After You Comes Your Heritage

687 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Genetic influences on human development

Heritage has and will always be a part of life. Heritage can be split into two categories. Genetic heritage and social heritage. Which one affects the personality the most, and which one doesn’t? It’s the thing that shapes people’s personality. The thing that makes them unique. Every single event everyday has an affect on people. It can be small events, and it can also be bigger, more meaningful events. Social heritage is all about where the person grew up, what circumstances could shape him as a person. The genetic heritage is on the other hand completely opposite. It’s what people were born with, that no one can’t change. It’s something that even though how much someone try to resist it it will always be a part of the personality. The question is, which dominates? Social or genetic heritage. When looking through a biographical lens, the story about “The Ugly Duckling” is also know as a story about the author himself, Hans Christian Andersen, and how he looked at how genetic heritage dominated over social heritage in his own life.
The question between social and genetic heritage shows in many different cases in many different ways, especially in “The Ugly Duckling”. One of the most known and questionable cases is adoption. This is shown very clearly in “The Ugly Duckling”. When the duckling in the story was born ”it was very large and ugly”(¶7) and “it is(was) very large and not at all like the other(s)”(¶7) little ducklings. When a little child is given away at birth, and is adopted into a totally new environment with new rules, challenges, and a completely new life. This includes different parents and different friends than what maybe would have come around in another life. This is all about social heritage. The parents, the f...

... middle of paper ...

...es this by writing, “I think he will grow up strong, and able to take care of himself”(¶15). This was exactly what he did himself. He travelled around Europe, got famous and very rich. The moral of the story is also the moral of Andersen’s life. It doesn’t matter what the social heritage and surroundings are, it’s what the genetics pass on. What a person can truly do.
When looking through a biographical lens, the story about “The Ugly Duckling” is also know as a story about the author himself, Andersen, and how he looked at how genetic heritage dominated over social heritage in his own life. Andersen came from a bad neighbor hood, but he turned the boat around. His true swan came out, and he became famous all over the world. Even though social heritage has a big impact on people, it’s never possible to completely deny what ever is passed on from earlier generations.

Show More
Related

  • Human Nature in A&P by John Updikes

    1235 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...h his writing of “A&P”. This story shows that no matter who someone is, where they are from, their gender or their age, the basics do not change. People, are continuously at war with their need to feel something about themselves that sets them apart from others. By nature, people desire self expression, and some form of individualism. However, the desire inevitably will lead us to a cross road and a decision must be made. Humans, regularly have to battle both internal and external controls when it comes to making decisions in order to comply with social norms and avoid upsetting the delicate balance between what is socially acceptable and individualism.

    Read More

  • Family Trees: A History Of Genealogy

    716 Words  | 2 Pages

    People study history because they wish to strengthen human connections. The same can be drawn about the pursuit of genealogy. Whether it be connections to nobility, to a specific ethnic group or a specific event in history, there are diverse motivations to study genealogy According to Francois Weil, “Genealogy provides a powerful lens to understand personal and collective identities.” In essence Weil’s Family Trees: A History of Genealogy in America is a study of American identity over a span of four centuries through a discussion of genealogy and family history.

    Read More

  • Cyberspace & Identity

    554 Words  | 2 Pages

    Erik Erikson believed that people had to achieve something personally in order to move ahead in life. To not do so would bring complications through adulthood (274).

    Read More

  • Ancestry Of Ancestry

    2907 Words  | 6 Pages

    History is a vast collection of stories and perspectives from the beginning of time to the present day. Many people have only cursory knowledge of history and some of its important turning points. Few people stop to think about the experiences of those who lived through that history and what it must have been like during that time. Even fewer may be aware that they may have ancestors who were a part of that history. Through the combined methods of formal genealogy and historical research it is possible to see one’s own past come alive. This paper examines the ancestry of the 21st century history student ad uncovers the connections to past events in North American history.

    Read More

  • House On Mango Street Identity

    1885 Words  | 4 Pages

    In our ever-changing world, and its societies, the things one is exposed to, in terms of their communities, peers, their own thoughts, etc. can have an impact on what they believe in or their personalities/identities. In simpler words, what’s around you and what you go through can change who you are and what you think of life. These changes occur not only in reality but often times in books and novels. In the texts The House on Mango Street and “Only Daughter” by Sandra Cisneros, and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, the authors demonstrate how one’s experiences and environment can both positively and negatively impact their identity as well as help them push past social and cultural boundaries, shown through Esperanza Cordero’s observations

    Read More

  • AFR

    772 Words  | 2 Pages

    I said that the more we face adversities the stronger we become. An example is when Miep was a little girl in WWI, she became sick. Miep had weak bones, she describes herself on p.17,”My legs were sticks dominated by bony knee caps. My teeth were strong,” she also wasn’t growing properly. Her parents were told that Miep might die. Her parents then sent her with other kids to Amsterdam where she got taken care of by another respective family. It was a struggle to fit in and learn the daily routines of the people in Amsterdam. She also had to face her real family being away. Miep never gave up and eventually learned the skills. This connects to my answer because it showed how identity changed. After lea...

    Read More

  • Understanding Human Behavior: The Power of Psychology

    1781 Words  | 4 Pages

    One of the most influential and well-known thinkers of his time, Erik H. Erikson was born June 15, 1902 in Frankfort, Germany. Abandoned by his biological father before being born, his Jewish mother Karla Abrahamsen moved on to marry Theodor Homberger, a pediatrician who Erikson grew up to consider as his birth father (Boeree, 1997). During his school years, Erikson was constantly subjected to the other students’ judgemental remarks due to both his blonde, tall, blue-eyed appearance and his Jewish background. This, along with

    Read More

  • Implication Of Adoption

    698 Words  | 2 Pages

    Dealing with subliminal yet pervasive culturally induced attribution of parenthood and family formed by bloodlines may encumber the formation of a positive parental identity (Leon, 2002). Adoptive parents may doubt whether they are ‘real’ parents (Blomquist, 2009; Timm et al., 2011) perhaps due to internalised cultural beliefs about “real parents” being tantamount to conceiving one’s own child (Leon, 1998;) and feeling intense emotions germane to the experience of becoming pregnant and having a biological connection to the child (Cudmore, 2005; Levy-Shiff, Goldschmidt & Har-Even, 1991; Miall & March, 2003).

    Read More

  • Now Proud of my Heritage

    917 Words  | 2 Pages

    I moved out of home at 17 and at 19 years old I moved to London. The moving out of home stage didn't go entirely to plan but I'll elaborate in the next chapter. It was the move to London that's relevant here. To say London is a multicultural stockpot is an understatement. Being in a city resembling an ethnic selection box brings ethnicity to the surface, including my own. This was a subject I wasn't happy to share. I will emphasise I'd previously spent a number of years visiting London so I wasn't a stranger. Where I'd grown up was on the outskirts of London so I could be there in under an hour. Plus I had a London weekend job at 15 years old which was an achievement given the legal minimum age was 16. I was also enjoying regular outings to clubs and raves around 17 so I wasn't being deprived of the London experience. However I don't know if it was the ingestion of certain illegal substances during those years but issues regarding cultural diversity didn't grab my attention. It was only after permanently moving to the City that I became aware of the topic. Everywhere I went from the supermarket to travelling on the bus I was confronted with the multicultural aspect. You can be in one area believing you're in Pakistan, a tube journey later and you're arrived to a Jewish settlement or Turkey or Jamaica. Consequently the diverse ethnicity of the inhabitants meant I was frequently asked where I was from, something I wasn't accustomed to. I don't know if it was a chat-up line as predominately men would enquire but if it was I wished they'd chosen another subject. Asking where my parents came from was a dialogue that quite frankly I didn't enjoy.

    Read More

  • My Family Heritage Analysis

    550 Words  | 2 Pages

    My family is from Mecklenburg County which is located near the southern tip of Virginia and we are of African American descent. Although our family line has some Cherokee Indian in it, we identify most as Black. Being from the south, I was raised with a Baptist based background and learned to always treat people as I would want to be treated regardless of how different they were. As a kid, we attended Sunday School and Worship every Sunday and Bible Study once during the week. When I got older, my family allowed me the opportunity to explore and determine which religion I identified most with, and it still remains as Baptist. My knowledge of my culture goes back as far as my great grandmother who was a mid-wife and delivered all the children in my family and in the community where she lived. My grandfather joined the Navy at a young age and fought in Pearl Harbor dung World War II. After serving our country he returned to Virginia to work as a farmer on our family’s land. He even assisted other local farmers. My grandmother was a housekeeper for most of her young adult life. She became a housewife raising seven kids. Our choice of food is called soul-food, which is a variety of comfort-food (that sticks to your soul) such as

    Read More

  • My Native American My Cultural Identity

    1763 Words  | 4 Pages

    Malo e lelei or Hello, like all cultures, Tongan culture is a way of life and in this case the island life. The Kingdom of Tonga is but a speck on the map, a Polynesian kingdom off the South Pacific Ocean. My cultural identity is defined in a variety of ways, my self-perception, my family background, and the values associated within the larger ethnic group. Where I come from is not known and most people have never heard of such a place, it is untouched and largely undiscovered. But, my culture is the sole purpose of whom I am today.

    Read More

  • My Cultural Identity

    1009 Words  | 3 Pages

    My culture identity, as I know it as is African American. My culture can be seen in food, literature, religion, language, the community, family structure, the individual, music, dance, art, and could be summed up as the symbolic level. Symbolic, because faith plays a major role in our daily lives through song, prayer, praise and worship. When I’m happy I rely on my faith, same as when I’m sad, for I know things will get better as they have before.

    Read More

  • Kinship Theory In American Kinship

    1558 Words  | 4 Pages

    Lingenfelter, S.. (1985). [Review of A Critique of the Study of Kinship]. American Ethnologist, 12(2), 372–374. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/644228

    Read More

  • Hans Christian Andersen Research Paper

    685 Words  | 2 Pages

    This Was called ‘despite his success as a writer up to this point, Andersen did not intially point attract attention for his writing for children”. (source 4). “Over the following decades, he continued to write for both children and adults. Andersen has published up tp 168 tales. “my girt to the world” -Hans Christian Andersen. (source 5). This quote shows he often thought as his writing as a gift.

    Read More

  • Essay On Family Ties

    1346 Words  | 3 Pages

    Within the structural and biological makeup of every living organism on the planet is the biological landmark known as genes, these genes are simply what makes every organism what it is, however what it does not tell researchers is how one should and can interact socially in a given environment. The question then arises “what gives human beings their language, traditions, social rearing and way of life”? The answer seems to derive from social interaction within the family that imparts certain important social characteristics that must be inherited, learned and adapted into the human construct. To better understand the importance of social interaction that relies solely within the family one must first understand what a gene is and how it governs human genetic makeup. A gene is as stated by Fundukian (2010) “the fundamental physical and functional unit of heredity. It is an individual element of an organism’s genome and determines a trait or characteristic by regulating biochemical s...

    Read More

More about After You Comes Your Heritage

Open Document