Perry Smiths Nature And Nurture - 1304 Words

Are people designed or defined? Some say that inherited traits design individuals. However, others say the way life treats a person defines them. In the case of Perry Smith, nurture seems to be casting the deciding vote in his life. Nurture definitely trumps nature in deciding the way Perry Smith s inner thoughts, feelings, and actions take shape. Perry Smith s inner musings form as a result of the suffering he undergoes throughout his life. Perry contemplates many thoughts that the reader is able to see in In Cold Blood, and these thoughts seem to have a great deal to do with his turbulent past. He divulges, quite clearly, just how much every major event in his life affected him. For example, Perry describes to the reader the first†¦show more content†¦Humankind has mistreated him repeatedly since he was a child. Children can’t handle emotions very well. If they feel mistreated they believe they are being mistreated, and if they feel unloved they believe they are unloved.Young juveniles don t try to reason away their emotions; they are what they are. So when a child builds up so much negative emotion, those feelings don t just go away. They stick with the child forever, or until the child resolves them. The psychiatrist who evaluated Perry in In Cold Blood(Pg. 191) stated quite distinctly, The history relating to extreme violence, whether fantasied, observed in reality, or actually experienced by the child, fits in with the psychoanalytic hypothesis that the child s exposure to overwhelming stimuli, before he can master them, is closely linked to early defects in ego formation and later severe disturbances in impulse control. In all of these cases, there was evidence of severe emotional deprivation in early life. This clearly describes the person of Perry Smith. He underwent severe emotional deprivation as a child, and as an adult, he does indeed have defects in ego formation and no impulse control. His lack of impulse control is evident when Perry slits Herb Clutter s throat. But I didn t mean it. I meant to call his bluff, make him argue me out of it, make him admit he was a phony and a coward. See, it was something between me and Dick. I knelt down beside Mr.Show MoreRelatedTruman Capote -In Cold Blood - Nature vs Nurture1274 Words   |  6 PagesBlood. Question 2 â€Å"Nature vs Nu rture† Truman Capote’s acclaimed â€Å"non-fiction† novel, In Cold Blood explores the concept as to whether killers are born or made, following the brutal murders of the Clutter family in rural Kansas. Capote develops Perry Smith’s horrid, unfortunate upbringing as a key narrative device which serves to illustrate the effect of childhood experiences on adult behaviour. Capote manipulates the reader’s idea of morality, controversially portraying Perry Smith in a sympatheticRead MoreIn Cold Blood: Nature vs Nurture Essay885 Words   |  4 Pagestrial: death penalty. The final outcome of the trail was never to be any different than death. â€Å"Of all the people in all the world, the Clutters were the least likely to be murdered† (Capote 85). We know the two men who killed the Clutter family, Perry Smith and Bill Hickock, preplanned the crime with malice and forethought. Although the actions were crul and grusome, does Death Row fit what they did if their pa sts, childhood environments and situation, are bad. Capote shows the effect of childhoodRead MoreAnalysis of In Cold Blood by Truman Capote Essay911 Words   |  4 Pages and execution of the killers. As this twisted novel unravels, Capote defines the themes of childhood influences relevant to the adulthood of the murderers, opposite personalities, and nature versus nurture. Truman Capote gives the reader a detailed report of Perry Smiths and Dick Hickocks childhoods. Smiths childhood was very problematic and scarred by years of abuse. He witnessed his father abusing his mother, which happened to result in a divorce. Due to these problems, he ran away from homeRead MoreNature vs Nurture in Truman Capote’s Novel, In Cold Blood Essay1058 Words   |  5 Pagesof English, once wrote, â€Å"Nature makes the boy toward, nurture sees him forward.† Mulcaster recognizes that both genetic and environmental factors determine the type of a person one becomes. Truman Capote’s nonfiction novel, In Cold Blood gives the reader an opportunity to see prime examples of how nature and nurture influence one’s character. Capote’s novel, In Cold Blood introduces the reader to two men; Richard Eugene Hickock known as Dick throughout the novel, and Perry Edward Smith whose livesRead MoreNature Vs Nurture : Nature Versus Nurture1360 Words   |  6 PagesNature vs Nurture Nature versus nurture is a complicated subject to speak about. If one’s abilities or lack of are due to their environment or their genes. For example, a child is behaving negatively in class. Many individuals are quick to jump to the conclusion that â€Å"Oh, that kid’s parents don’t care, or just don’t know how to raise their child.† That could very well be a possibility, but most people never think that maybe they have a hereditary problem, such as ADHD, that was passedRead MoreTruman Capotes In Cold Blood1591 Words   |  7 PagesThe American Dream is a dominant theme in American literature, and in Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, the idealistic dream is critically evaluated. In this paper, I will explain the context of the work, and then I will compare and contrast Dick any Perry (the murderers) with the Clutter family (the murdered) in relation to the theme of the fragility of the American Dream. Capote wrote what he considered to be the first nonfiction novel. Simply defined a nonfiction novel is one in which an eventRead MoreEssay on HUMAN BEINGS AND NATURE DURING THE REVOLUTION OF THE MIND3395 Words   |  14 PagesHUMAN BEINGS AND NATURE DURING THE REVOLUTION OF THE MIND Enlightenment is mans release from his self-incurred tutelage. Tutelage is mans inability to make use of his understanding without direction from another. Self-incurred is this tutelage when its cause lies not in lack of reason but in lack of resolution and courage to use it without direction from another. Dare to Know! Have courage to use your own reason!- that is the motto of enlightenment. -Immanuel Kant, 1784 (1) From theRead MoreCorporate Social Responsibility10163 Words   |  41 Pagesenvironmental, and computer ethics- -relating them to real-world problems facing society. FROM MEDICAL TO BIOMEDICAL ETHICS From its earliest history, medicine was associated with the acceptance of special moral obligations by those who attempted to assist nature in promoting health and overcoming illness. Because physicians brought specialized knowledge or expertise to bear on vulnerable patients, the Hippocratic tradition of medical ethics emphasized their responsibilities not just to avoid harm and to doRead MoreStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall393164 Words   |  1573 Pagesgraphs that are found in the text. Videos on DVD Adopters can access the 48 videos on the 2013 Organizational Behavior Video Library DVD. These videos have been produced to depict real-world OB issues and give students a taste of the multi-faceted nature of OB in real companies. Learning Management Systems BlackBoard and WebCT Course Cartridges are available for download from www.pearsonhighered.com/irc. These standard course cartridges contain the Instructor’s Manual, TestGen, Instructor PowerPointsRead MoreDeveloping Management Skills404131 Words   |  1617 Pagesand the past is not sufficient to explain the future.† Almost no one would argue that â€Å"permanent white water† best characterizes our current environment. Almost everything is in flux, from our technology and methods of transacting business to the nature of education and the definition of the family. INTRODUCTION 3 Despite all this change in our environment, there is something that has remained, and continues to remain, relatively constant. With minor variations and stylistic differences,