Is it Nature or Nurture Essay Example for Free

Is it Nature or Nurture Essay You become a certain way because of your nature, or what you are born with, or because of your environment which is nurture. Nature comes from genetics; your talent can be defined by natural talent, intelligence, temperament/attitude and disorders/conditions. Determination is the gray area between these too. Nurture on the other hand is your environment; your peers, family, social media, the media or school could influence you to pursue your dreams. Is it nature that Sung-Bong Choi could sing like an angel from above? Or was it the fact that he was determined to make something of himself after hearing that guy sing, that could be nurture. But determination makes it a little confusing. It could be both, you could be born with a natural talent, nature, but if you never start singing or if you dont have a passion for singing or dont have the opportunity to pursue a career in singing then nothing comes of it. That’s when nurture takes in place; if you audition for a TV show like American Idol or if you go to Nashville or Hollywood to pursue your dreams and have people helping you a long the way, that’s nurture. If your born with a talent and you have people around you influencing your decision then your dreams, your passion could come true. Sung- Bong Choi was born in Seoul and abandoned in an orphanage at the age of three. At the age of five years old he ran away because of how badly he was beaten and treated. For the next ten years he lived on the streets, sleeping on stairwells and selling gum and energy drinks to survive on his own. Until one day, he was 14 years old, he heard a guy singing classical music in a night club and became completely inspired. He searched for teachers to teach him how to sing like that singer. Finally a teacher agreed to teach him without charge and even helped him get into a arts school at age 16. Then one day in 2011 he auditioned for Koreans Got Talent (KGT). He told his story and sang beautifully; he brought the judges to tears. He is now signed to a record company. Was he born with the ability to sing? Or did the years of schooling at the arts school and that singing teacher lessons help him? I think that he had to be born with the ability to sing which is nature. But I feel as if nurture helped him pursue his dreams. If he wouldnt have seen that singer in the night club that night he wouldnt have been inspired and he wouldnt have looked for teachers to help him learn how to sing classical music. If he wouldnt have went art school he wouldnt have been able to sing greatly and the KGT audition wouldnt have happened and most likely he would still be selling gum and energy drinks or doing some low paying manual labor job; nurture played the biggest part in my mind. Wilma Rudolph was born number 20 out of 22 children; at the age of four she contracted polio that caused her to not be able to walk and she would fall all the time. She recovered but still had to wear braces on her legs and an orthopedic shoe to support her feet for two years. At 12 she fully recovered and could walk just like everyone else. She followed in her sisters foot steps in basketball but she had ran track two years prior and noticed by a Tennessee State scout in 1953. Long story short she won the Olympic Gold Medal in the 4100 relay in 1959. To overcome a disease as horrible as polio and to win an Olympic Gold Medal for running? Most people never walk again or even die from that disease. I think that she was born with the natural talent for running because her legs were pretty badly twisted from the polio; her parents pushing and her mom believing in her so much played a huge role. But I think nature and determination wins with Wilma; she was born to run. Misty Copeland had a troubled childhood, her mom always had boyfriends and really was consumed in those relationships. Her mom decided to put her in the Boys and Girls Club, that was an outlet for Misty. She never studied ballet until she was thirteen. Most kids start learning ballet as young as three years old to get their body and their feet in shape to bend and move like the ballerinas do. A woman taught ballet once a week at the Boys and Girls Club and it was free. But Mistys mother did not have a car and her sister worked two jobs so she would go and stay with the woman, Cynthia Bradley, during the week and go home to her mother during the weekends. After practicing and going through many struggles in 2008 she became a member of the American Ballet Theatre. She was the only African American to ever dance for the company. Misty was born to dance, otherwise her body  would have not been able to learn at such an advanced age. Cynthia inspired her and helped her be a better dancer. If it wasnt for Cynthia, I dont think Mistys mother would have let her continue to dance. So Im going to say it was both in this case, she was born to dance but Cynthia encouraged her to pursue the dream of being a ballerina and Misty was determined to make it happen. With myself at the stage I am in, in my life right now I think its both that has made me who I am. My mom is a very determined woman, but I was raised by my aunt. If I was raised by my mom I cant guarantee that I would be in college right now or even finished high school. I was born with determination to be whoever I want to be and I choose to be a teacher. My mom volunteers at various elementary schools and she loves to work with kids so I get that from her. But without my aunt raising me to be the woman that I am today, I dont think I would be writing this paper for you. So I choose nature because of my determination to be who I want to be and nurture because my aunt taught me from a young age that education is important and so I decide to make education my life.

of mice and men :: essays research papers

Why do we have dreams? We have dreams because that is what we want in life. With out a dream we would have no reason to live. In the book Of Mice And Men there is lennie an george who share a dream of copanionship. Lennie is a large, mentlly handicapped man. Lennie need George because of his handicap. He would be all alone and probably grow up to be ignorant and may hurt other people. For example in the beginning of the book he drinks some water out of a rivver that isn't running. George tell him he shouldn't drink water that isnt running because it may have bacteria in it. Lenny had no response to George. This prove lennies ignorance. He is because he had killed Curly's Wife, a mouse, and a puppy. Lennie killed Curly's Wife because she asked him if he want edth feel her soft hair. Lennie felt her hair and got carried away. She had gotten frightend and started screaming. lennie got frieghtend and started to shack here and then ended up breaking her neck. George is a small man. He to ok care of Lennie since Lennie was a little boy. George needs Lennie because George gets Lennies paycheck. He get Lennies paycheck to help them get closer to their dream. George also needs Lennies freindship. In the book George says "Guys like us, that work on ranches are the lonliest guys in the world. They got no family. They dont belong no place." and Lennie says "But not us! an' why? Because I got you to look after me an' you got me to look after you and thats why." This quotation tells us why they have their dream and why it is so importantto them. George and Lenny's dreamis to own a ranch. George in the book, says, "We'll have a big vegtable patch an' rabbit hutch an' chickens. And when it rains in the winter we'll just say "The hell with goin to work" and we'll biuld up a fire in the stoveand set around it an' listen to the rain come down on the roof.

Having Read Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck the section of the book in which Lennie kills Curley’s wife Essay

Having Read Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck the section of the book in which Lennie kills Curley’s wife, and having watched the same section of the film, do you think that the director made a good job of translating Steinbeck’s words into film? What did you find particularly effective in the film, and what would you have done differently? After having read a small section of the novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ by John Steinbeck and then having viewed the appropriate section of the film the questions above will be discussed and answered in this essay. It will become clear that the director of the film has portrayed the characters on-screen in an effective and clever way, in that he retains the good positive things about the characters. The director has portrayed the film in a certain way from the novel and also has adapted some new ideas to make his film more of a success. I will look at these ideas and sections under camera, sound, lighting, editing and characterisation. Later a section will be written on the differences between the film and the novel; you will come to understand that the information on the choice of characters and the way that they have been translated to the screen, the two main characters we are studying are very differently perceived by the director and these are for reasons, they will be looked at in detail. The evaluation will be the final section, here there will be some alternative ideas of improvements which could have made the film a better representation of the novel. I will also look at the effective and ineffective things that happen in the film and look at them in detail. I will finish the evaluation with a summary of my answers to the title questions. In the section of the essay below, the film will be deconstructed to find out what all the individual technical parts do to make the film effective. The following areas will be considered, camera, sound, lighting, editing and characterisation. Firstly the camera angles and shot types used in this film have been specially chosen by the director, they have been used to great effect in the translation of the novel to the film. They make the film a much more enjoyable experience. In the film section George – Lennie’s fellow work partner and best friend – is the first character we meet, the camera focuses on him and pans across the screen following him in a medium shot. By seeing George first we realise that George is a significant part in the main story of the novel (but not in this particular section). We enter the great barn to see Lennie in a very unhappy and depressed mood, holding what we learn to be a dead puppy. The puppy has only just been killed by Lennie in an accident whilst playing. The camera tracks towards Lennie and his face and upper body appear in a close-up shot. This shows the emotion he is feeling about the death of the dog and with a close up we realise that Lennie is not in a stable m ind. Later in the scene inside the great barn Curley’s wife is sitting next to Lennie on the remaining wisps of hay and is talking to him. The camera is an over-shoulder shot – this is where we see what is happening as if we were looking over a character’s shoulder. The camera deliberately looks down on Curley’s wife and looks up at the big imposing figure of Lennie. The camera does this to Curley’s wife as she (in the film) is designed to be a very innocent and angelic character. By looking down on her we realise that she is weak and feeble and the viewer is meant to feel sympathetic towards her and her feelings. Lenny however is a big, fearsome character. He is, however, very childish and has several serious learning difficulties, he does though come across as a big strong man – which he is – and this is meant to worry the audience when we look up to him in this way. The type camera used in the film when Lenny ‘kills’ Curley’s wife does a very good job of following the characters around the room as they are struggling in vain desperation. The camera cants j ust before Curley’s wife’s neck is broken and this shows the struggle very well. The effect of the cant is to make us realise how terrible this struggle is. When Lennie is next to her body talking to himself about doing a bad thing he is startled by a white bird (possibly a pigeon) flying straight up towards the roof. The camera looks straight down on the three entities as the bird flies up and this high angle shot makes the bird look like the soul of Curley’s wife flying off up into heaven like the angel she is portrayed to be. A final point on the camera is that when the two characters are in the barn alone what we see is a closed frame shot. This shows the closeness of the two characters. As Lennie rushes out of the barn after killing Curley’s wife he goes straight outside into the dazzling light of day, onto the field in a hugely open frame, long shot. This contrast shows us that he is free when he leaves the barn. He then runs of towards the horizon and the camera tracks and follows him. In this section it will become clear that the sound effects in the film add a lot to the viewing pleasure and that they make the film what it is. Without sound the struggle and the conversations would make no sense to those watching . It is important to remember that all the sound used in this section of the film is digetic- this means the characters hear everything that the audience hears and no extra added sound such as music is added. The fist character we hear speak directly is Lennie. Lennie is a very unintelligent person and the audience has been made to understand this through the repetition of words such as, â€Å"tend no rabbits†. This is also grammatically incorrect which show his obvious lack of intelligence. The noises Lennie makes are very childish and the assumption is that the audience will sympathise with Lennie, even though he has just killed a puppy. The digetic sound we hear is an excellent guide to the emotions that the director wants us to hear. A very important point about the sound effects are that there is no non-digetic sound at all from either inside or outside of the barn. The director has made sure that in this section of his film we hear only what the characters can hear. This makes the atmosphere tense and exciting and really involves the viewer. It is also important to remember that throughout the whole clip there is no specifically recognisable dialogue from outside of the barn. This is important because as we see a lot of the action outside and hear the cheers and clanging of metal we never hear voices. This shows that the main focus to the scene is inside the great barn and not outside on the field. Having no soundtrack to the clip makes the scenes feel more realistic but it also helps to build up the tension to create a particular mood. A further interesting point which has been specially chosen by the director is that when the puppy’s neck and Curley’s wife’s neck are broken we hear exactly the same sound. This doesn’t add much to the film but we feel upset that Curley’s wife has died after the puppy has so tragically died as well. The lighting used in the film creates a particular effect – rather like the sound does – it helps us understand the setting, characters and the mood that the film is meant to have. The most obvious point to make about the lighting effects in the film is that when Lennie is inside the great barn we see what is meant to be natural light coming through the cracks in the wooden walls. Unfortunately the light doesn’t look natural but by coming through the individual cracks it helps to create a brilliant design of a prison cell, in which Lennie is trapped and can’t escape. When Curley’s wife enters the barn she is backlit. This makes her white dress look almost unnaturally perfect. By being backlit the viewer understands the innocence of this character. During the struggle there is not much light other than the prison bar effect but as soon as Curley’s wife dies the barn is filled with bright light – this is visible when the bird flies off up to the roof. When Lennie leaves the barn after killing Curley’s wife it becomes very dark until he opens the door and the bright light shines on him as he leaves. This painfully bright light makes us realise how dark it was inside the barn. This is a very effective technique that the director has used very well in the film. The editing in a film is a very important factor. With a good edit to a scene it looks almost lifelike – as if you were there. By showing certain characters in a certain way and by introducing them to us in a friendly or unfriendly way we get to know the character better. George is the first character to be shown in this scene. We know that he is important as he looks very relaxed but also because the camera pans following him ignoring the other characters. By following George and watching him we are sub-consciously drawn to like him. As he is smiling when we are first introduced to him a nice pleasant image of George is pictured in our minds. The first time the camera focuses on Lennie it moves to a close up, this makes up sympathise with him. He has killed the dog and is very upset about this. The emotions of Lennie make the shot very upsetting but peaceful. The audience is deliberately drawn in to feel sorry for Lennie and not anger at his killing of the puppy. This has been used by the director, almost what the author of the novel would have wanted. During the conversation between Lennie and Curley’s wife the camera shots start of as mid-shots but eventually work up towards being close-ups. Whilst the close-up shots are taking place the length of each shot decreases; this shows the mounting tension caused by the two characters. Having quicker shots forces the audience to think something bad is going to happen even without a soundtrack playing. After Lennie kills Curley’s wife he heads out of the barn and out into the countryside. As Lennie is considered to be a loner he has been deliberately separated from the rest of the group of men by a fence at the edge of the horseshoe field. This deliberate separation is effective in creating the image of a desperate man in our minds. The final section of analysis is on the characterisation in the film. Gary Sinese who directed the film (and also played the part of George) has carefully chosen the people who would suit each of the roles properly. He has decided what costumes the actors will wear and also what the characters will look and sound like. Lennie is wearing several layers of clothing, which are dark, dull, depressing colours. The blue jacket Lennie wears is an example of this darkness. Lennie also has very dirty teeth and is bald. The director may have chosen Lennie to look like this for a reason. Do people perceive people with learning difficulties as dirty and bald? If this is the reason why Sinese has chosen the characters to look this way he has done a good job in translating the novel to the film. Lennie is also very repetitive in his choice of language which makes him sound very uninteresting and unintelligent. He is very basic in his use of words which can prove this. Sherilyn Fenn, who plays the part of Curley’s wife does a very good job of portraying the character. She wears a white dress and even has white shoes on. This is a big indication that she is meant to be an angelic, sweet character. We sympathise with her for this reason. She is a very fragile person and she often fiddles with her clothes as though she is uncomfortable. There is an intentional contrast between her and Lennie. She is very different in the film, from the book. There are many differences between John Steinbeck’s novel and Gary Sinese’s film. Although they share the same title; have the same characters; the same setting; the same storyline and share many points of accuracies the differences can easily be spotted. The most important difference is a very deliberate one – the depiction of Curley’s wife in the novel is one of a very greedy, selfish, self conscious person who acts more like a spoilt child; in the film however Curley’s wife is a very angelic, innocent, pure woman who looks as though she is frail and this would make the audience sympathise with her. The reason, I believe why Sinese opted for this style of Curley’s wife is that the whole reason the film was being made was to make money. If the main female character in the film was shown to be very negative then very few females would want to see the film, this would make the film earn less at the Box Office. For a similar reason to the one stated above the section where Curley’s wife confides in Lennie about her dislike of Curley and her hopes for what she could have gained, had she been in the pictures. By being such a self centred character it shows a very negative image. The portrail of the characters in the book shows that Sinese thought very carefully about the actors he wanted to use. The people he used are almost what you could have pictured in the book – apart from the obvious differences with Curley’s wife. The director has made good choices, especially with Lennie as John Malkovich plays the dyslexic killer very well. The facial expressions that he uses match those perfectly of what you would (unfortunately) associate with the less mentally abled. Having deconstructed the film in the pages above I will now try to consider the answers to the questions in the title. I will consider the mood the film creates, the way it shows the characters and the general differences between the novel and film section. I think that the film version of Of Mice and Men is a very cleverly worked out representation of the film. The film may not be entirely accurate but it is a very well worked piece of creative filming. The character of Lennie has been very well translated and shows a very good understanding of the principles of his character. Gary Sinese and John Malkovich have worked well to create the mentally disabled character and to make him look real. When the viewers watch this piece they could feel that they are in the film with Lennie as the portrayal of him is so accurate. I think that in the film, having the constant changing of scene between the inside of the barn and the outside field makes the viewer see what the world outside of Lennie is really like. In the novel we only ever ‘see’ Lennie inside of the barn and get some description of the outside. By letting us see the outside it makes us feel that we understand the film more and understand the segregation of Lennie from the group of men. This idea to let us see what the ‘real’ world is really like is a very good addition and it works very effectively. The section of the film where Lennie kills Curley’s wife is too short – it makes it look like breaking someone neck is easy. In fact the film shows Curley’s wife screaming just seconds before her neck is broken, it would take longer than this, especially with the way Lennie is holding her. It could have taken up to half a minute. For this reason I don’t think that this part of the novel has been well changed into a film. If the struggle had gone on for longer it would have been more realistic which although this is based on a novel it still is real life. This section has not worked as well as it could – and most probably should – have and therefore I feel that it is not as effective as the other scenes! The changes that have been made from the text to the film were on the whole necessary to make the film any kind of success. The complete make over of the character of Curley’s wife is a very important clue that Sinese wanted to make the film suitable to both sexes. Some changes like the absence of Lennie throwing the dead body of the puppy across the room were, in my opinion for the worse. The throwing of the dead dog’s body across the room showed us Lennie’s viscous power which he did have. By leaving it out it is more of a surprise when we find he kills Curley’s wife on the screen than it would have been if we had visually seen his anger previously. If I was to direct a remake of this film there would be several things I would change. Firstly I would make Curley’s wife appear as accurately as I could and make her a perfect representation of the character in the book. If this stopped some female viewers from watching I wouldn’t be too disappointed as the film would not really make much money at the Box Office anyway. By making Curley’s wife a real portrayal of the book it would have made the story more interesting and would have made the relationship between her and Lennie clearer. I think that this would have been a good addition. Also if I was to change another thing it would be the costume that Lennie wears. If we are meant to sympathise with Lennie it seems a lot harder to do with someone wearing dark, dirty clothes. I have agreed that this shows his character but in essence the director is trying to put across to different types on Lennie and he fails! Finally I will answer the title questions! There were three main questions to discuss and answer and my summary is below. I think Gary Sinese did an average job of translation Steinbecks novel into the film. He left out whole sections and completely changed some of the characters but still managed to capture the atmosphere of the novel and in particular managed to understand the character Lennie very well. I found the switching of the view of inside and outside of the barn very effective as well as other things such as the bird – acting as Curley’s wife’s soul – flying off up into the roof. I would have changed the character of Curley’s wife and the look of Lennie’s clothes as his appearance is very shabby.

Is It More Valuable Than Good Health - 1316 Words

There is nothing more valuable than good health. Most people would agree that one of the biggest aspects in their lives is trying to manage and improve their well-being. An interesting aspect of health is that everyone has a different view of what it is, whilst sharing a recurrent theme. A common misconception about health is that its main focus deals with illnesses. Personally, I believe the term health refers to living a happy lifestyle physically and emotionally. In addition, I think health is impacted by our surroundings such as our peers and the environment that we live in. I take my health very seriously, as it plays an important part in my daily life. As far as I am concerned, without my health I would not be able to do simple†¦show more content†¦I experience this by many different physical activities such as my passion for weightlifting. I go to the gym five to six days a week, working on different body parts throughout the week. In my opinion, I feel lifting weight s not only helps physically, but mentally as well. In the gym, I am always pushing myself to do more in weight and repetitions. It is also mentally taxing because some days I will have muscle soreness, and I have to motivate myself to go workout. Prior to when I got into weightlifting, I always felt sluggish and out of shape which was embarrassing. In addition, I also work on my cardiovascular health by participating in recreational activities like basketball and hockey. Similarly to weight lifting, they are just as mentally exhausting. Recently, I have noticed that none of my friends are able to keep up with the pace that I can execute in sports, owning to the fact that I am always trying to improve my strength and cardio. Undoubtably, I cannot discount a healthy diet. A healthy diet plays a massive role in my physical health. Without eating healthy, I wouldn’t be able to perform to the best of my abilities in the gym, playing sports or in most everyday activities. Everyday I try to keep track of how many grams of proteins, carbs and fats I eat during the day. . Admittedly, some days I eat better than others. There are some days where I will perform little to zero physical activity or I won’t eat