The Past and the Future: How Our Experiences Shape Us

Have you ever heard of the tabula rasa theory? In psychology, it is the idea that we are all born blank, or empty, and how our experiences are what shape us. Even if we are not born completely blank, it seems obvious that some experiences in life will have an effect on who we are. In short stories by Ralph Ellison, Sarah Orne Jewett, and Ernest Hemingway, we see that our experiences (or lack thereof) do play a role in who we become.

In "Battle Royal", by novelist Ralph Ellison, a young black man is shaped by his experiences with racism in the late 1940's. His journey starts with a cryptic message about racism his grandfather utters on his deathbed: "...keep up the good fight." The main character, and really his whole family, are disturbed by this reference to a fight. Although the character "could never be sure of what he meant," the message continued to affect him years after. As the character grows he realizes that racism has had, and continues to have, an effect on him. He is "praised by the most lily-white men," for his feeling "uncomfortable." His experiences with racism have led him to feel shame at his successes. Finally he uses his experiences as a strength, if only briefly, when he delivers a speech to an all white audience. The continual heckling he receives over his speech of "social responsibility", drive him to shout out the truth of his unjust experiences: "equality." Even though he claims he was just "swallowing blood", his past finally breaks through and reveals itself. His experiences have shaped him into someone who is ready for the "fight."

Author Sarah Orne Jewett also writes about the effect our experiences have on us in her short story "A White Heron." At first the main character almost does appear to be a blank slate. A young girl "who had tried to grow for eight years", is initially timid and more interested in pleasing others than doing what she feels is right. Her lack of experiences so far in life gave her no inner confidence to base her actions on. When she accompanied a young man, she did not feel "...troubled or afraid except when he brought down some unsuspecting singing creature." This experience began shaping her moral compass. She started realizing what was more important to her. Her decision regarding the heron was not final until she decided to climb a tall tree to find it. When she was at the top with "the pines green branches...the white heron came flying through the golden air." That experience in the tree gave her the confidence to follow through with her decision; she didn't tell the young man where the heron was. Her experiences taught her that the life of the bird was more valuable than money.

Ernest Hemingway shows us how dramatically our experiences can change us in his short story, "Soldier's Home." In this story he shows us how living through a war can change the way we see things. Girls he had known before the war now lived in a "complicated world" that he "did not have the courage or energy to break into." Although "he liked to look at them", his experiences had created a world that had no room for girls in it. Changes had been made within him too. Since his return from the war he no longer seemed to have "a definite aim in life." His mother and father both worried about his "ambition." Even the relationship with his family did not escape unaltered by his experience as a soldier; ultimately his experiences show their ugly head when he has an argument with his mother. After she asks him about his plans she asks, "don't you love your mother?" Surely before the war the answer would have been yes, but now sadly, he says no. The terrible experiences he must have had in the war clearly showed when he came back home.

Weather for good or bad people grow and change everyday. The ability to learn from our experiences is part of what makes us human. Hopefully in the future the world will have more experiences climbing trees than going to war.