To Kill a Mockingbird states “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what”. (162) I am sure those were the thoughts that were going through Olive’s parent’s mind. They without a doubt wanted her to succeed, but they knew from the get go she wasn't going to. She was doing a tribute to her grandfather who died on the way to the pageant. Olive was also doing the dance routine because she personally enjoyed doing it. The woman in charge of the pageant told her numerous amount of times to get off the stage, but Olive did not listen. She wanted to finish not only for herself, but her grandfather. Malcolm Gladwell, writer of David and Goliath, states an example of how to react when we are told to change who we are, “When people in authority want the rest of us to behave, it matters—first and foremost—how they behave. This is called the principle”. (353) Society’s concept of beauty pageants clearly agree that it is more important to please the audience rather than to have fun. Malcolm Gladwell states, “We spend a lot of time thinking about the ways that prestige and resources and belonging to elite institutions make us better off. We don’t spend enough time thinking about the ways in which those kinds of material advantages limit our
Every girl at the pageant had a talent; some girls sang, tap danced, but Olive did a dance routine to the song Super Freak. People were outraged and thought she was not taking the pageant seriously; some booed, some left the crowd. But, Olive was doing the dance routine that her grandfather taught her. Lee, writer of the book To Kill a Mockingbird states “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what”. (162) I am sure those were the thoughts that were going through Olive’s parent’s mind. They without a doubt wanted her to succeed, but they knew from the get go she wasn't going to. She was doing a tribute to her grandfather who died on the way to the pageant. Olive was also doing the dance routine because she personally enjoyed doing it. The woman in charge of the pageant told her numerous amount of times to get off the stage, but Olive did not listen. She wanted to finish not only for herself, but her grandfather. Malcolm Gladwell, writer of David and Goliath, states an example of how to react when we are told to change who we are, “When people in authority want the rest of us to behave, it matters—first and foremost—how they behave. This is called the principle”. (353) Society’s concept of beauty pageants clearly agree that it is more important to please the audience rather than to have fun. Malcolm Gladwell states, “We spend a lot of time thinking about the ways that prestige and resources and belonging to elite institutions make us better off. We don’t spend enough time thinking about the ways in which those kinds of material advantages limit our