6

Eddy
Egan
Eddy Egan
Professor Louise Coolidge
September 28, 2009

Nature vs. Nurture

Although people have their own thoughts and emotions as they are walking along the
blocks of a town or city, one can only wonder what the city is actually telling them. Picturesque
scenes may evoke thoughts of wonder and hope, but the opposite can be true for the urbanite of
the city. Walls littered with graffiti, subway cars covered with trash and vandalism, prostitutes
lurking on corners and all around waste that stud the city with the stereotypical “dirtiness” give
a clear description of the trouble that lies in the city borders. For the rest of the metropolis, the
choice is very well pronounced: live with the dirt and grime or try and fight it for the good of the
community. In Malcolm Gladwell’s story, “The Power of Context: Bernie Goetz and the Rise
and Fall of New York City Crime”, Gladwell describes that human behavior is deeply affected
by our environment. Along the same lines, in the short story “The Solitary Stroller and the City”,
the author Rebecca Solnit delves into her own life and the lives of others to explore the role that
humans encompass while being individuals on the street. Solnit considers walking to be that
of an individual account and a time for deep thought about what is around us. Speculating that
instead of just being walkers on the street, these people are a part of society and have a say in the
city that surrounds them. She writes, “The streets are where people become the public and where
their power resides” (Solnit 576). When reading about both authors points of view about people
and society, it’s really the personal backgrounds of the people that change the way the city looks
and works. A city does not come to violence due to the city itself, but rather the individuality
that each person occupies as they walk through it and carry the emotions that were brought
upon them from previous experiences. Therefore, the environment does not explicitly impact an
individual but rather it is the social interactions that the individual grew up with that shape him
or her into who they will be. Nice! Now what topics are you going to use to explore all 3 theses.
1. people conform
2. the environment is formed by the occupier’s actions, emotions, and everything else that
defines humans.
3. the streets are escapes for all people to benefit from the unfamiliar and rid themselves of the
reminders of home and the past             
Once in the presence of society, people take on an unmediated view that they should do what
others are doing, otherwise known as conformity. When in this unknown environment, such as
one in which a person is surrounded by strangers, people hide their own identities and “imagine
the secrets of the people that one passes” (Solnit 585).This psychological phenomenon is the
basis upon of many human emotions and is the foundation of Gladwell’s story. The Broken
Windows theory describes exactly the consequences of conformity and is thoroughly noted by
Gladwell, “If a window is broken and left unrepaired, people walking by will conclude that no
one cares and no one is in charge. Soon, more windows will be broken, and the sense of anarchy
will spread from the building to the street on which it faces, sending a signal that anything goes”,
producing a pattern of criminal behavior (Gladwell 237). Thus, a small problem in a city can
actually be the premise for much larger problems. Gladwell continues, “Crime is contagious-
just as a fashion trend is contagious- that it can start with a broken window and spread to an
entire community” (Gladwell 238) In turn, this crime is believed by Gladwell to be due to the
negative effects of the environment on the people and not actually because of the people
themselves. Similar to how religious environments promote a specific type of attitude or
behavior, the filthy conditions of the subway condone criminal behavior. Conformity is not only
invoked by the streets but as Gladwell states, it can also be a form of persuasion, “One was the
study that showed how people who watched Peter Jennings on ABC were more likely to vote
Republican than people who watch either Tom Brokaw or Dan Rather because, in some
unconscious way, Jennings was able to signal his affection for Republican candidates”
(Gladwell 243). Our emotions and individuality are “actually powerfully and imperceptibly
influenced by seemingly inconsequential personal influences” (Gladwell 243). But, if humans
are evoked by each other, or by society, then when does the environment play a part in human
emotion? Gladwell makes a way of saying that our character is “like a bundle of habits and
tendencies and interests” (Gladwell 246), further saying that consistent character is only defined
by our control of our environments. If as children we have no control in which environment we
live or grow accustomed to, is it that environment which shapes us into who we are, or is it the
minds of our parents that reveal what type of character we will be? Although the streets offer a
time of thought and reflection, Solnit gathers that “roaming the streets didn’t work so well in a
lot of American cities” (Solnit 585) which in context states that the streets may have once
influenced us, but the congestion of buildings and sidewalks have led to its downfall of
imprinting upon people. With the streets “so crowded, lively, full of predators, spectacles, and
badinage between strangers”, the crowd becomes s… largely domesticated, “ as the crowd, a
quiet, drab mass going about its private business in public” (Solnit 584). iIt might even be
impossible to collect anything from the streets except walking with the flow and staying out of
the “domesticated crowds’” way (Solnit 584). Roaming these same streets today “might toughen
and sharpen the sensibility” (Solnit 585) but that may only influence prejudices against the
surrounding world, and not the actual character of a person.
Make your topic sentence more broad, so that all 3 of you can respond. Solnit views
the city in a different way than Gladwell. In this, Solnit takes an unordinary point of view;
referencing from inside the mind of herself and other walkers, she finds that people are the basis
upon which the environment is formed, by the occupier’s actions, emotions, and everything
else that defines humans. Solnit sides with the marginalized groups of the gays and prostitutes
to put them in a perspective that shows the democratic and beautiful sides of life that she
thinks that they actually occupy. Although Solnit defines the night-walkers to be striking,
Gladwell describes completely the opposite. In Gladwell’s perspective these groups symbolize
the downfall that the Broken Windows theory talks about, saying the “scum”does he use this
word? of the streets reflects back to society and causes further upheaval and disgrace of a city.
Although Gladwell claims that the attitude taken on by the group is because of environmental
factors that have shaped them. W, when one thing is all you avoid using you know, then it’s
inevitable that you are going to grow into that same mold you are in. Written in Gladwell’s story
is the life of Bernard Goetz, a man who shot three four young black men on the train when they
tried to bully himrip him off
Avoid slang
. When speaking to Goetz’ biographer, Gladwell cites, “If you look closely at who he was, he
fits the stereotype of the kind of person who ends up in violent situations” (Gladwell 241).
Gladwell’s view of the environment affecting the lives of people is not considerably true, but
rather the mind is mainly shaped by that of society and the people around us. How is this
different? Instead of being influenced by the “broken windows” of society, marginalized groups
were not products of the city itself but were actually the reason for the cities’ downfall.
Interesting idea Even with evidence behind the “Broken Windows Theory”, the thoughts of
crime and knowingly defacing property had to first come from deeper emotions. Stealing may
sometimes be a crime of opportunity, but destruction comes from bad past experiences and
emotions. One misled person is all it takes to trigger a downfall that makes others reflect to on
points in their lives that would lead to the same destruction the first person caused. As Gladwell
looks into the “red-light districts” and “pleasure-districts” as the focal points of one’s criticism
upon a city, Solnit talks about them in a different facetfrom a different perspective. She believes
the prostitutes understand the circumstances that they were forced into and admires that they
have taken actions to attempt to build a society to make their lives more tolerable. Upon closer
attention Solnit observes these “street-walkers” as marginalized groups that obviously need help
and guidance, groups that have no where else to go except to the freedom of the streets. An
average person would not define the act of prostitution as a “beautiful” profession but rather one
of a dirty and disgusting one. The question that doesn’t get answered is the actual reason for why
these women are on the street, why they chose or were forced into this terrible position. Solnit
still does not delve deeper into the human emotions that she is trying to discuss, and there is no
explanation she gives for the type of life that those people occupy. In fairness, that is not her
agenda… There are limitless possibilities for an individual’s life, and this distinctive quality is
one that makes human life so valuable. Freeing of the mind and body from family and the
pressures of society, and experimenting with “subcultures and identity” (Solnit 585) define
character and shape people into who they are.

              While Gladwell and Solnit may have many opposing views in how they look at
individuals, a similarity can also be traced.
This sentence complicates the premise of your argument in this paragraph, which is that the past actually has an
impact.
From Solnit’s perspective, the streets are escapes for all people to benefit from the unfamiliar
and rid themselves of the reminders of home and the past. Coinciding with Gladwell, Goetz had
been submersed in hatred his entire life; as a child with an abusive father and as an adult living
in a society that he could take his rage out on, ultimately leading him to act against four black
men. Simply stated, “Goetz’ bullets... were aimed at targets that existed as much in his past as
in his present” (Gladwell 242). Good quote Similar, iIn “The Solitary Stroller and the City”,
Solnit discusses Virginia Woolf’s thoughts on people and their physical homes, “Woolf wrote
of the confining oppression of one’s own identity, of the way the objects in one’s home ‘enforce
the memories of our own experience’” (Solnit 585). Showing that not only does tThe Power
of Context hasve a part in the lives of people, but that the Broken Windows theory could be
misleading in some ways. People feel most of their emotions because of the pressures of family
life, not from the streets or a broken window that they may not even see once they are involved
with the “deep emotional thought” of walking. To further that, Solnit clearly states that, “’the
street is a world where people are in flight from the traumas that happen inside house become
native of the outside” (Solnit 590). By being an individual on the street, it is impossible to forget
the thoughts inside your head but in the same sense, if you live on the streets for so long how
would you know what actually influences you?

Many good ideas.

You need a concluding paragraph that wraps up everybody’s claims.

Some of your paragraphs are very long. Try to tighten.

Grammar issues:
Avoid the use of you
Be careful with convoluted sentences

THESIS WORK WITH ORGANIZATION PRESENTATION

ASSIGNED TEXT
NP
No thesis in evidence Poor reading Little coherence Sentence-level
Thesis buried in comprehension/ from paragraph to errors impede
summary misinterpretation paragraph meaning
Little or no relation Lacks meaningful Lacks organizational Patterns of erro
between the texts and connection between texts structure Failure to proo
thesis or with the student’s own Weak use of Serious errors
position paragraphs, with citation conven
Privileges student’s ideas few or no clear topic
Weak use of textual sentences
evidence
Over-generalizes about
the text
C
Thesis emerges at Works with more than Some coherent SL errors do no
end of paper from one source relationships between significantly im
discussion of the text Vague sense that paragraphs meaning
Takes clear position at student’s voice is Paragraphs may Some mechan
least once contributing to the exhibit “emerging citation, and/or
Thesis may be vague conversation topic sentences” formatting erro
or general Adequate reading
comprehension and use
of textual evidence

C+
Has a thesis, but not Moments of solid work Has relationships SL errors unde
clearly articulated from with texts and use between paragraphs control
outset of adequate textual Transitions and topic May have som
Moves toward evidence sentences begin to mechanical, cit
independent thesis, Engages with more emerge or
showing an emerging complicated ideas in Has some coherence formatting erro
coherence of ideas readings but lacks meaningful
Connective thinking may structure found in B-
be implicit range papers

B Takes some interpretive Sustained meaningful Minimal errors

Thesis articulated from risks with texts structure Minimal or no
the outset Works with a variety of Reasonable mechanical, cit
Advances independent textual evidence coherence in or formatting e
ideas Texts used in service of presentation
Thesis more coherent project and to provide Controlled
than C-level support for it development of thesis
Thesis may be Smoother transitions
somewhat limited and topic sentences
or developed in a than C-range
repetitive way

B+
Independent thinking
consistently developed
• Engages more complex
ideas in the readings
• Begins to grasp the
Uses textual evidence with
confidence and authority
• Student’s ideas in control
throughout paper
• Text evidence used well to
Generally well organized Minimal or no errors
• May develop a
secondary emerging
thesis which complicates
the original argument
 complexity of own position both support and complicate
or develops secondary the thesis
emerging thesis

A
Complex interpretive thesis
clear from start
Independent ideas
developed and presented
throughout
Student-centered connective
thinking
Thesis cuts across readings
in unanticipated ways or
finds a larger context for the
conversation
Clear, fluid, logical Minimal or no errors
Strong use of topic Likely to exhibit
sentences and other eloquence or an ele
guideposts for the reader writing style