Nurture Vs. Nature Debate In Ham On Rye

Have you ever thought of your childhood and how those past experiences make you the person you are today? One of the oldest arguments in psychology dealt with whether a person's behavior is built by its own genetic forces, or by environmental factors that causes us to learn such behaviors. Behaviors such as being antisocial, violent, or simply lack of emotion can be a cause of concern when it affects others and not just the individual. In order to prevent such behaviors, if possible, people have to research why these behaviors arose in the first place. There has been different variations of answers to the nurture vs nature debate. For example, Charles Bukowski expresses his idea in his novel Ham on Rye that the characters in his story behave

Third, psychiatrist Bruce D Perry believes there are consequences of growing up in a neglectful environment that can ultimately create abnormalities in the brain, and ultimately generate erratic behavior. Finally, Dr. Cohen and Dr. Moffitt also believe that those who are raised in an environment where your parents exhibit antisocial behavior and maternal depression, have more of a chance of behaving antisocially themselves. All these arguments believe that social factors (including the political/social system, parents/guardians, society's standards, and experiences) deeply contribute to the way we as human beings portray our behaviors and

For example, Henry experiences many disciplined beatings by his father during his childhood, as well as growing up isolated from others in a poor rural neighborhood. These social factors helped build Henry’s character as the story progressed. For example, because of his father’s beatings, Henry had the tendency to always solve the problems he gets into by expressing desires of violence and fist fights. Whether it being harassed by former classmates at work or simply threatening even his friends, Henry always had a way to solving problems with his violent nature, just like how his father solved his problems whenever Henry didn’t live up to his (or society’s) expectations. Furthermore, the poverty and similar discipline to the other children in Henry’s neighborhood also took a toll on most of them. As a result from the infectious neighborhood, the kids are portrayed as physically superior than other schools and even those who are a couple grades above them. This is a consequence of experiencing such high stress levels as a child that later on trigger puberty at a much more faster and efficient way. A society’s expectations can also have an affect as to how people think and eventually how they behave For example, Henry’s mom