Nature vs Nurture: The Formation of Human Characteristics

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How does one person develop into the human that he or she is? Do his or her characteristics depend on the qualities he or she was born with? Or does his or her upbringing mold them into the person he or she becomes? The debate between nature and nurture is one that can be difficult to conclude and thus has been argued for centuries. Sheri S. Tepper explores this issue in her acclaimed novel The Gate to Women’s Country. The narrator of the work, Stavia, lives in a woman-dominated, post-apocalyptic country, where the women’s goal is to breed out the violent and murderous qualities that men are believed to possess. These women have an preconceived ideal people who are “CAPABLE of violence and ruthlessness, but very much in control of their tempers …show more content…

nurture in The Gate to Women’s Country, it is evident that nurture and upbringing dominates these characters and their decisions in life. Sherri S. Tepper 's statement that it is possible to breed out the bad qualities in humans through science is incorrect, because nurture and tradition are the factors that play the important role in molding a person into who he or she is are and how they choose to live his or her life. By the women of Women’s Country attempting to altar society and change their nature, they will not succeed unless the women start changing their methods of upbringing. The warriors will always be taught to be violent and protect their honor, the women of Women’s Country will continue producing children to send to the garrison, and the Holylanders will always be a corrupt, misogynistic society. As Dave Belden from The Gate to Women’s Country blog comments: “Do most men in our culture not cry easily because we are taught not to?…or is it in part because testosterone inhibits crying?” (feministsf.net). It is unrealistic to believe that one can change another’s genetic makeup simply by breeding out these traits. Instead, it is the way in which the men were taught that makes one believe that they may never cry. Nurture’s force will always take precedence over naturalistic

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