In a world that can’t stop talking, where do the introverts fit in? In a culture where the
loudest people in the room are always the ones to be celebrated, as the quieter
people seem to fade into the background, ‘Quiet’ by Susan Cain discusses not only
introversion in her book but the power behind it.
Society has taught us that to be loud is to be confident and successful, but what
about being quietly confident and quietly successful? In an age overcome by self-
help books tell us information like ‘these 10 conversation starters will help you unlock
your best self’ and that to be a leader you must be the loudest person in the room.
But what if I don’t dream of being a leader?
Cain unpicks this throughout the book commenting on the skillsets of introverts and
how, many people don’t dream of leadership roles, but that doesn’t make the role
they do dream of any less valuable. She discusses an example of a quiet 3 rd grade
boy who ‘likes to do this own thing’, his teacher decides to place the boy in charge of
safety in the classroom, so that he ‘had the chance to be a leader too’. Although well
intentioned, maybe we should realise that not everyone wants to be a leader, and
some people are better suited to alternate positions. Often the way school and adults
handle quietness is to throw people into the deep end, like putting a quiet child in
charge of the classroom, when they’re happy with the way things are. Instead of
these actions being child cantered, they’re focused on the adult and how they feel,
and ultimately teaches the child that their ‘quietness’ is something negative and
needs to be changed. The way quietness is viewed by society is often what leads to
these confidence and self-belief issues, and I’m not saying that children shouldn’t be
pushed out of their comfort zone but they should be pushed in a way that nurtures
these characteristics instead of destroying them.
Throughout the book Cain highlights how the world needs introverts and their power,
she asks, ‘why shouldn’t shy be strong, and what else can quiet do that we don’t give
credit for’. Through this point she highlights a range of historical figures who were
declared as ‘introverts’ and shows their strength in their respective fields. Rosa
Parks was commonly referred to as shy and reserved by those that knew her and to
us is remembered for what she did, rather than what she said. Rosa showed
‘passive resistance’ when refusing to give up her seat on the bus, her actions were
not pre-meditated by considered and strong. Rosa’s actions made her loud, not her
voice and through this example Cain highlights what individuals can achieve
because of their introverted nature, not in spite of.
Throughout the book Cain continues to describe a host of people, including herself,
highlighting successes of individuals who are deemed introverts. Her book allowed
me to reflect on my own introversion and see it under a new perspective, in a world
where talking more is praised, maybe talking less is equally as good. Through
highlighting the differences of extraversion and introversion it demonstrates the
equal value that both personalities have in society. This book enabled me to unpick the language that is thrown around society, ‘she’s nice but too quiet’, ‘she works hard
in lessons, but I wish she would speak more in class’. These comments on
introversion merely fuel the misconceptions that introversion is something
undesirable and a character fault when in reality, it’s only something positive.
<p>The post Protecting the Introvert first appeared on Her Campus.</p>