The phrase, ¨He comes from your side of the family” is used by many to explain why someone, a child maybe, has done something terrible or something that they should not have. To some, It is believed that genetics, or Nature, are the sole reason for a person's behavior, good or bad. Others believe that it is the environment that influences a person's behavior, and the environment can be anything or anyone- society, a community, a caretaker, or Nurture. The debate of Nurture vs Nature is an ongoing argument that has yet to be solved, but it is clear that Nurture is the most influential. Genetics, race, and biology do have somewhat of an impact on how a person deals with certain things, but it is the environment in which that person grew up in
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Nature is also introduced to in Kate Chopin’s Desiree’s Baby. Desiree was found on the street as a baby by her adopted mother and father, Madame and Monsieur Valmonde. Armand Aubigny, Desiree’s husband, first sees her at the place she was found and instantly wants to marry her, most likely for her beauty. It is said that he does not care for her past, which is yet to be revealed. They have a baby that they later find is not fully white, which means that neither is Desiree. Because of this, Armand ignores her and loses all compassion for her because he is ashamed to have married someone with an inferior African American background. Desiree sends a note to her mother who replies telling Desiree to come home to her mother who loves her, it can be assumed that she is indeed not fully white and may be the very reason she was left on the streets as a child. She tells Armand and he agrees that she should go and so she does with her baby. The short story ends with Armand finding out that his mother is African American in a letter to his father, “...that our dear Armand will never know that his mother, who adores him, belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery” (p.425), while burning every reminder of his family. Nurture is a powerful figure in this story, society taught Armand to look down on African Americans, and to treat them like they are beneath him. That is why he had many slaves which he was cruel to, and then kind when he found out about the …show more content…
It was the Nurture of society that made Armand Aubigny ashamed of Desiree and their baby. It was that feeling of superiority over that race, taught to him by society, that made him hate her, the baby, and made him feel as though God was punishing him. It made him feel obliged to have slaves, which he punished while in a bad mood. If it had been Nature that overpowered, surely the compassionate genes Armand’s father had would have passed down to him and the hateful, self serving genes of Pap Finn would have been inherited by Huck. In this case, it is
Nature is also introduced to in Kate Chopin’s Desiree’s Baby. Desiree was found on the street as a baby by her adopted mother and father, Madame and Monsieur Valmonde. Armand Aubigny, Desiree’s husband, first sees her at the place she was found and instantly wants to marry her, most likely for her beauty. It is said that he does not care for her past, which is yet to be revealed. They have a baby that they later find is not fully white, which means that neither is Desiree. Because of this, Armand ignores her and loses all compassion for her because he is ashamed to have married someone with an inferior African American background. Desiree sends a note to her mother who replies telling Desiree to come home to her mother who loves her, it can be assumed that she is indeed not fully white and may be the very reason she was left on the streets as a child. She tells Armand and he agrees that she should go and so she does with her baby. The short story ends with Armand finding out that his mother is African American in a letter to his father, “...that our dear Armand will never know that his mother, who adores him, belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery” (p.425), while burning every reminder of his family. Nurture is a powerful figure in this story, society taught Armand to look down on African Americans, and to treat them like they are beneath him. That is why he had many slaves which he was cruel to, and then kind when he found out about the …show more content…
It was the Nurture of society that made Armand Aubigny ashamed of Desiree and their baby. It was that feeling of superiority over that race, taught to him by society, that made him hate her, the baby, and made him feel as though God was punishing him. It made him feel obliged to have slaves, which he punished while in a bad mood. If it had been Nature that overpowered, surely the compassionate genes Armand’s father had would have passed down to him and the hateful, self serving genes of Pap Finn would have been inherited by Huck. In this case, it is