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The Book Quiet by Susan Cain

Decent Essays

In her book Quiet Susan Cain explains that, much like our ideal appearance or ideal economic status, there is also an ideal that extroversion is the socially acceptable way of conversing, interacting and behaving in our society. The argument posed by Cain in Quiet is that everyone is different and often we have introverts forcing themselves to become something they innately “are not” in order to feel/appear socially successful. Quiet discusses how this phenomenon evolved around the turn of the century when manufacturers began telling people how to become “successful” and more importantly “successful” as their consumers. Prior to the late 1800’s inner charm and thoughtfulness was considered virtuous but this quickly evolved into a thing of the past once big business sought new consumers. Within a period of 20 or so years extroversion and charm were not only the best social traits but also who most manufacturers wanted as their consumers. Many ads would imply that a person might be judged unfavorably if anything other than an extrovert. Some examples of what Cain refers to as “personality driven” ads are The Williams Shaving Cream company ad’s stating: “Critical eyes are sizing you up right now” or Woodbury Soap telling readers “All around you people are judging you silently.” Woodbury also implies that young women are a social failure if using any other product showing what Cain describes as a “crestfallen young woman, home alone after a disappointing evening out” (Cain

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