Nature Vs. Nurture In Margaret Laurence's The Half Husky
One of the longest and oldest debate in science and psychology is the debate of nature versus nurture. Simply, it is trying to answer the question of where one gets their traits. Some think that it is mostly from their DNA, having predisposed traits. This is the ‘nature side of the argument’. Although others, on the nurture side, believe our traits are based on our experiences, our childhood, and external forces. In Margaret Laurence’s The Half Husky, a story of a husky and abuse, she tries to convey the idea that our actions and attitudes are greatly affected by external forces. The external forces (that can be either positive or negative) that act upon the characters in ‘The Half-Husky’ completely affects how their life turns out and their …show more content…
The text states: “His aunt, with an explosive quickness that made me jerk in every nerve, snatched the wooden spoon out of the bowl of batter and hit him across the face. Harvey’s eyes opened a little more, but only a little. (Page 40)” This violent act, and Harvey’s almost nonchalant response, shows that this abuse is regular and has been going on for a long time. Also, how she assumes how Harvey is automatically guilty of stealing the telescope, without even asking him. His life at home is a negative external effect, and would have negative impacts on his attitude and actions. An example of how his negative upbringing impacted his behaviour, his abuse of Nanuk. Throughout the story, Harveys abuses the dog. From ‘[driving] the wooden javelin at the dog (Page 31)’, to actually ‘lighting a whole bunch of matches all together,... and dropping them [on Nanuk] (Page 35)’. This horrible abuse and violence likely stems from his own abuse in his home. This vicious cycle of abuse, coupled with neglect, leads Harvey to become the abuser, instead of the abused. He was ignored, not loved in his own home, not shown the care and love that is necessary in every childhood. Because Harvey was abused, he thinks it will be okay for him to abuse him, unleashing all those bottled up emotions
Above The Waterfall By Ron Rash
1102 Words | 5 PagesOne woman living in Appalachia described her life after a violent relationship as sensing a “constant presence of terror of living with a constant fear of punishment” (Willis). Within the novel, there are many violent incidents that occur such as Gerald being tackled by the employees of the resort explain that “his face looked like a sander had been at it” (Rash 38) and Les explaining how his grandfather father would “come home drunk and slap my grandmother around” (Rash 105). The psychological effects of this action made Gerald afraid of the owner of the resort and made Les obtain a fear of fathering children because he was worried he would end up like his grandfather. In Appalachia is seems that violence is common more so domestic violence than any other which is strange considering how close their family ties are within the community. The majority of loss of security within the household seems to come from lower income families.
Summary Of Living Like Weasels By Annie Dillard
568 Words | 3 PagesPulitzer prize-winning nature writer Annie Dillard, in her essay “Living Like Weasels”, claims that humans should adopt the weasels’ way of life, living purely from necessity. Dillard’s purpose is to advise people to live happy lives by focusing on their true passions. She adopts a didactic tone to explain to her readers that living out of instinct is the best way to live. To begin her essay, Dillard describes the wild weasels’ habits by posing a question to herself and her readers, “who knows what he thinks?” (1).
Im Sorry I M Sorry By Alex Flinn
1479 Words | 6 PagesThe author Alex Flinn, mostly creates an accurate and unbiased view of the topic in the following way(s), by showing how domestic abuse has hurt many people with the cycle of abuse, types of abusers(Mario), and different views of abuse (Journal to Narrator), but fails to accurately portray different types of abuse in the following way(s) by showing how the Dolphins are a big impact on Nick’s life and why it changed the way he realized he was hurting Caitlyn verbally and physically. In many ways there are many children that had grown up with being abused either mostly verbally or physically. But as the years go on for some children that cycle continues on that they carry on the reason to abuse the loved ones. Flinn has shown many different
St Kucy's Home For Girls Raised By Wolves Character Analysis
858 Words | 4 PagesIn the short story “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves,” author Karen Russell uses short epigraphs to provide a reference for characters’ progress throughout the 5 “stages” present in the story. The story follows a pack of wolf-girls who have been sent to St. Lucy’s, a facility dedicated to helping human children raised by wolf parents adapt to human culture. These “stages” represent the five chapters in the process of adapting, each of which begin with an excerpt, or epigraph, from The Jesuit Handbook on Lycanthropic Culture Shock. These epigraphs describe the emotions and difficulties that the wolf-girls are likely to experience and how the characters will likely act during the stage. However, in Stage 2, when the wolf-girls have started to adapt, it becomes evident that not all characters feel and act as the epigraph predicts.
Theme Of Silence In Chaim Potok's The Chosen
713 Words | 3 PagesDanny’s child and teen years will eventually be considered as “years of suffering” (288). Reb Saunders’ parenting style also has aspects of emotional abuse to it. Emotional abuse is defined as “behavior by parents or caregivers that can seriously interfere with a child’s cognitive, emotional, psychological or social development” (“Emotional Abuse”). Though Reb Saunders’ is not an abuser, his parenting style could have lead to behavioral issues with Danny, though it fortunately did
Old Cherokee Nature Vs Nurture
180 Words | 1 PagesIn the Old Cherokee Legend, the “evil” and the “good” wolves relate to the nature vs. nurture debate because we are born with both happiness, the “good wolf”, and the bad, the “evil wolf.” Through time one will receive characteristics through both nature and nurture. Nature is where you are born with it, or heredity. Nurture is what and where you were born and raised, or learned. Nature will start in the womb and nurture will start when born.
The Undermining Of Mental Health In Harvey By Elwood P. Dowd
1323 Words | 6 PagesIn Harvey it is made clear from the first few minutes of the movie who is suffering from a mental illness, Elwood P. Dowd. Elwood spends most of his days at the bars in town with his close friend, Harvey. Harvey is a roughly six foot tall white rabbit who Elwood refers to as a pooka which explains why only Elwood can see him, normally. Elwood is very kind to everyone he meets and never causes any harm, but that does not keep his older sister, Veta Louise Dowd Simmons, from trying to lock him up in a sanitarium. Through the entirety of Harvey, most time is spent trying to get Elwood back to the sanitarium so that he can be properly treated for his mental illness that allows him to see Harvey.
Life Exposed In Linda Watson's Prairie Dog
341 Words | 2 PagesLinda Watson spends her twilight years rescuing prairie dogs. She has relocated some 80,000 over thirty years, more than any other person in the world. Watson spends every day traveling to farms, stalking “barking squirrel” burrows, using a hose to pump in water and dish soap, and grabbing threatened, wild animals with her bare, scarred hands. Prairie dogs are not well-regarded in West Texas, as few creatures are, a fact Watson identifies with as a woman reared in the macho ranching business. Before she left the world of breaking ungulates, a young Watson found herself trapped in the hostile terrain of an abusive husband.
Lord Of The Flies: Nature Vs. Nurture
718 Words | 3 PagesOur society is responsible for aggression. Many people argue that aggressive people were born with a predisposition to perform violent acts, but that does not settle with many psychologists’ studies. Other people believe that violent people were made from exposure to aggression during childhood. Both of these perspectives represent points of a larger argument started by Francis Galton 150 years ago most commonly known as “Nature versus Nurture”. After 150 years, and the founding of a new branch of science, epigenetics, scientists now have viable proof that that nurture is more influential in the case of aggression because epigenetics show that environments are responsible for gene expression.
The Importance Of Relationships In Tobias Wolff's Hunters In The Snow
1016 Words | 5 PagesIn life, one of the most precious things human beings have is their relationships with those that they spend a majority of their time with. Most of the time, people are able to understand how much these relationships enrich and improve their lives, and how boring and melancholy their lives would be without them. Although, sometimes people can have the tendency to take these relationships for granted because of their inclination to to be selfish or to hold on to their pride. Therefore, there are many “friendships” that are filled with lies and competition which cause these said relationships to become corrupt. In his short story “Hunters in the Snow”, Tobias Wolff uses the relationships between the characters Kenny, Tub, and Frank in a sequence of events to exemplify that sometimes people’s own pride and selfishness
Why Boys Become Savage Analysis
731 Words | 3 PagesThe Origin of Savagery Where does savagery come from? Are certain people evil from the moment they were born? Why do some people grow up as saints and leaders, while others grow up as killers and thieves? In Lord of the Flies and “Why Boys Become Vicious”, William Golding explains how one’s background and peers are able to affect who we are as people.
Nature Vs Nurture Theory
700 Words | 3 PagesThe nature vs. nurture debate centers on whether human behaviour and personality are inherited (nature) or acquired (nurture); in other words, whether a person’s environment or a person’s genetic inheritance determines their behaviour and personality. Goldsmith and Harman (1994) adopt a neutral position, in which both nature and nurture influence people, stating that they “believe that the fundamental issue concerns the interplay between characteristics of the individual and of the relationship” (54). Goldsmith and Harman discuss temperament and attachment for infant, with temperament being linked to the nature side of the debate and attachment being linked with the nurture side; as a result, the infant’s temperament influences the attachment bond between the infant and the mother, but the attachment bond influences the temperament of the child as well. Therefore, both nature and nurture interact with each other to produce people’s behaviour (Harman et al. 54). Andersen and Berk (1998) take on the nurture perspective, while Leary (1999) claims that nature is the determining factor of a person’s personality.
Essay On There Should Be Tougher Law Enforcement To Protect Against Domestic Violence
951 Words | 4 PagesA child who experiences trauma of domestic violence will hinder their emotional growth, hence the child will not develop and maintain a normal level of trust. A child that experiences domestic violence or is exposed to domestic violence can develop a fear of their environment, for they think that everyone will try to hurt them. They also do not trust anyone with their problems or issues, hence they will keep everything inside and this will affect their state of mind. An abused spouse may experience chronic psydiasmatic pain or pain due to diffuse trauma without visible evidence. This form of pain will have a very bad effect on the body.
Investigating Nature Vs. Nurture: The Story Of A Serial Killer
1213 Words | 5 PagesThis abuse can affect the actions emotionally and physically of the person. In a study done by the National Institute of Justice, the researchers found that, “childhood abuse heightened the risk for criminal behavior in adulthood by encouraging antisocial behavior during childhood”(Nicola Davies From abused child to serial killer: Investigating nature vs nurture in methods of murder). As this antisocial behavior continues in their future life, more signs can be seen. The abuse affects the person in several ways whether it be sexual, physical, or mental. Emotionally they do not know how to react to this, “They never learn the appropriate responses to trauma, and never develop other emotions, which is why they find it difficult to empathize with others”(Research guides:
Nature And Nurture Influence On Child Development Essay
662 Words | 3 PagesNature and Nurture Influences on Child Development Karla White ECE 205: Introduction to Child Development Instructor: Alesia Lane October 2, 2017 Nature and Nurture Influences on Child Development Describe the relationship between nature versus nurture. The nature vs. nature debate is the scientific, cultural, and philosophical debate about whether human culture, behavior, and personality are caused primarily by nature or nurture. Nature is often defined in this debate as genetic or hormone-based behaviors. Our genes determine the different traits that we have, such as eye color, hair, ear size, height and other traits.
More about Nature Vs. Nurture In Margaret Laurence's The Half Husky
Above The Waterfall By Ron Rash
1102 Words | 5 PagesSummary Of Living Like Weasels By Annie Dillard
568 Words | 3 PagesIm Sorry I M Sorry By Alex Flinn
1479 Words | 6 PagesSt Kucy's Home For Girls Raised By Wolves Character Analysis
858 Words | 4 PagesTheme Of Silence In Chaim Potok's The Chosen
713 Words | 3 PagesOld Cherokee Nature Vs Nurture
180 Words | 1 PagesThe Undermining Of Mental Health In Harvey By Elwood P. Dowd
1323 Words | 6 PagesLife Exposed In Linda Watson's Prairie Dog
341 Words | 2 PagesLord Of The Flies: Nature Vs. Nurture
718 Words | 3 PagesThe Importance Of Relationships In Tobias Wolff's Hunters In The Snow
1016 Words | 5 PagesWhy Boys Become Savage Analysis
731 Words | 3 PagesNature Vs Nurture Theory
700 Words | 3 PagesEssay On There Should Be Tougher Law Enforcement To Protect Against Domestic Violence
951 Words | 4 PagesInvestigating Nature Vs. Nurture: The Story Of A Serial Killer
1213 Words | 5 PagesNature And Nurture Influence On Child Development Essay
662 Words | 3 Pages