Empire Falls Character Analysis

Throughout the history of biology and psychology there has been a firm belief of the effects of nature versus nurture. This belief explains that humans have innate traits when they are born but new ones can be developed throughout time. In the book Empire Falls there are many characters that display this change of character but more importantly the books shows how it affects their own and others lives, one such character is Tick Roby. Tick was first introduced to us as a burdened teen, but gradually her stress is alleviated and her progression can be seen throughout the book. Another character would be John Voss, although in the beginning he showed signs of depression and was mistreated, due of Tick he becomes more social and one could even …show more content…
This stress can be first seen when she is carrying a backpack that causes her to hunch over when she walks to the restaurant. The origin of this stress can be seen from Ticks response when Candace attempts to persuade her to reform the relationship between her and Zack ““I know how he treats her,” Tick Says, studying her snake critically. What it needs, she decides, is a tongue. “It’s how he used to treat me.”” (page 80). The abuse she received was apparent from her dialogue, but the way she mentions the tongue is also important. It symbolizes that what Tick needs is a tongue, instead of keeping her stress and the abuse from Zack to herself she needs to be able to talk to someone and alleviate her “backpack”. Another origin of the stress is her mother, Janine, a mother should provide the support and attempt to relieve the stress from Tick, but instead Janine is too infatuated with her own bodily image and her second marriage which causes her to make selfish decisions that hurt Tick. These worries that life has put on her is clear and Richard Russo did an excellent job showing the reader her depressing but realistic human river. This river diverges from its original path near the end of the book which can be seen when she begins to …show more content…
The way I view this is everyone has a predetermined path in life by society based on the social class and the skillset you are born with , but if you just break out of that shell and try do do something new you might just find your own human river. This can be seen in the life of the famous psychologist, Dr.Phil, at 12 he was homeless and living in a car but because of his hardwork and effort he was able to succeed and become the person he is today, he also is able to affect many people's human rivers on a daily basis providing the support and advice they