Our Secret

1363 Words3 Pages

Every individual has a biological influence on their development; two individuals combine their genetic information to create a new organism, carrying biological predispositions that will shape their expressed behaviors and characteristics. However, Susan Griffin, author of the essay “Our Secret,” argues that while genetic influences are significant, they are not the sole contributors to an individual’s development. Throughout her essay, Griffin reveals to her readers that the presence of external, uncontrollable factors from an individual’s environment can be equally influential as they diverge the individual off of the predetermined path of life created by biological factors. Griffin begins her exploration of these external factors through her interconnected “matrix” that connects all individuals to each other and world around them. Griffin states that each individual “is a part of a large matrix of relationship and society…all the lives that surround [them] are in [them]” (Griffin 371). Griffin indicates that there are societal circumstances that a person does not have a choice in at birth, such as military or political presence, cultural and ethnic background, and socio-economic status; these external factors of the “matrix” are molded into the lives of each individual, shaping them to match their surroundings (Griffin 371). At the same time, the influence of relationships on an individual is also a crucial component to the “matrix.” An individual does not get to choose their biological parents or the family that they are born into. The actions exhibited by a person’s family and the treatment they receive from those individuals provides an influential model for behavior; all the lives that “surround [them] are in [them]” as Gr... ... middle of paper ... ...ed me recognize how I have turned out the way I am and that I have the power to change my own future and I hope by taking the initiative to control my anxiety that my actions could influence another to do the same. It may not seem like much, as I am just one person in this world- but if anything, Griffin’s project has revealed that it only takes the action of one individual to change the life of another. Works Cited Ferro, Catalina. "Catalina Ferro Performs ‘Anxiety Group’" YouTube. YouTube, 10 June 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. "The Genetics of Alcoholism." National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Oct. 2003. Web. 06 Dec. 2013. Griffin, Susan. “Our Secret.” 1992. Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers. 9th ed. Ed. David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky. Bedford/St. Martin’s. Boston, 2011. 335-382. Print.

Show More
Related

  • Perspectives through Voices in Our Time by John Edgar Wideman

    667 Words  | 2 Pages

    Wideman, John Edgar. “Our Time.” Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers. 9th ed. David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky, Ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008. 657-694. Print.

    Read More

  • Deviance In Society: Wideman's Our Time

    1337 Words  | 3 Pages

    Wideman, John Edgar. "Our Time". Ways of reading: An Anthology for Writers [ninth edition]. Ed. Bartholomae, David and Anthony Petrosky. N.Y.|Boston: Bedford/St. Martin Press. 2011.655-694. Print.

    Read More

  • Susan Griffin’s Our Secret and the Film Babel

    2150 Words  | 5 Pages

    The idea that a single person’s actions can resonate and intrude into other people’s lives is a concept not often though about. Being that each of us has our own individual life to worry about, it is hard to imagine that we are all deeply interconnected to others within the human race. We often tend to only think of ourselves and our immediate families; disregarding our relationship to everyone else in this world. Each one of us holds a position in life in which we all influence one or more persons. Depending on the amount of a power a person holds certain people can influence an even wider range of others. These positions do not always have to do with a career or a job, as socioeconomic positions are fair play in this world (a rich man of resources exudes more power and influence than a homeless man). Even though those who hold more power in society actions and personality can also influences more people than one may think. A person’s occupation can also establish a connection with others which allows for influence. Since people are highly interconnected to others and their surroundings, we must approach the decisions we make with regard to the preservation of morality. Certainly we have law, however it is the duty of the people to make the right choices and to teach doctrines that do not threaten or hurt others. Individuals yield more power than they think they do, as many are influenced by the ways that others approach things. In Susan Griffin’s “Our Secret” and the critically acclaimed film “Babel”, the way in which people are connected seems to be a consistent theme though out both of the texts. In these works we see how the actions or decisions of a single person can influence and corrupt the lives of many.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Our Secret by Susan Griffin

    1534 Words  | 4 Pages

    Griffin, Susan. “Our Secret”. Ways of Reading Eds. David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky. Sixth edition. Boston. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002.

    Read More

  • Essay On The Digestive System

    1284 Words  | 3 Pages

    4)Stomach: The stomach squeezes and mixes food with enzymes for hours before it releases the mixture into the small intestine.

    Read More

  • Free Nature vs. Nurture Essay

    484 Words  | 1 Pages

    Today, realising that genes and environment cooperate and interact synergistically, traditional dichotomy of nature vs. nurture is commonly seen as a false dichotomy. Especially operant conditioning, i.e. the learning of the consequences of one's own behavior can lead to positive feedback loops between genetic predispositions and behavioral consequences that render the question as to cause and effect nonsensical. Positive feedback has the inherent tendency to exponentially amplify any initial small differences. For example, an at birth negligible difference between two brothers in a gene affecting IQ to a small percentage, may lead to one discovering a book the will spark his interest in reading, while the other never gets to see that book. One becomes an avid reader who loves intellectual challenges while the other never finds a real interest in books, but hangs out with his friends more often. Eventually, the reading brother may end up with highly different IQ scores in standardized tests, simply because the book loving brother has had more opportunities to train his brain. Had both brother received identical environmental input, their IQ scores would hardly differ.

    Read More

  • The Digestive System And The Digestive System

    782 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...ve eaten, to break down the food into a liquid mixture and to slowly empty that liquid mixture into the small intestine. Once the bolus has entered your stomach it begins to be broken down with the help of the strong muscles and gastric juices which are located in the walls of your stomach. The gastric juices are made up of hydrochloric acid, water, and mucus- and the main enzyme inside of your stomach is what is known as pepsin, which needs to be surrounded in an acidic setting in order to do its job, that is to break down protein. Once the bolus has been inside of your stomach for long enough it begins to form into a liquid called chyme, and what keeps the chyme from flowing back into our esophagus are ring shaped muscles known as sphincters located at the beginnings and ends of the stomach and they have the task of controlling the flow of solids and liquids.

    Read More

  • Gastroileal Reflex Lab Report

    1402 Words  | 3 Pages

    The intestinal phase of gastric secretion and emptying occurs in the duodenum as a response to arriving chyme and is moderated by hormones ad nervous reflexes. It ensures that the composition and pH of chyme is correct before entering the intestines. Stretching of the duodenum enhances gastric secretion through the production of gastrin which stimulates gastric secretions. Decreased pH and lipids in the duodenum trigger chemoreceptors to send inhibitory signals to the stomach. Chyme in the duodenum also stimulate cells to release messengers that stimulate secretions in the pancreas and gall bladder. The compounds released work to suppress secretion in the gastric system and reduce the stomachs motility. This gives the duodenum time to process its contents before receiving more. The duodenum initially stimulates gastric function but then quickly works to inhibit it. This is a negative feedback system in that the receptors in the duodenum determine control the amount of material entering it through various

    Read More

  • Food Digestive System Essay

    617 Words  | 2 Pages

    In order to use the food we eat our body has to break the food down into the smaller molecules that can process, it also has to excrete waste. The process begins in the mouth. It first begins with your mouth and your salivary glands. Just at the sight of the food your mouth begins to develop saliva, which will be used to moisten and lubricate the food as you are chewing your food. This is called the motility and mechanical processing. Once the food has been chewed its broken down by the chemical action of the salivary enzymes. You have smooth muscles and the movements of the smooth muscles help your food make its way into the esophagus. The digestive tube is mainly lined with four layers. There are smooth muscles called sphincters that are between the junctions of the GI tract. These sphincters are what help the food pass through the digestive system and then they relax in order to deposit the food into the stomach. The main function of the digestive system is to break down food

    Read More

  • Genetic Determinism

    2847 Words  | 6 Pages

    Steen, R. Grant. DNA and Destiny: Nurture and Nature in Human Behavior. New York: Plenum Press, 1996.

    Read More

  • Understanding the Intricacies of the Digestive System

    924 Words  | 2 Pages

    The small intestine is made up of the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum. In the small intestine food that has already been broken down by chewing and stomach enzymes is further degraded by additional enzymes. Some of these chemicals are secreted in the lumen (Health Line, December 9, 2014). Small intestine it absorb most of the nutrients from we eat, then there is the long intestine. The large intestine (colon) extends from the cecum to the anus and includes the ascending colon, the transverse colon, the descending colon, the sigmoid colon, and the rectum. (Healthwise Staff,2014). The large intestine is the last section of the gastrointestinal tract that performs and absorbing water and vitamins while converting digested food into feces. Even though it’s shorter than the small intestine in length, the large intestine is thicker then the small intestine. The last and finally part is the anus, the opening at the end of the alimentary canal through which solid waste matter leaves the body. Anus is where all the food that goes in your mouth it comes back out of the anus, the anus is connect to the bottom of the rectum. In the digestive system there are includes accessory organs that assist in digestive processes which include salivary glands, liver, gallbladder, and pancreas. The salivary gland is found around your mouth and throat, next is the liver. The liver is the largest intestine in the body it stores energy, removes poisons and digest food. Then comes the

    Read More

  • Nature vs Nurture: Twin Studies and Adoption

    1969 Words  | 4 Pages

    “The term “nature versus nurture” is used to refer to a long-running scientific debate. The source of debate is the question of which has a greater influence on development: someone's innate characteristics provided by genetics, or someone's environment. In fact, the nature versus nurture debate has been largely termed obsolete by many researchers, because both innate characteristics and environment play a huge role in development, and they often intersect”. (Smith, 2010 p. 1)

    Read More

  • Essay About Digestion

    760 Words  | 2 Pages

    One of the first steps of digestion begins in the stomach. The stomach is an organ, which gets the bolus from the esophagus and helps with chemical and mechanical digestion. Now, let’s break that down a little bit. First of all, if you don’t know what the stomach looks like, it is J-shaped. That should make it pretty easy for you to recognize. Okay, so, bolus is a small, circular mass of digested food. The esophagus is a muscular tube that is used to help food and liquids make its way into the stomach. But, the esophagus is not involved with digestion. The mechanical digestion is the breaking down of big chunks of food into smaller chunks. On the other hand, chemical digestion, is a more complicated form of digestion, which break down molecules and passes through the blood stream. So, once again, the stomach gets the mass of digested food from the esophagus and helps with the mechanical and chemical digestion.

    Read More

  • The Dogs Digestive System

    1641 Words  | 4 Pages

    It has three functions which are to act as a food reserve, to break down food further whilst mixing it with digestive juices and to start protein digestion (Aspinall and Cappello, 2009). There are gastric pits within the gastric mucosa that produce hydrochloric acid, mucus and pepsin. The process of breaking down and mixing the food with digestive juices takes approximately two hours using the muscles to contract and mix the contents of the stomach. Once this is complete, chyme is produced which moves into the duodenum (Dallas, 2012).

    Read More

  • How Nurture is More Dominant than Nature

    1120 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 1874, Francis Galton said, “Nature is all that a man brings with him into the world; nurture is every influence that affects him after his birth”. The human body contains millions upon millions of cells and each of these cells contains hereditary information and DNA. However, there is no proof that the information carried in these genes predetermines the way in which we behave. I believe it is our life experiences and what we see and are told that shape the way in which we behave. Therefore, it appears to me that nurturing plays a far more governing and dominant role in a human being’s development rather than nature.

    Read More

More about Our Secret

Open Document