David and Goliath

David and Goliath

by

Malcolm Gladwell

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Themes and Colors
Advantages and Disadvantages Theme Icon
Convention and the Status Quo Theme Icon
Hardship and Resilience Theme Icon
Conviction, Morality, and Empathy Theme Icon
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in David and Goliath, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.

Advantages and Disadvantages

In David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell argues that people often place too much faith in the things they believe to be advantageous or beneficial. According to Gladwell, certain forms of power can actually work against people who otherwise see themselves as infallible. To illustrate this dynamic, he turns to the titular biblical story of David and Goliath, in which a small shepherd defeats a hulking and intimidating warrior in combat. The giant Goliath…

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Convention and the Status Quo

Malcolm Gladwell’s examination of underdogs in David and Goliath suggests that success often depends upon a person’s ability to think outside the box. This is something underdogs are especially good at, since their disadvantages push them to challenge convention out of necessity. To illustrate this point, Gladwell references King Saul, the leader of the Israelites who insisted that David wouldn’t stand a chance against the giant Goliath. Saul doesn’t believe in David…

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Hardship and Resilience

In David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell is particularly interested in how people respond to adversity. He recognizes that everyone reacts to hardship differently, and that it’s not always possible to rise above challenging circumstances. However, he insists that humans are more resilient than they might think. To that end, he upholds that not all negative experiences are incapacitating, instead suggesting that “remote misses”—situations in which people narrowly escape danger—have the power to reinvigorate individuals…

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Conviction, Morality, and Empathy

Although David and Goliath focuses almost exclusively on underdogs and their unexpected advantages, there are moments throughout the book when Gladwell’s analysis highlights something broader—namely, the fact that humans often cling stubbornly to their convictions because they believe them to be moral, even when this is not the case. This dynamic is especially evident in the story Gladwell recounts about Mike Reynolds, who helped institute California’s Three Strikes Law in the aftermath of…

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