NELL: HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIALIZATION

Personality is the unique way in which a person thinks, acts, and feels throughout his life. It can be developed through the person’s geographic and physical environment (nature), through the person’s social and cultural environment (nurture), or through the interaction of the two (nurture and nature).

Proponents of the nature theory of human development suggest that personality is innate, meaning it is already engrained in a person even before he was born. Also, it is the geographic and physical environment of a person which affects his personality. His natural environment helps him develop traits which will enable him to adapt to his surroundings. The process of adaptation develops specific genes in the human cell which encode these traits. This evolution is a result of natural selection for the so called survival of the fittest. These specific genes are then passed from one generation to another through reproduction.

Proponents of the nurture theory of human development suggest that personality is not innate, and that it is developed over time as a result of a person’s unique personal experiences. Also, it is the social and cultural environment of a person which affects his personality. This implies that a person’s mind is a blank slate at his birth. It also means that traits originate only from the environmental factors of our upbringing such as parenting styles, economic factors, education, and anything that can be learned and does not come from within.

The nature vs. nurture debate still goes on until now, and this debate was evident in the movie entitled “Nell”. Nell is a young lady who lived in an isolated cabin located in a deep forest. She had a mother who had been responsible for her upbringing until she (Nell’s mother) became paralyzed on one side. When Nell’s mother died, she met Dr. Jerry and Dr. Paula, who represent the nature and nature side of human development. The two doctors observed and interacted with Nell for three long months to settle the issue of whether to put her in a hospital where she would be taught to interact with the social world, or not.

Dr. Jerry represents the nature side of human development. For him, Nell’s traits are mainly contributed by her geographic and physical environment, not her social and cultural ones. Because of this, Nell cannot be considered as a wild child. (A wild child is a person who lacks basic social skills which are learned through enculturation, and is a person who has lived isolated from human interaction from a very young age, and has little experience of human care, loving, social behavior and human language.)  For him, Nell doesn’t lack human interaction for she is able to dress, comb her hair, prepare her own food, walk upright, chop woods, and understand the Bible. Also, he observed that Nell has a strong connection with nature, which results from her growing up in the woods. She enjoys swimming in the river, swinging with the wind and dancing with the trees. When Nell first saw him, she screamed and fought, but then she gradually adjusted as he visits her in the cabin more often. Lastly, Jerry observed that Nell’s language is something that is ‘private’, one that is not as common as the English language. Some of these words are missa, erna, and tata. Missa means small, erna means big, and tata means fear. Nell’s aggressive and ritualistic behaviors and language were interpreted by Jerry as something natural-something that results from adaptation with her physical and natural environment, and not something that results from lack of socialization. Being with the nature side of human development, he wants Nell to remain in her isolated cabin. He believes that Nell doesn’t need to be taught how to socialize with other people because she has her own way of doing that. Also, for him, Nell’s separation with her physical environment would give her no help; instead it will cause her death.

Dr. Paula represents the nurture side of human development. For her, Nell’s traits are mainly contributed by her social and cultural environment, not her geographic and physical ones. Because of this, she considers Nell as a wild child. For her, Nell lacks human interaction for she is unable to speak the English language clearly, react normally whenever she sees people, and show interest in the human activity around her. Also, she observed that Nell has ritualistic routines such as facing the mirror, performing strange actions, and saying words which cannot be easily understood. Lastly, Paula observed that Nell’s language is something that resembles the English language, but has some oddities. For her, Nell’s oddity in speech was caused by her mother’s stroke-impaired speech. Some of these words are guy ange, J, and taye n na winn. Guy ange means guardian angel, J means Jerry, and taye n na winn means tree in the wind. Nell’s aggressive and ritualistic behaviors and language were interpreted by Paula as something learned-something that results from family interaction and lack of exposure to other human activities, and not something that is innate or comes from within. Being with the nurture side of human development, she wants Nell to stay in a hospital, where she will receive a close care throughout her life to become a normal member of the society. She believes that Nell cannot survive on her own, and she needs to be taught how to socialize with other people if ever she’s going to leave her cabin.

For me, Nell’s traits were contributed by the interaction of both nature and nurture. Nature played a great part in her life especially when she was still young. It was shown in the film especially when she was reminiscing the moments in the past when her twin sister, May, was still alive. They perform a ‘ritual’ called “Chickabee” before swimming in the river. The ritual goes on like this:

“Chicka, chicka, chickabee

T’ee an me an t’ee an me.

Ressa, ressa, ressa me

Chicka, chicka, chickabee.”

As can be observed from the ‘ritual’ above, the words were far off from the English language. Nell and May’s language can be considered to be a twin language, an ‘immature’ language that is spoken only by a very few people, especially twins. According to studies, twin language is caused by a delayed development of language. It occurs mostly with twins rather than singletons, because they are frequently premature and underweight at birth. In such a case, nature is dominant because the language is not caused by the lack of interaction or socialization with other people but by the biochemical processes which occurs inside the human body, such as maturation. Maturation is the biological and physiological process of development, which allows a person’s bodily organs to perform certain tasks, such as language acquisition.  

Nurture also played a great part in Nell’s life especially when she met Jerry and Paula in the woods. It was shown in the film especially when Nell started to learn the English language. When Nell was having conversation with Jerry, she said, “Lees’ Nell, Ma say, afa I done go, guy ange com”.  (Listen Nell, my mother said, after I have gone, a guardian angel will come). Even though there were oddities in the language above, it was evident that the words closely resemble the English language. In such a case, nurture is dominant because Nell learned the English language through her interaction or socialization with Jerry and Paula.