Sofia Tellez
Kimberly Ann Joyner
AP Language and Composition
31 May 2016
Nature versus Nurture
When a person is caught for a crime and sentenced to prison, the average person does not think about the criminal instead one thinks about the victim. There are only a few people who take the time to study the criminal in hopes of learning more about what motivated that individual to commit the crime. One such person was Truman Capote, the author of In Cold Blood, who took the time to acquaint himself with Perry Smith. Perry Smith was one of the criminals, along with Richard Hickock, charged with the murder of the Clutter family. The Clutter's murder took the whole town by surprise, however once Smith and Hickock were caught the town rose up against …show more content…
Similarly children learn from "experiences, such as childhood bullying, abuse, or other trauma" (" Nature vs. Nurture "). As a child Smith had to go through his parents divorce, and learn to adapt to changes. In school he would get picked on because he was "...short and stocky a new kid in school they tried to mistreat him" (Capote, 127). Due to these events the "evil" in Smith was fed and it continued to grow. Smith was also mistreated for being half-Indian. There was this nurse at the Salvation Army who would call him "nigger" because according to her African Americans and Indians were the same (Capote, 132). Smith could not even be comfortable in his own skin because he was criticized for something that was completely out of his power. In his childhood Smith was exposed to many hardships that would change any child's perspective on the world just like it did for …show more content…
Children learn "...social behavior such as aggression through the process of observation learning" (McLeod). After the nuns showed aggressiveness towards Smith he learned to mistrust everyone. His faith in a higher power died and he lost hope of refuge in religion. Smith's life had been "...no bed of roses but pitiful, an ugly and lonely..."(Capote, 246). Due to the experiences that Smith had to go through, it would be very easy to feel sympathy for him and write him off as just another "kind" murderer. However one has to understand that he was a victim of life and that if he had been in a better environment as a child he could have turned out differently. Unfortunately for Smith his childhood was "marked by brutality and lack of concern on the part of both parents" (Capote, 296). In certain cases an abused child can at least count with the help of one of their parents, for Smith that was not the case. His mother was an alcoholic and his father was no better than his mother. Both of his parents were incapable of caring and bringing up a child like
Kimberly Ann Joyner
AP Language and Composition
31 May 2016
Nature versus Nurture
When a person is caught for a crime and sentenced to prison, the average person does not think about the criminal instead one thinks about the victim. There are only a few people who take the time to study the criminal in hopes of learning more about what motivated that individual to commit the crime. One such person was Truman Capote, the author of In Cold Blood, who took the time to acquaint himself with Perry Smith. Perry Smith was one of the criminals, along with Richard Hickock, charged with the murder of the Clutter family. The Clutter's murder took the whole town by surprise, however once Smith and Hickock were caught the town rose up against …show more content…
Similarly children learn from "experiences, such as childhood bullying, abuse, or other trauma" (" Nature vs. Nurture "). As a child Smith had to go through his parents divorce, and learn to adapt to changes. In school he would get picked on because he was "...short and stocky a new kid in school they tried to mistreat him" (Capote, 127). Due to these events the "evil" in Smith was fed and it continued to grow. Smith was also mistreated for being half-Indian. There was this nurse at the Salvation Army who would call him "nigger" because according to her African Americans and Indians were the same (Capote, 132). Smith could not even be comfortable in his own skin because he was criticized for something that was completely out of his power. In his childhood Smith was exposed to many hardships that would change any child's perspective on the world just like it did for …show more content…
Children learn "...social behavior such as aggression through the process of observation learning" (McLeod). After the nuns showed aggressiveness towards Smith he learned to mistrust everyone. His faith in a higher power died and he lost hope of refuge in religion. Smith's life had been "...no bed of roses but pitiful, an ugly and lonely..."(Capote, 246). Due to the experiences that Smith had to go through, it would be very easy to feel sympathy for him and write him off as just another "kind" murderer. However one has to understand that he was a victim of life and that if he had been in a better environment as a child he could have turned out differently. Unfortunately for Smith his childhood was "marked by brutality and lack of concern on the part of both parents" (Capote, 296). In certain cases an abused child can at least count with the help of one of their parents, for Smith that was not the case. His mother was an alcoholic and his father was no better than his mother. Both of his parents were incapable of caring and bringing up a child like