The age-old question of nature verses nurture asks us what is most important: The environment that one is raised in, or the genes that make a person different from the rest. Malcolm Gladwell attempts to answer this question within “The Power of Context,” showing just how similar yet diverse the two can be. Nature can change a person. The environment they live in can change their perception on the way that society is presented. However, nurture can also change a person. The genes a person has, or how they were nurtured, can change ones perspective on the way that society is depicted as well. Nature and nurture are both external influences that can change ones-self, both positively and negatively depending on the surroundings. The external factors…show more content… Character is normally depicted by the way that an individual behaves and carries themselves in accordance with what they have been taught to recognize as a good behavior. Gladwell however believes otherwise. He believes that character is a multitude of small habits bundled together and, “The reason that most of us seem to have a consistent character is because most of us are really good at controlling our environment.”(Gladwell 160). Since everyone has a character, one has the ability to be able to live and learn from their environment, therefore controlling their behavior and obtaining a great character. Although character is an innate property, nature still has more of an impact on the way ones character is formed than the nurture or genes one is brought up with. Character is a branch off of…show more content… “If a window is broken and left unrepaired, people walking by will conclude that no one cares and no one is in charge,” (Gladwell 152). The same is true with other forms of vandalism characterized as Tipping Points. A “Tipping Point” is a point at which actions can deteriorate a particular environment. For example, the collapse of the New York City Railroad system stemmed from graffiti alone. Seeing graffiti on the side of a train would make one feel like they were in an unsafe and unruly area as opposed to a crystal clean train in the middle of a white suburbia. From the outside looking in, one may observe that the vandalized train is in a bad area solely based on the fact that there is vandalism. This theory is much like the Power of Context in that small changes can make a large impact on the way one views society. By making a small impact on society, one inevitably makes an impact on ones nature, helping to control the environment that surrounds them. Not letting an environment reach its “Tipping Point” is crucial so that the environment can thrive and uphold a strong and safe