Nurture, Not Nature: The Relationship Between Environment and Character in "On the Waterfront"

Elia Kazan's On the Waterfront features characters who are defined by their environment. In a key conversation, Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) reveals to his new love, Edie Doyle (Eva Marie Saint) that he and his brother, Charley (Rod Steiger) grew up in a hell hole of a children's home after his father was "bumped off." As a result, Terry behaves like a caged animal: he trusts no one, sees no value in becoming close to anybody, and lives by the philosophy that you have to get the other guy before he gets you. The unreliability of his livelihood as a longshoreman makes him prone to snatch things from people, and to look out for his own skin first, above all other priorities. His relationship with Edie changes this, obviously, as he becomes, for the first time in his life, exposed to an individual who came up differently than he.

Edie, in contrast to Terry, has a loving and healthy relationship with her father, who also works on the waterfront. Unlike Terry, we get a glimpse of Edie's home life: she lives in a cramped, but cozy, apartment with her father (and brother, until the opening scenes of the film), where Edie is able to communicate her feelings in an open, productive way. Although it is clear that the Doyles are far from prosperous or wealthy, Edie's father has worked all his life at an honest job in order to save money for his daughter's education. As a result, Edie has been able to attend a college away from home, away from the corrupting atmosphere of the waterfront. Edie's elegant way of carrying herself reflects her fortunate escape from her home environment; however, she still evinces traces of the waterfront attitude in the way that she is unafraid to seize what she wants (as shown when Edie takes one of the coins away from the other longshoremen for her father).

As for Terry, we do not know where he goes at night to lay his head. In fact, there are few situations where we actually see Terry inside at all. Since Kazan was able to film on location in Hoboken during the winter, whenever we see Terry, we can also see his breath in the chill air. He is constantly bundled up in the same plaid jacket, which is layered on top of several other sweaters and shirts. The only place where Terry returns on a regular basis is the roof of Edie's apartment building, where he takes care of his pidgeons. In several ways, Terry is similar to those birds: his home is transient, constantly changing, and he is also a proverbial "stool pidgeon," which is made obvious by an emotional, late scene in the film.