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Academic Summary on The Tipping Point Chapter 2 Section 1

Malcolm Gladwell is a writer for The New Yorker and he performs most of his research in
the New York area. His audience, centered on the New York City region that spawned his work,
spreads out to an audience that yearns to educate themselves while being entertained. The
Tipping Point contains research material that falls short of scholarly merit, but is written in a
language that anyone with at least a middle-school level education can understand. Gladwells
primary objective in writing the non-fiction book is to explain the Tipping Point, the theory that
every popular trend has several factors that lead up to a climax that causes the development to
explode into popularity. The first section of chapter two of The Tipping Point details Gladwells
theory the Law of the Few, in which certain types of people are responsible for spreading trends.
This section introduces connectors, who, as Gladwell explains through Stanley Milgrams six
degrees of separation experiment, are responsible for creating the majority of our relationships.
Gladwell introduces Milgram and the date of his research that is to be referenced. This
immediately instills in the reader the sense that Gladwell performed credible research before he
furthers his argument, consequently building Gladwells ethos. His subsequent inquiry is
intended to invoke pathos by gathering the readers interest by making them eager for answers.
Gladwell then proposes a link between Milgrams research and his own by pointing out that
Milgrams questions are the same as the ones that Gladwell is asking. In stating this, he plants
the idea in the reader that Milgrams experiment directly supports his own ideas, a seed that
Gladwell will develop at the end of the section. The comparison is used as a strong logical
argument, or the logos, that Gladwell employs to persuade the reader that the Tipping Point is
valid. Gladwell subliminally plants this thought after the long line of inquiries, where the reader
is more engrossed in the subject matter and less likely to notice the connection.

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Furthermore, Gladwell utilizes em dashes and references the topic from the last section of
the book in the same sentence that he makes the comparison. As with the line of questioning, the
em dashes primary purpose is to be a diversion that prevents the reader from becoming fully
aware of Gladwells connection. Gladwell utilizes inflection and punctuation in the text between
the em dashes to convey a sense of excitement. This appeal to pathos assists in changing the
readers emotions so that they arent engaged analytically into the text, but that any inkling of
Gladwells intent is washed away in the excitement.
Gladwell then provides an unbiased illustration of Milgrams experiment; the lack of
commentary builds his ethos and he appeals to logos by presenting his experiment along with
other research to increase the readers understanding of the topic. Gladwell poses a question
which he eventually answers, but the answer is vague and not fully resolved. This causes the
reader to continue reading critically to better their understanding of the answer, which is actually
support for Gladwells theory. In other words, Gladwell uses pathos to accomplish his purpose
by invoking curiosity in the reader and the continual suspense that builds their excitement to
discover the answer. After fascinating the reader with the answer, Gladwell follows with a very
simple sentence Think of it (Gladwell 32). Gladwells sentence again invokes pathos in the
reader by allowing them to be surprised and awed with the conclusion; the simplicity of the
sentence, along with the ones that follow, give the reader the opportunity to react to the answer.
Gladwell concludes the section by implying that Milgrams experiment supports his own theory.
To do this, Gladwell describes the essential connecting individuals from Milgrams experiments
as the special few (Gladwell 32). Gladwells diction causes a connection between his aptly
named theory of the Law of the Few, and in this particular case, his theory of the connector. The

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reader will have the mindset to accept that Milgrams experiment supports Gladwells theory
because the idea was preconceived in the beginning of the section.
Gladwells syntax in this section of The Tipping Point allows him to justify his theory of
the connector, and, in the big picture, the Law of the Few. Through his arrangement of the text,
Gladwell made it appear that he was following a logical thinking path. In this manner, the reader
feels more engaged in the novel, as if they are a key part in finding the answer. By appealing to
ethos and allowing the reader to come to the decision themselves despite subliminal persuasion,
the reader is more likely to believe in connectors.