Malcolm Gladwell's 'Java Man' Analysis Paper Example

The Cultural Embedding of Caffeine

Malcolm Gladwell has used a rhetoric and satirical approach to present his views regarding the extent to which caffeine is embedded into the present culture. Gladwell has created a strong foundation to his arguments by making essential references to the historical accounts to highlight the current position on caffeine conception, which he boldly refers to being 'drugged' in the infusion. The main idea of Gladwell's argument is the extent to which the consumption of caffeine is blurred by the historical analogies and superstitions that have created the 'superficial' personalities and tendencies. According to the author, the myths have contributed to the existing narrations regarding the usefulness of coffee and tea as opposed to the psychological and physiological fundamentals that explain the biomechanisms associated with the intake of caffeine. Gladwell argues that the orchestrated and celebrated mythical mysteries remain a fallacy when subjected to theoretical critique (Gladwell 334). From the essay, one can easily be carried away with mentions in the essay of major philosophers and scientists who depended on the 'drug' to make revolution a reality during the pre-war and post-war periods. Gladwell questions the extent to which such assumptions could be deemed as precise and I concur with his sentiments.

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Blurring the Lines

Gladwell makes a significant point when he downgraded the comparison between tea and coffee based on a binary list. I agree that when one is seeking to understand the implication on caffeine and the extent to which the consumption of coffee and tea is embedded in the culture, it is important to consider the metric representations of the content and how the beverages are prepared as opposed to gender-related labels or binaries. In fact, a cup of coffee cannot be compared to a cup of tea because the two beverages contain different caffeine levels. According to Gladwell, a cup of coffee contains one hundred to two hundred milligrams of caffeine while a cup of tea only amounts to a range of forty to one hundred. Similar sentiments have also been echoed by medical practitioners. According to Myoclonic a clear comparison in line with the caffeine content between tea and coffee cannot be clearly achieved based on other factors such as origin, brewing time, and processing method (Myoclinic n.p). However, the content of coffee is considerably higher than tea; nevertheless, this presents another dimension that Gladwell presented regarding the number of cups consumed, which if regularly neglected.

Psychological and Physiological Biomechanisms:

Moreover, the psychological and physiological biomechanisms are equally essential when assessing the consumption of coffee and tea. It is possible to consider addiction as culture or ritual to cover overdependence behavior (Gladwell 332). Gladwell pointed out how many people are focused on the ritual and gender-related binary lines with limited concern on how caffeine affects the metabolism of the body. While moderate doses of coffee or tea are essential and enhance body metabolism, excessive conception and addiction impair some aspects of cognitive acuity (Nehlig 2). Moderate consumption enhances vigilance, digestion process, and cognitive alertness; however, excess caffeine affects the disturbs sleep and increases anxiety. I agree with Gladwell that when these significant physiological facts are not considered, then one could fail to understand the risks associated with excessive consumption of coffee and tea or fail to strike the balance on when it is needed and when it should be avoided. While no serious health complications have been documented, but there is a critical essence when the discussion shifts from rituals and comparisons to physiology and psychological implications of beverages containing caffeine.

Beliefs, Culture, and Sociological Changes

I also agree with Gladwell regarding the role of beliefs and culture and its impact on sociological changes. Mythical rituals and beliefs have formed the baseline for several behaviors among individuals. The high level of coffee, tea, and cocoa consumption is one of the examples where tales have played a key role in keeping a culture in the limelight regardless of the historical transitions. By Gladwell relating the popularity of caffeinated beverages to rituals and beliefs, he critiqued the extent to which the behavior could be linked to any logical theoretical background. Such phenomena have been witnessed with fast foods, canned meat, and beer. Gladwell highlighted how coffee was associated with the middle class rising but at the same time the evolution of this myth ended up to elevate coffee as the drink of the aristocrats. Another scholarly work that mimics the sentiments of Gladwell regarding the role of culture in propelling a behavior is the research by McDonald and Topik. The two authors argued that culture is equally essential to economics and determines and shapes how luxury goods are positioned in the society based on the stratified alignments especially for consumables (McDonald and Topik 1). In fact, I have been a subject of coffee rituals where I have always considered taking coffee with friends as a class-related behavior.

Furthermore, another argument that was fascinating in the essay was the issue of synthetic personalities. Gladwell calls this analogy the construction of chemical slaves (Gladwell 333). The biomechanism of caffeine contained in coffee and tea enhances the cognitive abilities when moderately consumed (Song and Liu 4). However, such behaviors have ushered the dependency among individuals who consider a cup of these beverages as a powerful charm of the day. The use of drugs to improve the metabolic process is a common practice in medicine; however, when abused, addiction and other disastrous implication could be witnessed. A similar case is evident with coffee and tea where one becomes addicted. Gladwell makes a joke with this effect in his essay by alluding that "we'd set the world back a month" without coffee and tea (Gladwell 333). According to Gladwell's arguments, Paul Erdos, Richard Feynman, and Timothy Leary have linked their achievements to a cup of coffee each time they were handling a critical task. In such a case, one could entirely link intelligence or achievement to a cup of coffee, which fuels the ritualistic tendencies and create feeble intelligent beings relying on a cup of coffee or tea to make a difference. While physiological evidence links moderate consumption of coffee and tea to enhanced cognitive alertness, it should not influence one's intelligence and output to the extent of becoming a 'superficial' nerd.

Breaking Away From the Caffeine-Based Lifestyle

Based on the scope of Gladwell's essay breaking away from the caffeine-based lifestyle is not a straightforward affair. The culture is rooted into the society practices such that even a legal action cannot intervene as seen in the futile attempted ban of coffee restaurants in London by Charles II in 1676 (Gladwell 332). Currently, coffee and tea shops are key landmarks in urban settings. A culture that started in pre-war found its way through the post-war revolution errors and today, it is part of the meeting, workplace, and social events rituals. In fact, Gladwell claims that those expecting to break away from this addiction should question their personality without coffee or tea. Such a statement is true because cases, where people have been incapacitated when they withdrew from coffee or team, are common. However, the primary goal should be on the advantage of moderate consumption, which comes with essential metabolic advantages (Gladwell 334).

Conclusion

In conclusion, Gladwell was concerned with how caffeine became part of the culture regardless of the historical timeline. In his essay, he questioned the magnitude of mythical narrations that exists and are justifying the addiction and overdependence on beverages containing caffeine. Amid the beliefs and bibliographical accounts, Gladwell was able to critique and create awareness on how multitudes have ignored the physiological reality associated with the intake of tea and coffee only to focus on antiquity narratives and culture. I agree with the author because overdependence on caffeine-based beverages and the escalating debates regarding coffee and tea have entirely been anchored on the rituals, culture, and beliefs emanating from self-proclamations or inherited historical accounts. The reality of synthetic personalities because of addition is another strong postulate that the author presented in the essay. In fact, breaking the addiction will require the answer to one critical question: what will one become without the coffee and tea after indulging in the rituals for an extended period? Nevertheless, it is important to focus the discussion of the psychological and physiological implication of caffeine rather than the tea versus coffee arguments since 'caffeine is caffeine' regardless of the source and form.

Works Cited

Gladwell, Malcom. Java Man: Caffeine Coffee. (2013). Print.

Mayoclinic. Nutrition and healthy eating: In-depth overview of caffeine. (2015). Web.

McDonald, Michelle and Topik, Steve. Culture and Consumption: National Drinks and National Identity in the Atlantic World. England: New Hall, Cambridge. (2006). Print.

Nehlig, Astrid. Physilogical effect of coffee and human health: A review. Cahiers Agricultures, 21(2), 197 - 207. (2012).

Song, Ni and Liu, He. Multiple Effects of Caffeine on Physiology. MOJ Cell Science & Report, Volume 2 Issue 4. (2015).