Question: Is Richard a "bad" boy? When should behavior be blamed on the person and when should it be blamed on the environment?
I believe that Richard is a bit of both. He is influence a lot by his environment because he grew up in a bad part of town. Also he was influenced by his family and his family's way of life. For instance, his parents form of punishment is usually whipping. Where as in this day and age that would be greatly frowned upon. This way of life causes Richard to do things that he doesn't necessarily think before he does it. For instance he becomes an alcoholic at the age of six because people in his town would serve him free alcohol. Also at one point he runs home and takes a bar of soap and starts running around town writing words on windows. One of the townspeople tells his mother and her first instinct is to make him clean all the windows then she whips him. It shows up later in the novel that Richard does things without really realizing what he has done.
On the other hand there is such thing as free will, Richard was not forced to do all these things. He could have just told his family about the new words he learned. He could also have not gone to the saloon everyday to drink alcohol. Also when Richards father tells him to get rid of a kitten he finds, he takes the literal meaning of what his father had said and killed the kitten by making a noose and hanging the kitten. In this case he could have shushed the cat of even sent him away. But instead he killed it, just to try to spite his father. Richard is a bad boy because even though his environment greatly influences him, he can still make his own choices on many occasions, to make his life better.
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4 comments:
Benjamin,
Hi! I really agree with what you are saying. His actions are influenced by his environment, not controlled by it. He has his own mind, and can make his own decisions. He needs to "develop his prefrontal lobes" (thats the part of the brain that deals with judgement), I hate it when people (my parents) say that, but it is true. Your prefrontal lobes aren't fully developed until you are in your mid thirties. Anyway, back on topic... Yeah Richard is kind of a bad boy, but at the same time, its not ALL his fault.
-Ryan
WOOT!!!! Yeah, I got the first comment.
I agree with what your saying about how Richard doesn't realize what he's doing, but that reason he doesn't realize is because he is only four. His parents haven't educated him very well and so he just doesn't know better. If they would sit down and tell Richard why the things he does are out of line then maybe he would start to see whats right and whats wrong and behave. His parents are also teaching him negative things. By beating him so often he has gotten used to violence and now he fights with his the kids at his new school, the white boys that live by him, and im sure more will come.
I disagree with your thoughts that he is bad by drinking with the guys in the saloon. After all doesn't really understand what he's doing and he just wants to be accepted by the guys. Wen he gets older I'm sure he will stop some of his bad behavior, but for now he just doesn't know better.
I love how you brought up both, that was such a good idea! I would definately agree with the whole envirnment thing. But I really like what you said about him having free will, and overall good word choice!
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