To this point, I have been advocating that our personal history partially defines who we are and what we will become. I hope that by this point, I have convinced you of the validity of the basic claim. However, the question of extent remains unanswered. To argue that there is some correlation seems plausible to any observer. After all, we have learned the climate people are born in has some effect on their personality and decisions and this is by no way a remarkable claim. But, when we start to examine how significant of an effect individual variables have on a given person disagreement arises.

I argue that our history has a tremendous impact on who we are. There is claearly no way that I can quantify the effect. Perhaps research is being done that will someday explain that 47.96% of a person's decisions are influenced by their personal history. But, at this point I can offer no such factual data. I can only argue that it must have a significant effect. When you come to see history not as an academic endevour, but as the total sum of influences on a person, the inherent significance becomes obvious.

Granted, the extent to which my claim is true will vary from person to person. I doubt many of us have an vent as poignant in our history as the events of Sethe's life; we also will never experience the cultural crisis that Tayo did. But, the absence of such vivid events in no way frees the rest of us from the yoke of history. Rather, the effects are more subtle and obscure yet equally pervasive. We have all heard the cliche, "Like father, like son." It is time we realized just how true that is.

For many of us, the effects of history are situational. We are not influenced by the past equally throughout all our lives. Different times and events will evoke different memories, or none at all. Certainly, there are times when we will remember the past and ur actions will be influenced by it.

It is safe to assume that not only is there a link between past and present but that it is also a significant one. The extent of the link varies from person to person and situation to situation. Despite these variations, the impact is sgnificant on all our lives.

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