The Cape Ann (Faith Sullivan)
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This paper is an examination of the forces that shape individual growth and development during the early years of life, using a systems theory approach to considering such development. It focuses on Lark Ann Erhardt, the fictional narrator of Faith Sullivan's novel, The Cape Ann. Lark is six years old at the beginning of the book, and her growth throughout provides a remarkable and realistic portrait of the ways in which biological, psychological, social, and environmental elements affect individual development. Lark provides an intriguing case study of how a child learns codes of behavior and morality, deals with death, develops abstract thinking, establishes sexual identity, and starts to define her individual place in the world. The story is set during the end of the 1930s and the early 1940s, and Lark's case demonstrates the effects of historical, social, and economic pressures in individual development, as well. Personality and identity are established within the context in which the individual grows up, and Lark's case provides an interesting example of the ways in which such systems influence personal development. Systems theory, as J. F. Longres (1995) observes, looks at the individual human being as an integrated part of his or her environment, constantly interacting with the surrounding world and constantly changing as a result of that interaction. The human environment is made up of individual human systems and social systems, which include structures creat
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ellent example of the importance of this age. At the start of the book, she is still 6 and considers herself in many ways still a baby. She recognizes that turning 7, with the attendant religious ceremonies for which she is preparing, will mark a significant turning point in her physical, social, an emotional competence. She is eager to achieve this milestone, but she is also fearful of the responsibilities and consequences which it represents.
Schecter and Combrinck-Graham (1996) also note that this period marks the establishment of the child's sexual identity through identification with the same-sex parent (p. 285). Lark has already begun to play a game with her mother in which she pretends to be an adult caller, a peer of her mother's who has arrived for tea and conversation about adult matters. For this game, she wears a grownup hat and carries a purse, while trying on the role of a mother with children of her own. These interludes also allow her to discuss issues which she could not otherwise broach with her mother, and Arlene is wise enough to understand and respect the importance of these attempts by Lark to establish herself as a woman.
Piaget focuses his concerns more on understanding cognitive development, the wa
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Schecter Combrinck-Graham, Woods Winnicott, Hilly Stillman, Erik Erikson, Ann Lark, Stella Chess, Lee Combrinck-Graham, Eleanor Deveau, Gilligan Wiggins, Beverly Ridza, social environment, behavior social, human behavior, human behavior social, behavior social environment, manual readings 1997-1998, 1997-1998 pp, ma simon, heights ma, environment manual, simon schuster, social environment manual, readings 1997-1998, manual readings, readings 1997-1998 pp,
Approximate Word count = 3015
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page)
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