When socially categorizing society, two sides come to mind; extroverts and introverts. Susan Cain, author of Quiet acknowledges the general perspective of how we value extroversion and introversion by attacking the bias towards the image of extroversion. Perceived as quiet, introverts tend to be shadowed in the background while extroverts are more visible and acknowledged with their outgoing personality. This visibility resulted in extroverts becoming the typical image of a "perfect" person, causing society to have expectations that oppose introverts: "We're told that to be great is to be bold, to be happy is to be sociable. We see ourselves as a nation of extroverts..." (Cain 19). The trend of visualizing extroverts as the iconic image of humanity has completely isolated introverts from the community, and Cain refers this process as a "value system [called] the Extrovert Ideal--the omnipresent belief that the ideal self is gregarious, alpha, and comfortable in the spotlight" (Cain 20). These points Cain presents revolve around the use of pathos to emotionally connect with her audience, direct the audience to her side of the argument, and allow them to grasp a better understanding of the general conception between extroversion and introversion. Furthermore, Cain's invocation of her introverted figures lays a foundation of credibility due to the factual information from various figures. These figures are varied and diverse, from a student at Harvard to politicians, to multi-billionaires such as Bill Gates himself. Don, a Chinese American student at Harvard for example, established the connection with students, Harvard associates, and Chinese Americans. Cain utilizes these diverse figures such as Don, to branch out towards a wider audience and more powerfully connect and engage with her readers. Using both her tactic of presenting an understanding for the current iconic image of humanity and diverse sources allows Cain to appeal to the audience more powerfully and further establish the credibility of her writing.
The use of the term "metamorphosis" connects powerfully with the example of Cain's use of Laura; who was the author during her days as a lawyer, and the actual science behind extroversion. Susain Cain had included in the novel, how psychologists identified extroversion as a component of our DNA: "Extroversion is in our DNA...The trait has been found to be less prevalent in Asia and Africa than in Europe and America..." (Cain 45). Since extroversion is a biological component, mankind has to evolve in order to alter the trait, similar to how we evolve mentally and physically as time progresses; known as metamorphosis. The term also compliments the alteration in images of the iconic person, how extroverts are appeared as successful people: "But nowadays we tend to think that becoming more extroverted not only makes us more successful, but also makes us better people" (Cain 58). By mentioning "But nowadays", Cain signifies the audience of the recent change of the iconic person and how in the past, introversion and extroversion was not as large of an issue.
With Susain Cain's personal background story to support her claim, she's able to heavily attack the opposing arguments and almost essentially lure her audience towards her side by connecting with her readers and also presenting an intriguing third-person perspective. She mentioned how "Yale's president, Alfred Whitney Griswold, declared that the ideal Yalie was not a 'beetle-browed, highly specialized intellectual, but a well-rounded man" (Cain 44) and that quoted declaration exposed of not only the change in views of the iconic person but also the blindness and under appreciation towards introverts. Let's classify people such as Susan Cain during her lawyer state; Laura, and the other characters such as Rosa Parks as gems. These figures, who were all introverts, are well known for performing some outstanding action. Their abilities and mentalities are rare, sticking above the general mankind. If people are to be so focused on appearance, they miss out on these gems. Cain's background story heavily supports this theory, as she was a lawyer with lower confidence than the opponent's lawyer, but mentally remained calm and focus, resulting in a win for her client. That moment had revealed her potential, which doesn't come along with everyone.
Susain Cain informs her audience on an intriguing topic; how introverts and extroverts develop, in the beginning of part two in the novel. Although there are some metaphorical usages that are a bit broad such as: "... many children are like dandelions, able to thrive in just about any environment. But others...are more like orchids: they wilt easily, but under the right conditions can grow strong and magnificent" (Cain 127), they connect her claims and evidences in an eye opening way. These "dandelions" refer to extroverts, how they are easily adaptable to their surroundings and have few to no difficulties with socializing. The "orchids" however, are references to introverts and how their environment is more essential to becoming prosperous compared to an extrovert. The artistic and analytical mentality which introverts have are easily sensitive to distractions and are difficult to hone in on without solitude. Extroverts on the other hand aren't completely unaffected by their environments, rather they still maintain the social trait but possibly in a more negative scenario: "A...child on an ice-hockey team enjoys his peers' esteem...Over time he learns to use his appetite for risk and assertiveness wisely. Now imagine this same child growing up in a dangerous neighborhood...you can see how he might fall into delinquency" (Cain 127). The author's analogy of an extrovert in two different living conditions will greatly affect the overall mentality and personality of these individuals. This analogy also expresses Cain's perspective on how environments affect introverts and extroverts; introverts will fail to thrive if not cared in proper conditions, and extroverts will prosper negatively if not cared in proper conditions. Cain's thorough explanation of both types of individuals and her inclusion of metaphors increases the appeal to her audience with the style of language, and also results in an easy way to connect all the information together.
I too would have to agree with this claim of Cain having moments of unintentional disconnections with her audience. The novel from my perspective, appears to heavily rely on full introversion which will allow the readers to connect with Cain more easily. I would find it difficult to fully comprehend the mentality and emotions behind all of this information she presents to her readers. A large portion of these disconnects are sourced from her personal experiences, for instance when she explained her realization of why she had attended the workshop dealing with sensitivity: "Then I realized that I was attending the workshop because I wanted to stretch myself to the outer limits of my temperament. I wanted to be the best and bravest speaker I could be...I suspected that the feedback I was getting was overly charitable..." (Cain 145). Although I personally am able to relate, taking a speech and debate class due to my desire to improve my public speaking, Cain illustrates a very narrow path for her readers to follow. She expects her readers to understand and possibly even have the same motivation and drive that she possesses in order to fully relate. However, even with this disconnect, readers can still see her attempt to present understanding with nonrelatable readers, with her diction and elaboration behind her mentality on the subject.
In addition to Cain's personal references with her research, her direct focus on specific subtopics that are easily relatable to, for introverts, further adds to her ethos. In one portion where Cain further elaborates on "high-reactive" and "low-reactive" temperaments, she mentioned how "[Introverts are] successful at the things that matter to them. They don't necessarily turn into class presidents or stars of the school play..." (Cain 128) to refer back to her previous ideas on how society views these positions are usually affiliated with the iconic extrovert. The concept would relate to her introverted audience easily as they themselves are most likely not affiliated in those roles. Another occurrence of this can be found when Cain discusses how the introversion trait has survived over the years with extroversion being a large idea. Aron answered her question, explaining how the analytical trait introverts possess is the main source of how introversion remains in existence: "'The type that is 'sensitive' or 'reactive' would reflect a strategy of observing carefully before acting,'..."(Cain 161). While introducing a new idea of how introverts tend to be more cautious while extroverts are more reckless, this statements refers back to the more strategical and calming traits introverts possess, again making the information she discovers, more relatable and improving her ethos even further.
Susan Cain's structuring of her chapter, "Do All Cultures Have An Extrovert Ideal?" creates a foundation of initial ethos prior to presenting her argument and claim. The author introduces this ethos by connecting to her audience through common stereotypical claims such as: "If you were Asian, you had to confirm you were smart. If you were white, you had to prove it" (Cain 198). This stereotype of Asians being naturally intelligent is very popular among society, especially when put in an educational setting such as middle school, high school, and college. Cain then elaborates further with this topic of school and presents another relative claim when comparing the Monta Vista High School to other schools: "At most high schools you have a popular group that tyrannizes the others. But here the kids in that group don't hold power over the other students. The student body is too academically oriented for that" (Cain 200). With her attempt to relate with her audience, she also adds the detail of the students being "too academically oriented" which assists with transitioning into her evidence of why Asians have appeared to be successful intellectually. Her evidence displayed how the key to success was persistence. In a conducted research to identify the patterns of persistence, results shown that "Japanese children spent an average of 13.93 minutes on a pule before calling it quits, whereas the American kids spent only 9.47 minutes" (Cain 217). This piece of evidence Cain includes directly answers the common stereotypes of Asian intellect and with the way she structured the entire chapter, her audience is able to easily comprehend and make connections with her ideas.
I would have to agree with Susan Cain's structure being very beneficial for her argument. I find that most novels when structuring their story in a rotation such as Cain's, tends to end up with the readers being confused or not acknowledging the reference. At the very beginning of Quiet, Cain laid the introduction full of the general conception behind the terms extrovert and introvert. In chapter 10, she refers back to this idea but elaborates further upon it: "Probably the most common--and damaging--misunderstanding about personality type is that introverts are antisocial and extroverts are pro-social. But as we've seen, neither formulation is correct; introverts and extroverts are differently social" (Cain 243). Cain's extension to the subject not only helps the reader collect and piece together all the information she has provided, but also generates a new argument; retaining the audience's attention and allowing her to continue with the novel.
Cain's novel may have moments of this unstable foundation with some ideas being bias, but following along her pattern of structuring the novel, her previous ideas will eventually be reinforced with other ideas. In the beginning of chapter nine, Cain started to introduce a "'person-situation' debate", where the controversy of "do fixed personality traits really exit, or do they shift according to the situation in which people find themselves" (Cain 222) arises. Not necessarily directly tackling the idea of environments affecting an individual, readers will naturally link this new upcoming claim and evidence along with her idea on natural selection because both issues deal with influential people being around an individual. This pattern of reinforcement can be related back to Amanda's realization of Cain's "circular structure" where the author will eventually refer back to her evidences and claims even though she had completely finished discussing about it. As I've previously said, it allows the audience to piece together the mass amount of information she is expelling on us.
When socially categorizing society, two sides come to mind; extroverts and introverts. Susan Cain, author of Quiet acknowledges the general perspective of how we value extroversion and introversion by attacking the bias towards the image of extroversion. Perceived as quiet, introverts tend to be shadowed in the background while extroverts are more visible and acknowledged with their outgoing personality. This visibility resulted in extroverts becoming the typical image of a "perfect" person, causing society to have expectations that oppose introverts: "We're told that to be great is to be bold, to be happy is to be sociable. We see ourselves as a nation of extroverts..." (Cain 19). The trend of visualizing extroverts as the iconic image of humanity has completely isolated introverts from the community, and Cain refers this process as a "value system [called] the Extrovert Ideal--the omnipresent belief that the ideal self is gregarious, alpha, and comfortable in the spotlight" (Cain 20). These points Cain presents revolve around the use of pathos to emotionally connect with her audience, direct the audience to her side of the argument, and allow them to grasp a better understanding of the general conception between extroversion and introversion. Furthermore, Cain's invocation of her introverted figures lays a foundation of credibility due to the factual information from various figures. These figures are varied and diverse, from a student at Harvard to politicians, to multi-billionaires such as Bill Gates himself. Don, a Chinese American student at Harvard for example, established the connection with students, Harvard associates, and Chinese Americans. Cain utilizes these diverse figures such as Don, to branch out towards a wider audience and more powerfully connect and engage with her readers. Using both her tactic of presenting an understanding for the current iconic image of humanity and diverse sources allows Cain to appeal to the audience more powerfully and further establish the credibility of her writing.
ReplyDeleteThe use of the term "metamorphosis" connects powerfully with the example of Cain's use of Laura; who was the author during her days as a lawyer, and the actual science behind extroversion. Susain Cain had included in the novel, how psychologists identified extroversion as a component of our DNA: "Extroversion is in our DNA...The trait has been found to be less prevalent in Asia and Africa than in Europe and America..." (Cain 45). Since extroversion is a biological component, mankind has to evolve in order to alter the trait, similar to how we evolve mentally and physically as time progresses; known as metamorphosis. The term also compliments the alteration in images of the iconic person, how extroverts are appeared as successful people: "But nowadays we tend to think that becoming more extroverted not only makes us more successful, but also makes us better people" (Cain 58). By mentioning "But nowadays", Cain signifies the audience of the recent change of the iconic person and how in the past, introversion and extroversion was not as large of an issue.
ReplyDeleteWith Susain Cain's personal background story to support her claim, she's able to heavily attack the opposing arguments and almost essentially lure her audience towards her side by connecting with her readers and also presenting an intriguing third-person perspective. She mentioned how "Yale's president, Alfred Whitney Griswold, declared that the ideal Yalie was not a 'beetle-browed, highly specialized intellectual, but a well-rounded man" (Cain 44) and that quoted declaration exposed of not only the change in views of the iconic person but also the blindness and under appreciation towards introverts. Let's classify people such as Susan Cain during her lawyer state; Laura, and the other characters such as Rosa Parks as gems. These figures, who were all introverts, are well known for performing some outstanding action. Their abilities and mentalities are rare, sticking above the general mankind. If people are to be so focused on appearance, they miss out on these gems. Cain's background story heavily supports this theory, as she was a lawyer with lower confidence than the opponent's lawyer, but mentally remained calm and focus, resulting in a win for her client. That moment had revealed her potential, which doesn't come along with everyone.
ReplyDeleteSusain Cain informs her audience on an intriguing topic; how introverts and extroverts develop, in the beginning of part two in the novel. Although there are some metaphorical usages that are a bit broad such as: "... many children are like dandelions, able to thrive in just about any environment. But others...are more like orchids: they wilt easily, but under the right conditions can grow strong and magnificent" (Cain 127), they connect her claims and evidences in an eye opening way. These "dandelions" refer to extroverts, how they are easily adaptable to their surroundings and have few to no difficulties with socializing. The "orchids" however, are references to introverts and how their environment is more essential to becoming prosperous compared to an extrovert. The artistic and analytical mentality which introverts have are easily sensitive to distractions and are difficult to hone in on without solitude. Extroverts on the other hand aren't completely unaffected by their environments, rather they still maintain the social trait but possibly in a more negative scenario: "A...child on an ice-hockey team enjoys his peers' esteem...Over time he learns to use his appetite for risk and assertiveness wisely. Now imagine this same child growing up in a dangerous neighborhood...you can see how he might fall into delinquency" (Cain 127). The author's analogy of an extrovert in two different living conditions will greatly affect the overall mentality and personality of these individuals. This analogy also expresses Cain's perspective on how environments affect introverts and extroverts; introverts will fail to thrive if not cared in proper conditions, and extroverts will prosper negatively if not cared in proper conditions. Cain's thorough explanation of both types of individuals and her inclusion of metaphors increases the appeal to her audience with the style of language, and also results in an easy way to connect all the information together.
ReplyDeleteI too would have to agree with this claim of Cain having moments of unintentional disconnections with her audience. The novel from my perspective, appears to heavily rely on full introversion which will allow the readers to connect with Cain more easily. I would find it difficult to fully comprehend the mentality and emotions behind all of this information she presents to her readers. A large portion of these disconnects are sourced from her personal experiences, for instance when she explained her realization of why she had attended the workshop dealing with sensitivity: "Then I realized that I was attending the workshop because I wanted to stretch myself to the outer limits of my temperament. I wanted to be the best and bravest speaker I could be...I suspected that the feedback I was getting was overly charitable..." (Cain 145). Although I personally am able to relate, taking a speech and debate class due to my desire to improve my public speaking, Cain illustrates a very narrow path for her readers to follow. She expects her readers to understand and possibly even have the same motivation and drive that she possesses in order to fully relate. However, even with this disconnect, readers can still see her attempt to present understanding with nonrelatable readers, with her diction and elaboration behind her mentality on the subject.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to Cain's personal references with her research, her direct focus on specific subtopics that are easily relatable to, for introverts, further adds to her ethos. In one portion where Cain further elaborates on "high-reactive" and "low-reactive" temperaments, she mentioned how "[Introverts are] successful at the things that matter to them. They don't necessarily turn into class presidents or stars of the school play..." (Cain 128) to refer back to her previous ideas on how society views these positions are usually affiliated with the iconic extrovert. The concept would relate to her introverted audience easily as they themselves are most likely not affiliated in those roles. Another occurrence of this can be found when Cain discusses how the introversion trait has survived over the years with extroversion being a large idea. Aron answered her question, explaining how the analytical trait introverts possess is the main source of how introversion remains in existence: "'The type that is 'sensitive' or 'reactive' would reflect a strategy of observing carefully before acting,'..."(Cain 161). While introducing a new idea of how introverts tend to be more cautious while extroverts are more reckless, this statements refers back to the more strategical and calming traits introverts possess, again making the information she discovers, more relatable and improving her ethos even further.
ReplyDeleteSusan Cain's structuring of her chapter, "Do All Cultures Have An Extrovert Ideal?" creates a foundation of initial ethos prior to presenting her argument and claim. The author introduces this ethos by connecting to her audience through common stereotypical claims such as: "If you were Asian, you had to confirm you were smart. If you were white, you had to prove it" (Cain 198). This stereotype of Asians being naturally intelligent is very popular among society, especially when put in an educational setting such as middle school, high school, and college. Cain then elaborates further with this topic of school and presents another relative claim when comparing the Monta Vista High School to other schools: "At most high schools you have a popular group that tyrannizes the others. But here the kids in that group don't hold power over the other students. The student body is too academically oriented for that" (Cain 200). With her attempt to relate with her audience, she also adds the detail of the students being "too academically oriented" which assists with transitioning into her evidence of why Asians have appeared to be successful intellectually. Her evidence displayed how the key to success was persistence. In a conducted research to identify the patterns of persistence, results shown that "Japanese children spent an average of 13.93 minutes on a pule before calling it quits, whereas the American kids spent only 9.47 minutes" (Cain 217). This piece of evidence Cain includes directly answers the common stereotypes of Asian intellect and with the way she structured the entire chapter, her audience is able to easily comprehend and make connections with her ideas.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with Susan Cain's structure being very beneficial for her argument. I find that most novels when structuring their story in a rotation such as Cain's, tends to end up with the readers being confused or not acknowledging the reference. At the very beginning of Quiet, Cain laid the introduction full of the general conception behind the terms extrovert and introvert. In chapter 10, she refers back to this idea but elaborates further upon it: "Probably the most common--and damaging--misunderstanding about personality type is that introverts are antisocial and extroverts are pro-social. But as we've seen, neither formulation is correct; introverts and extroverts are differently social" (Cain 243). Cain's extension to the subject not only helps the reader collect and piece together all the information she has provided, but also generates a new argument; retaining the audience's attention and allowing her to continue with the novel.
ReplyDeleteCain's novel may have moments of this unstable foundation with some ideas being bias, but following along her pattern of structuring the novel, her previous ideas will eventually be reinforced with other ideas. In the beginning of chapter nine, Cain started to introduce a "'person-situation' debate", where the controversy of "do fixed personality traits really exit, or do they shift according to the situation in which people find themselves" (Cain 222) arises. Not necessarily directly tackling the idea of environments affecting an individual, readers will naturally link this new upcoming claim and evidence along with her idea on natural selection because both issues deal with influential people being around an individual. This pattern of reinforcement can be related back to Amanda's realization of Cain's "circular structure" where the author will eventually refer back to her evidences and claims even though she had completely finished discussing about it. As I've previously said, it allows the audience to piece together the mass amount of information she is expelling on us.
ReplyDelete