The Last Judgement Donna Cooner

The question about human nature has been debated through the beginning of time. By using the following sources it was concluded that society is what influences your human nature. The book “Skinny” by Donna Cooner provides information about a girl named Ever who battles through an image society withholds her to be. The short story “The Last Judgement” provides evidence of how a man was made to a criminal by society influences. A documentary named “Can We Eliminate Evil?” provides information on Jim Fallon and his finding about himself through a brain test. The news article shares how easily people can be influenced to do the right thing. While using the following sources it was concluded that human nature is determined by the way society

has impacted the person to be.

Society is what influences people to change.

This is shown through the book “Skinny” by Donna Cooner. After the main character’s mother died, Ever gained weight and began to change her personality due to society’s influences. This is shown through the change in Ever’s personality before and after the story. Even when her mother died, Ever continued being herself to make her mother proud. Ever was kindhearted and put others in front of herself . When she began school however, people began to make fun of her weight, and the way she acted. Society taught her that the way her personality was to be ashamed and that it had to be changed. Slowly as her life progresses she began to act like a jerk. Although she knew that being bad wasn’t the person she wanted to be, it was what society influenced her to become. This is shown through an event that happened in a school dance. Ever was the main attention however, it quickly diminished after another girl threatened her spotlight. Ever yelled out, “You can paint a pig, but it’s still a pig” just to make sure she wouldn’t feel like she was prettier than her (Skinny). The novel “Skinny” by Donna Cooner provides evidence to support this claim by the way society impacted the main character to change her personality. This claim can also be related

to a short story named “The Last Judgement”. After dying from a gun wound that was given from a police officer, the main character must experience a judgement that determines whether or not he goes to Heaven or to Hell. It was shown through his experiences that although he committed bad deeds when he was a child the main character did it for the right reason. It was determined after a few evaluations of his bad deeds that, “It was during his prison term for his crime that he became completely corrupted” (The Last Judgement). After prison his ways of life changed completely. This shows how society has impacted this person to become corrupted. Society is what influences people to change and it is shown in “Skinny” a book by Donna Cooner and “The Last Judgement” a short story.

How society influences people can also be shown in their childhood.

On a Documentary named, “Can We Eliminate Evil?” Jim Fallon was against the assumption that, “if you have the genetics of a killer and the brain anatomy of a killer you are destined to become a killer” (Can We Eliminate Evil). After analyzing his brain study Jim Fallon was tested positive of having a brain of a psychopath. However, Jim Fallon is not a killer. He relates that the way his childhood was had affected him to become the person he is now. This topic relates to the fact that the way society can determine your moral because as Jim Fallon stated in the documentary, “It’s funny how different I would of been if I didn’t have my family influences affect me the way it did” (Can We Eliminate Evil) .Your childhood can affect the way you

become.

People can be influenced easily. This is shown through a news article which was adapted by Associate press and by the Newsela staff. . The autistic boy was named Bo and people from his grade bullied him because he was different. When the soccer player visited Bo’s middle school Paske saw Bo sitting by himself in a lunch table and decided to join him. A security officer took a picture of this action and it began to get viral. The article states, “The next day, Bo had many lunch companions...Everyone was super welcoming to him. He was at a table full of girls, which I thought was funny”(Newsela). The soccer player’s actions influence others to do the right thing and not bully him. Some may argue that the soccer player only did this for fame. However,the soccer player Paske states,"I just wanted to go say hi to the kid, because I saw him eating alone. I didn't even know anybody took a photo of it"(Newsela). With one good deed, it can inspire others to commit the same action.

Some may argue that society influences does not determine anything. This is shown by an article named “Are We Naturally Good or bad” by Tom Stafford. Stafford conducted an experiment on babies to find out whether there first initiative is to choose the helping shape rather than the problematic shape. Through his experimentation it was proven that babies having no knowledge of what society is, picked the helping one over the bad one. The article states, “The way to make sense of this result is if infants, with their pre-cultural brains had expectations about how people should act. Not only do they interpret the movement of the shapes as resulting from motivations, but they prefer helping motivations over hindering one's”(CNN). However, this experiment doesn’t prove anything. As stated, “This doesn't settle the debate over human nature. A cynic would say that it just shows that infants are self-interested and expect others to be the same way”(CNN).This statement proves that although it was able to make this assumption, it doesn’t completely identify that humans are good or bad. This is explained because the baby hasn’t experienced society yet, and by not having experience in society the baby can’t be identified as a good or bad person.

Human nature is determined by the way society has impacted the person. This is shown through the book “Skinny” by Donna Cooner, the short story “The Last Judgement, the documentary video “Can We Eliminate Evil?”, and the news article involving the soccer player and the autistic kid. Through the following sources it is proven that society is what impacts your personality. The book “Skinny” and “Judgement” provides evidence that society was the reason why it made the characters cruel, the documentary “Can We Eliminate Evil?” provides support of how childhood influences can affect the type of person people become, the news article provides information of how easily society is influenced to do the right thing. Some may argue that people are just born good and society has no impact in that. However, in order to find people’s true nature they must undergo the trials presented from society.