Perhaps it took several generations to make a man, perhaps it took several combinations and re-creations of his mother's gentleness and resilience, his father's enormous energy and appetite for the new, a subtle blending of masculine and feminine, selfish and selfless, stubborn and yielding, before a proper man could be fashioned.
The quote from Wallace Stegner's "The Big Rock Candy Mountain" reflects on the complexity of human development. It suggests that creating a man is not a simple task; rather, it requires a lengthy process of combining various traits inherited from parents. This combination involves elements of both gentleness and strength, as well as a balance between self-interest and altruism.
Stegner highlights the idea that personal qualities are shaped over generations through...