44 pages • 1 hour read
David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants
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Themes
Giants Are Not What They Seem
In the Introduction, Gladwell creates a vision of Goliath that is terrifying. He is heavily armed with various blades and a spear, his armor weighs as much as a normal man’s body, and he is close to seven feet tall. He is unbeaten in single combat and when he bellows his challenge to the Israelites, no one steps forth until David. In effect, Goliath is only formidable provided that someone fights him on his own terms, in a manner that he is familiar with, or ideally one that he chooses. Gladwell focuses on Goliath’s poor eyesight, his possible thyroid condition, the cumbersome nature of that impenetrable armor, and his lack of speed. Once David is running towards him, whirling the sling, Goliath is confused and vulnerable in the brief moments before he is killed. In Gladwell’s formulation, every giant can be put in this position: seeing some seemingly weaker rush towards him, pressing some unseen advantage that no one anticipated. If true, Gladwell hopes that it will give courage to those who find themselves outmatched and inspire those who believe in causes and conflicts that seem unwinnable. Myopia is an enemy to progress, and assuming that a powerful enemy cannot be beaten will always ensure that they remain victorious and intimidating.
Difficulties Can be Advantages
In Part 2 of the book, Gladwell examines the theory of “desirable difficulties.” The difficulties can include dyslexia, the trait of social disagreeableness, a traumatic childhood, wartime experience, poverty, and more. There are adaptations that do not occur unless necessitated as compensation for an area in which a person is deficient. Examples are Boies learning to memorize and persuade in the courtroom instead of torturing himself by slowly reading legal papers and contracts; Freireich using his traumatic childhood as a toughening agent that made him fearless in his leukemia experiments; and Wyatt Walker using African-Americans’ experience as underdogs in order to sharpen his wits against Bull Connor during the civil rights movement. This remains a theory because there are plentiful instances in which someone with a difficulty does not use it to their advantage, but Gladwell’s point is clear.
Adversity and the “Remote Miss”
The “remote miss” in David and Goliath refers to one category of people who are involved in a bombing. The specific example given is that of Londoners in World War II who were in the city during the eight-month bombing campaign. The Germans believed that the bombing would devastate the city and the morale of the people. Many British officials agreed, thinking that the citizens would immediately flee to the countryside. This did not happen. Although thousands of lives were lost and much of the city was destroyed, the people were resilient, particularly if they were in the category of “remote miss.” A remote miss was a person who was aware that the bombing was taking place, but may have had no first-hand experience with it. They might hear the bombs but not see them or be aware that other houses were being destroyed while theirs homes were spared. Over time, this lead to a feeling of exhilaration and invincibility. This became an advantage that was created from a situation of trauma that could have created weakness. Gladwell frames many of the people in the book, and particularly those who had difficult childhoods, as remote misses. They became braver every time they overcame a challenge that might have defeated someone else, and their own strength was reinforced with every new experience they survived.
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By Malcolm Gladwell
