Analysis of They Say / I Say in Gladwell’s David and Goliath

Introduction

The book “David and Goliath” begins with the introduction, where Gladwell describes and, in a way, studies the legendary battle between David and Goliath that decided the war between the Philistines and the Israelites. In the introduction, Gladwell explains that battle and delivers a message as in all chapters of the book. Here, the message is that you should never judge somebody too early by their appearance or anything else. This essay will analyze the introduction of the book. The book “They Say / I Say” is a book that was made to help people with writing skills, and we can find Gladwell’s arguments in the “They Say / I Say” book. We will divide this paper into three parts, the first one being Gladwell describing the situation, telling the story, summarizing the story, and quoting people from it. The second part will be about Gladwell actually studying the story that he is telling about David and Goliath and explaining his point of how underdogs can, in the end, find themselves victorious against people that “look” better. Finally, the third part will be about Gladwell tying those two parts together, about connecting the story and his study to try and prove his point.

Analysis of They Say / I Say in Gladwell’s David and Goliath

In the introduction, Gladwell talks about the story of David and Goliath, and about how David, being presented in the story as the underdog in this battle against Goliath, managed to beat him and bring the victory to the Israelites. The winner of that battle was bringing the victory of the entire war to the winner. Gladwell describes this battle, how it took place, where, when, and how. He summarizes that story and uses a lot of quotes so the readers could eventually feel like they are transported, like they are there watching the battle. Gladwell’s introduction, his way of writing is really relatable to the “They Say / I Say”, the fact that to describe the “They Say” he uses, as in the TSIS the art of summarizing, the art of quoting to tell the story. During the entire introduction, he uses quotes to put us in the story even deeper, he quotes words mostly from David and Goliath, them being the main actors, characters in this story, his first being on the first page of the introduction, when Goliath says: “Choose you a man and let him come down to me! If he prevails in battle against me and strikes me down, we shall be slaves to you. But if I prevail and strike him down, you will be slaves to us and serve us.” This vivid description sets the stage for the reader to understand the dynamics of power and perception.

The Underdog's Triumph

Secondly, Gladwell uses the “I Say” from “They Say / I Say” to study this story, study the way David made it to defeat Goliath even though he was “supposed to lose”. He uses the “I Say” to try to prove his point that underdogs can win, that underdogs are only underdogs because of the way people believe somebody has to act to win. The truth is that, how Gladwell says it, underdogs are underdogs because they believe there is only one way to win a battle, a match, etc., while, as David proved it, it is not always the biggest one, the strongest one, the tallest one that wins. He explains in this introduction that even people that seem invincible have weaknesses and that they need to be used to defeat somebody. It can be seen that in the part where Gladwell explains that one of Goliath’s weaknesses is that he may be sick, have a bad vision, “Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks?” David had only one stick. Goliath saw two.” This analysis encourages readers to rethink their perceptions of strength and vulnerability.

Tying It All Together

Finally, Gladwell ties those two parts (the first one where he explains the story of David and Goliath and the second one where he explains how David won and how his point of underdogs not truly being underdogs is actually true) by using metacommentary, which is the way a writer can extract the full potential out of his ideas, gain in-depth in the ideas he is trying to share. He restates some of the quotes he used already to then, analyze those and explain them, trying to prove his point. He, for example, uses the quote “Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks?” to then try and explain that Goliath may be sick, which is why he saw David with multiple sticks instead of the one that he actually had. He uses a lot of little words such as “in other words”, “but” or even “What he is trying to say here”. This method of tying his analysis together demonstrates how effective storytelling can lead to deeper insights.

Conclusion

To conclude, one can see that Gladwell uses the “They Say”, “I Say” and “Tying it all together” where he first explains the story to then study that story to help prove his point that underdogs are not really underdogs and that everything depends on the way the battle is fought. This type of writing is good to help persuade people, to make people believe what you are saying, to make them believe that the point you are trying to prove is true. It emphasizes that strategic thinking and resourcefulness can redefine the outcomes of seemingly unequal battles.

References

Gladwell, M. (2013). David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants. Little, Brown and Company.

Graff, G., & Birkenstein, C. (2010). They Say / I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. W.W. Norton & Company.