How can I reset the default behavior of no prepending (but still being able to use -nw) and not having the bottom half of my terminal be black space.

Thanks (I was also referred here from the default stackexchange, where -Q was recommended but that didn't solve the issue)

I'm using emacs within a python jupyter shell, my version is GNU emacs 23.1.1.

As additional clarification, if I fully expand my terminal window, the emacs editor will only fill about half of the space. It isn't being filled with the "help editor" as sometimes happens.