Rhetorical Analysis Of School Shooting By Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell is a credible man, who works for the N ew Yorker. He wrote an essay about school shootings, and the threshold it took for some individuals to complete an act of violence. In order to prove his points Gladwell made sure to cite from other credible researchers like s sociologist Mark Granovetter. The main points that Gladwell discussed in his essay truly captivates the reader 's attention, even though he does not talk with excitement when discussing the essay. Not only were Gladwell 's points intriguing, they are also able to convince the audience that school shootings occur because of other phenomenon’s. “Just since sandy hook we’ve had more than 142 school shooting in this country. With 45 in the past year” (Gladwell). With crucial vile behavior from such young people, we are forced to ask ourselves “What has the world come to?” Gladwell explains, that nothing of this sort has ever happened until the year of 1996. Gladwell tells a story about a student who dresses up in all black, walks into school (with 2 handguns), and shoots the algebra teacher. Not only killing her, but also killing two other of his classmates. After Gladwell explains that story, he mentions every other school shooting that has occurred to this day. Gladwell states, with no hesitation, that school shooting …show more content…
In an article “Threshold Models of Collective Behavior” by Mark Granovetter, he mentions that, “The key concept is that of 'threshold ': the number or proportion of others who must make one decision before a given actor does so” (Granovetter). This quote being Granovetter’s explanation to elaborate on what he means when mentioning his threshold theory. Although Gladwell elaborates using his own words, he still refers to one of the greatest sociologist in a very long time. With the support of such an accredited sociologist, it helps to make Gladwell’s theory credible