Through the summer I read one of the most interesting books that I have ever stidied, it was the novel David and Goliath. David and Goliath was not at all what I expected it to be, it was not a whole book about the story of David and Goliath but it was a collection of stories that were connected to David and Goliath by their similar scenarios, messages, and outcomes. Soon after reading the essay The Power Story It made me think more and more about my summer reading and take those stories and situations from the book and connect with them and use them. The essay talked about how stories can change one's personality or the way one person may think or act after reading, and I think that David and Goliath to many people will make them reflect on past situations that they have had and think about future ones that may occur and take things from the book and apply them in real life. Using your own disadvantages to your advantage is what you will get from this book, it will change the way you view challenges and help you conquer them. After reading the book, my thesis is that stories can really affect and change people and that people can take things from such relatable stories and apply them to their own lives.
In the first chapter of David and Goliath, there is one certain story that they told that I really connected with and understood. The story of Vivek Randive and his basketball team of 12-year-old girls was very interesting in many different ways. When Vivek Randive decided to coach his daughter Anjali’s basketball team, he settled on two principles. The first was that he would never raise his voice (Malcolm Gladwell 19). This was the opening part of the story that I found very interesting that I had really never experienced as I have played basketball for many years and to just hear this type of coaching, the majority of coaches raise their voice to make sure you hear them, trying to motivate you and to let you know when you did something wrong. This method also can make players nervous to make another mistake and it can make them get down on themselves, this style of coaching could be much more effective as it showed to work extremely well with Randive’s basketball team. The next part of the story was the most interesting as we were introduced to the fact that Randive has had no basketball experience in his life, on other sports such as soccer. Even though they played teams that had more knowledge about the game and had players that were much more talented than his he used his disadvantage to his advantage. As other coaches used normal coaching styles and made their teams play the normal way Randive made his girls use a full-court press the whole game. This was not often seen in basketball and it worked because of this. Opposing coaches had no idea what to do as it was not the normal way of playing. This strategy is what made them successful and help them win games. This relates directly back to the story of David and Goliath in the sense that they used an unconventional way to win their games, just as David did so in his battle with Goliath. In The Power of Story, Svoboda states, “ their brains revealed that they identified with the stories and characters on a visceral level.” The main theme of this story was that if you are not good at something and you just give it your all and try your hardest you will always give yourself a better chance at succeeding in that thing. After reading this story I can say this relates back to my thesis and I also can relate to this story because I have played basketball and used unconventional ways of playing to my advantage many times.
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In chapter 4 of David and Goliath, there is a story of a man by the name of David Boies, who was a world-renowned lawyer who had dyslexia. Becoming a lawyer with the challenge of having dyslexia is an extremely hard thing to do as they read many documents and papers. But David Boies made himself capable of being a lawyer because of the hard work that he started at a young age. When he was young he had difficulty reading and it was challenging for him but he kept on working on fighting his challenge. David then started to work on memory skills by listening, “listening is something I've been doing essentially all my life. I learned to do it because that was the only way I could learn. (Malcolm Gladwell 109)”. He would try to take everything that he heard being said in his law classes and keep it in his mind. “His memory by that point was a formidable instrument. (Malcolm Gladwell 109)”. David was very different than other dyslexics as many of them could not do what he could, they could not read like him or listen and memorize things like he could. “...not being able to read a lot and learning by listening and asking questions means that I need to simplify issues to their basics (Malcolm Gladwell 111)”. This relates directly to my thesis and intro paragraph as well as the essay The Power of Story, “It’s this kind of gut-level empathetic story response that can inspire people to behave differently in the real world(Elizabeth Svoboda 4)”. The story of a man with such a challenge can be saddening to read but that's what translates to the real world, it will make you help someone with a challenge. The main theme of this story is that even though you may not be good at certain things or may have unique challenges if you work hard enough and are persistent then you will achieve your goals. Challenges bring out the best in us and that's what it did for David Boies, he gained a tremendous work ethic from fighting his challenge to live the life that he wanted to live, and if you can have that same push to do something in your life, you will develop a work ethic just like David.
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Critical Analysis of the Novel David and Goliath: Reader’s Reflection.
(2022, September 27). Edubirdie. Retrieved December 22, 2024, from https://edubirdie.com/examples/critical-analysis-of-the-novel-david-and-goliath-readers-reflection/
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