Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Grit, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Passion, Perseverance, and Success
Developing Grit
Psychology and Human Development
Grit and Society
Summary
Analysis
Angela Duckworth remembers how, when she was young, her father constantly talked about “genius.” He worried that she wouldn’t succeed because she didn’t have enough inborn talent. Ironically enough, she went on to win a MacArthur “Genius Grant” for her psychology research—which was about how passion and perseverance (but not inherent talent) is the key to achievement. After winning the award, Duckworth imagined going back in time and telling her father what she had learned: while she wasn’t a genius, she was gritty, and grit is more important than talent. This book explains the evidence that proves this thesis. Her father is now elderly and sick, but when she read the book out loud to him, he smiled.
Duckworth contrasts her research findings about grit with her father’s comments about “genius” in order to show the reader how her book will reverse the conventional wisdom about success and achievement. Namely, while most people assume that “genius” is the key to success, grit actually is. Duckworth hopes that, over time, more people can learn to recognize this fundamental truth. But Duckworth also discusses her father in order to illustrate why shifting from “genius” to grit can transform the way people think about themselves: a focus on “genius” leads young people to think of their abilities and potential as inherently limited, while a focus on grit shows them that they can accomplish great things primarily through hard work. Of course, this also speaks to the value of psychology research, which makes it possible for people to recognize their true potential by rigorously studying which factors actually drive success.
Themes
