Derek Vinyard, the central character in the movie American History X, is a naturally violent person whose upbringing and environment have increased his tendency to be violent. All people, by nature, are violent, but the degree to which they express their violence is determined by outside factors such as their surroundings, family dynamics, and the things they were taught while growing up.How I interpret [a] situation will determine my readiness to strike back in hostility. . . or to simply smile and accept an apology? (May 184). All people have different interpretations of similar situations and the determining factor of how they react in these situations is dependent on previous influences in their lives, as we can see with Derek, who's reactions to certain circumstances are that of a person who has been blinded to act a specific way towards people unlike himself.
             We can see the effect of an authority figure on Derek through a drastic change in his attitude towards black people. During the flashback where Derek, his father, and the rest of the family are at dinner, Derek is trying to defend Dr. Sweeney and the black literature course he teaches while his father gets more and more violent with his words about how he feels towards black people and their culture. In this time of Derek's life he is still very young and easily influenced, especially since he looks up to and respects his father very much. If the events are followed chronologically, the next scene is that of Derek talking with a reporter after his father was shot by black gang members. Here, Derek is a completely different character than the one we saw at the dinner table. His whole attitude towards black people has changed because he has accepted what his father said as true and is now expressing the emotions that come with feelings of hate. From this point on, we see Derek's hate for black people grows not on its own, but with the nurture of Cameron.[Cameron] [is] a vil...