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Montezuma II's speech

This object symbolizes the pitfalls of interacting with new cultures, especially in relation to language barriers. Gladwell states in the introduction to the text that in 1519, Hernan Cortes arrived in Mexico and came upon the grand Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlan. Cortes subsequently misunderstood the nuances of this object since he was unfamiliar with the reverential mode associated with the Nahuatl language.

Handshake

This object symbolizes the fallacy of transparency. Gladwell explains that in the world of the social sciences, the term transparency is used to refer to the human tendency to believe that how people present themselves externally will reliably communicate their interior condition. This object was used by an Allied politician to assess the level of danger Adolf Hitler posed to the rest of the world.

Gavel

This object symbolizes the subjectivity of the American criminal justice system and the way in which...

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