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Naturalism in American Literature
36
Transcript
A type of literature that applies the scientific principles (ideas) of objectivity and detachment to the study of human beings.
Human beings are "products" that should be studied impartially, without emotion.
Naturalistic writers believed that they could study and understand the laws (rules) behind the forces that govern human lives.
Naturalist writers studied:
- human beings governed by their instincts and passions
- the ways in which the forces of heredity and environment controlled a character's life
survival, determinism (having your fate decided for you), violence
An indifferent, deterministic universe (nature doesn't care if you live or die)
The forces of heredity and environment affect and AFFLICT (hurt/cause problems) people's lives
Everyone is a "brute" or animal; the animal in everyone is trying to come out, even if you're trying to keep it in.
"To Build a Fire"
Definition:
With an elbow partner, identify and discuss three elements of Naturalism you find in London's "To Build a Fire." Prepare to share with the class.
Quotations:
"Revelling in the extraordinary, the excessive, and the grotesque in order to reveal the immutable bestiality of Man in Nature, naturalism dramatizes the loss of individuality at a physiological level by making a Calvinism without God its determining order and violent death its utopia." -Eric Sundquist
"pessimistic materialistic determinism."
- George Becker
Themes/Subjects
Naturalism
in American Literature
Philosophy:
Writers of naturalism hold a philosophical position:
Since all humans are "beasts", they can be studied as animals would be studied in their natural environment, or as organisms through a microscope.
Characteristics
Setting
Characters
- Frequently an urban setting
- Jack London preferred his settings to be in the wilderness
- Frequently ill-educated or lower class
- Lives are controlled by forces of heredity, instinct, and passion
- Try to exercising free will/choice, but forces out of their control make it difficult
- Social Darwinism and other theories help to explain their fates
Technique/Plots
- Seem very clinical (scientific)
- Typically sad/depressing story
- Not very uplifting (happy)
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