“What’s Eating Gilbert’s Grape” directed by Lasse Hallstrom delves into elucidating the various effects of third development concepts: how genetics are correlated to mental disabilities, how environmental influences can affect a person’s lifestyle, and the effects of developmental influences, such as puberty, on young adults and adolescents. Michael Rutter, in his article, “The Interplay of Nature, Nurture and Developmental Influences,” further emphasizes the interplays between nature, nurture and developmental influences to elaborate the multifactorial interconnections effects of influences on childhood development. In “What’s Eating Gilbert’s Grape,” Hallstrom represents each developmental concept through personification: Arnie as genetics,
Bonnie as environmental and Gilbert as developmental. By doing so, Hallstrom emphasizes what Rutter describes as “the effects of psychosocial adversity on the organism[s]” and the interplays between “nature-nurture.”
George constantly reminds Lennie that he would not be struggling if he wasn’t taking care of him (STEINBECK, 1977). Similarly, in the film What's Eating Gilbert Grapes, Gilbert is a teenager struggling to provide for his family consisting of two sisters, a mentally handicapped brother and an obese mother. Gilbert is held up with responsibilities making him have no time for a social life (DEWIS, 2011).
The Grapes are a family living in a rural and economically depressed community. The members of the Grape family presently residing in the familial home consists of biological birth mother Bonnie Grape, who is unemployed and 54 years of age. Amy Grape, the eldest child, Unemployed and currently 34 years of age. Gilbert Grape, the eldest male sibling who is employed at a local grocery store and is currently 24, years of age. Arnie Grape is Gilbert’s younger brother and is presently turning 18 years of age. Arnie reaching his 18th birthday is considered to be somewhat of a triumph by the Grape family, as Arnie suffers from a debilitating medical condition that has not only kept him from achieving age appropriate developmental milestones but also threatens to shorten his life expectancy considerably. The youngest sibling Ellen Grape is currently employed at a local ice cream parlor and is 16 years of age.
The Nurture vs. Nature has been a long standing debate amongst psychologists. This psychological controversy questions whether or not the environment has more or less to do with the outcome of a child’s psychological development than the genetics involved. The nurture side of the argument is highly illustrated by the memoir The Other Wes Moore, by Wes Moore, due to the fact that both of their lives although starting off similar, ended dramatically different.
Fatemeh Fakhraie’s essay “Scarfing it Down,” explains how Muslim women suffer because of what they wear. Fakhraie blogs about Muslim women in her website she explains; “Seeing ourselves portrayed in the media in ways that are one-dimensional and misleading." Several people judge Muslim's by their appearance because they assume they're a bad person. The author of this essay wants the reader to know that Muslim women wearing a hijab are not a threat to the world.
In the film "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?" directed by Lasse Hallstrom in 1993, one of the main ideas is that of struggle and hardship. This idea is significant to the film because it relates to each character in a different way, making the storyline more interesting. Three different techniques used by Lasse Hallstrom to illustrate the idea of struggle and hardship include Gilberts voice over, the extra close-ups of Bonnie as she climbs the stairs and the double up of dialogue, where Mrs Carver is talking to Gilbert, and Mr Carver is heard tying to entertain their children in background.
After watching the movie “What’s eating Gilbert Grape” it focuses more on Gilbert Grape than any other characters in the movie. Gilbert Grape is a young man who resides in a small community called Endora. Gilbert at the beginning of the movie states “Describing Endora is like dancing to no music”. Gilbert’s youngest brother Arnie is soon to be 18 years old and has a developmental disability that never was disclosed in the movie. Furthermore, Bonnie Gilbert’s mother has been locked in her own home since her husband committed suicide seven years ago. Moreover, Bonnie is at the stage of stagnation. She is over-weighted and doesn’t think of doing anything for herself or for any of her children. Therefore, leaving Gilbert with the full responsibility of caring for his family especially Arnie.
Bronfenbrenner theorised that there are many different influences that affect a child’s development, forming 5 systems to categorise certain events, or environments into. This theory helps me to understand the theme of Nature Vs Nurture, as it gives some context as to what environments can affect a child's development. From this, we can work out solutions for each child's situation, to ensure that their development is still progressing.
Readers want to see themselves in the stories they read. They want to feel a sense of escape from life’s struggles by reading, and also a sense of solidarity with the characters and real-life people who share their positive traits. These positive traits that readers want abound in Fried Green Tomatoes, from characters of all sorts and creeds, so why a sex scene became so necessary for many critics is baffling. Ruth, Idgie, Evelyn and other characters in the text seek love, acceptance, and to understand themselves in all the ways that those things happen between people, including but not limited, to a healthy relationship with sexuality. Hypothetically speaking, what if Ruth and Idgie’s relationship was celibate, if they were real people that
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.
No matter where you come from, who your parents are or what adversities you have faced, like me, you too have experienced human development. Many theories have been developed around this, in regards to what experiences and milestones should occur at what age. This individual development narrative will explain some of these theories, including: Freud, Ericson and Piaget in relation to my own development from a neonate through to early adulthood. Along with these theories; social and cultural influences, as well as the nature vs nurture argument will be also be examined.
Undoubtedly, humans are unique and intricate creatures and their development is a complex process. It is this process that leads people to question, is a child’s development influenced by genetics or their environment? This long debate has been at the forefront of psychology for countless decades now and is better known as “Nature versus Nurture”. The continuous controversy over whether or not children develop their psychological attributes based on genetics (nature) or the way in which they have been raised (nurture) has occupied the minds of psychologists for years. Through thorough reading of experiments, studies, and discussions however, it is easy to be convinced that nurture does play a far more important in the development of a human than nature.
I believe that a child’s growth is developmental, and each child needs a secure caring and motivating atmosphere in which to grow and developed emotionally, intellectually, physically, and socially. I believe nature and nurture are the two aspects that influence in child development. Nature and nurture are different in several ways, but they both play an important role in child development. I believe that the environment that a person grows up in has the most influence on child development because children reflect what they are taught and what they learn from the people around them.
As we have been learning this semester in class, the experiences and ecological settings in which a child grows up in are important in giving each child their uniqueness. According to Bronfenbrenner, the degree to which individuals realize their potentials and develop their abilities is determined by interactions and experiences (Berns, 2016). It is evident that these interactions and experiences can come from different sources. In order to understand how a child’s development is influenced by their environment, it is important to know how their biological, social, and psychological characteristics are shaped
Child growth and development is a process that consists of some building blocks, which are components that combine in an infinite number of ways (Cherry, n.d.). As a result of the variations of building blocks in a child’s development, educators, psychologists, and philosophers have been constantly engaged in the debate of nature versus nurture debate. Many researchers agree that child development is a complex interaction between his/her genetic background (nature) and his/her environment (nurture). In essence, some developmental aspects are strongly affected by biology whereas other aspects are influenced by environmental factors. From the onset of an individu...
In the study of child development, nature and nurture are two essential concepts that immensely influence future abilities and characteristics of developing children. Nature refers to the genetically obtained characteristics and abilities that influence development while nurture refers to the surrounding environmental conditions that influence development. Without one or the other, a child may not develop some important skills, such as communication and walking. The roles of physiological and psychological needs in a person’s life are also crucial for developing children. Humanistic psychologist, Abraham Maslow, suggested that humans don’t only aim towards survival, but also aim towards self-actualization (Rathus, P. 94).