Here I Stand Ironing

When you are born you obtain your mother and fathers physical features; but, your personality is obtained by the environment that you are put in. The argument between nature and nurture has been one of the lengthiest debate. on the nurture side of the discussion, states that we get out traits from life experiences. This indicates that nurturing can make people into devolve new behaviors. However, the argument between nature and nurture has been one of the lengthiest debate. The nature side of the argument suggests that our human development comes from “animal instincts”. The hypothesis of the nature theory states that our traits are inherited. So, for example our sexuality, aggression, and our likes and dislikes comes from your parents. Studies have shown that disorders and conditions like schizophrenia, depression, and alcoholism can be inherited. Though there is no correct answer for this debate in this moment of time, by stories such as “Here I Stand Ironing” by Tillie Olson, we can disclaim that nurture can affect development more that nature.

In the story, “I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen. We can clearly see that Emily’s behavior is seen to be brought up by nurture more than nature. From the beginning of the story while the Emily’s mother is thinking we can see that she had many struggles in her life that kept her from properly taking care of Emily, for example, her divorce, giving birth to more children, and having multiple jobs. She sent Emily away to homes on multiple occasions, which would affect her traits with every new place she stayed in. During Emily and her mother’s relationship distancing, Emily’s personality changed. The effect of neglect shaped Emily into becoming very introverted, depressed, and frail. Because, Emily was neglected from such a young age, she had no time to develop her possible hereditary traits. Emily actually started enjoying herself when she found the art of comedy and start flourish into her true self. Right after Emily became more healthy, confident, and happy through her success. Through this story, we can conclude that nurture can be more powerful than nature. If instantly given negative experiences in childhood, many people will introvert themselves. Emily never got the chance to learned what was motherly love is, so that may be why she kept to herself since she did not know how to act and create friendships with others. If Emily were to be given attention from her mother, she would have probably been a very extroverted and positive girl; however, if Emily got raised in a different way/ setting she may never have found her passion.

Though, the nature side of the debate has strong point I personally believe that nurture is one of the ways you develop your traits. As seen in the story Emily is negated from her mother and maybe her father since he left when she was so young. Since her mother couldn’t support the both of them she sent Emily away many times to many different people. During the process of moving in and out of these houses Emily was staying in she must have felt unwanted from her mother, as she was just pushing Emily aside. Before Emily found her passion on comedy she didn’t have that many friends and even when she did they would come and go. If Emily had a stable place to stay with her mother she wouldn’t have been so introverted and frail. In my opinion, the reason why we all end up like we are and why Emily ends up like she is, is because our upbringing, environment, and life experiences.