INFLUENCE OF NATURE AND NURTURE IN BESSIE HEAD’S A WOMAN ALONE AND THE CARDINALS

INFLUENCE OF NATURE AND NURTURE IN BESSIE HEAD’S A WOMAN ALONE AND THE CARDINALS

ABSTRACT

The influence of nature and nurture is a long-standing concern in developmental psychology as well as in literature. It is like the question of the egg and the hen: which one comes first? This dissertation, in a bid to understand better the influence of nature and nurture, undertakes a study of Bessie Head’s A Woman Alone and The Cardinals—novels that are autobiographical as well as fictional. It is interesting to note that after a detailed study of the characters in the two novels concerned, it is obvious that Bessie Head’s message is that NURTURE is the dominant or primary factor in shaping human behaviours in life; NATURE is therefore secondary