During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a literary
movement developed that is known today as Naturalism. Naturalism was
a literary movement that embraced the philosophy that mankind was
little more than a victim of his surroundings and at best a natural
product of heredity and environment. Naturalism was, in addition to a
literary movement, a developing philosophical viewpoint, which
applied objective and scientific principals to the study of man.
Naturalist fiction characterizes the human as a creature living by
survival instincts in a cruel world. Using techniques of detail
pioneered by the Realists, Naturalists took the Realists’ model
of literary accuracy a step in the Deterministic direction.
Naturalists felt that Realism represented life better than the
romantic authors had, but Naturalists took this realistic view and
integrated the modern idea of social Darwinism and the loss of
psychological individuality.
Naturalistic authors found themselves concerned with accurately
presenting the role which heredity, environment, and physical drives
impacted a person’s life and actions. A Naturalistic author
might research his concerns by examining the way these factors impact
a particular character and a community as a whole. Most Naturalistic
authors considered no detail too mundane to be recorded and often
drew conclusions by applying the scientific method to each event they
contrived.
To some strict Naturalists, novels played no practical role in life;
however, most naturalistic authors considered their writing to be
documentary and scientifically valuable. Because writers during this
period approached their writing with the clinical approach described
below, and because they sought to record the most minute details of
even the most devastating story, these authors believed they were
preserving the realities of life and presenting them to other
philosophers. Interestingly, although readers during this period were
generally wealthy aristocrats participating in society life, the
novels are almost exclusively concerned with the stories of either
lower class city dwellers or upper class citizens displaced into
either urban squalor or bleak wilderness.
Certain characteristics, both physical and concrete, can be seen
reoccurring throughout the literature of this period. Several of the
more solidly defined characteristics include the fact that much
Naturalistic literature focuses almost exclusively on the working
lower class and takes place in extreme environments—such as
urban squalor or desolate wilderness. The degeneration of characters,
mentally, psychologically, and physically would also be cited as a
concrete characteristic of Naturalistic fiction. One abstract
characteristic of Naturalistic fiction is the way in which the plot
aligns to the philosophy of Social Darwinism. Social Darwinism adapts
Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” theory of
species development and applies it to human relations. This theory
asserts that man survives and thrives only if he is the strongest in
his particular environment. Another abstract characteristic of
literary Naturalism is the “slice of life” approach to
the novel. Although the novel and the events within it may be
entirely fictional, many naturalist authors attempted to recreate
these events in minute detail. By recording, unedited, the events
that transpire, the Naturalist believed his presentation of the plot
would be more realistic, and thus better literature. One final
abstract characteristic of Naturalistic fiction is the clinical way
in which events are often described. While an author can feasibly
write realistic descriptions and yet still build emotion in the
reader, most naturalistic authors choose to describe events in a
detached and even clinical manner, refusing to voluntarily
emotionally involve themselves or the reader.
Each of these characteristics can be found in at least two of the
novels we have read this semester. Perhaps one of the most obvious
examples is the Darwinian struggle in The Sea Wolf. As long as
Wolf Larsen remained the strongest, fittest man, Humphrey was
subservient to him. But at the very hour Larson’s strength
failed, and Hump was given the upper hand, Humphrey was able to
control his destiny and the destiny of another.
“I re-entered Wolf Larsen's state-room to get his
rifle and shot-gun. I spoke to him, but he made no answer, though
his head was still rocking from side to side and he was not asleep.
"Good-bye, Lucifer," I whispered to myself as
I softly closed the door.” (London)
After this transference and switch of power, Hump was able to take
control of the situation and manipulate it in favor of his own
survival, while directly putting Larsen’s survival into
question. Through the use of Hump’s strength, both physical and
mental, he was able to survive.
A good example of the Naturalist authors’ clinical approach to
describing events can be found in McTeague. At the end of
chapter nineteen, Norris describes Trina’s death:
Towards
morning she died with a rapid series of hiccoughs that sounded like a
piece of clockwork running down. The thing had been done in the
cloakroom where the kindergarten children hung their hats and coats.
[...] Half way across the room one of them stopped and put her small
nose in the air, crying, "Um-o-o, what a funnee [sic] smell!"
[...] Then the tallest of the little girls swung the door of the
little cloakroom wide open and they all ran in. (Norris)
This event, traumatic on
many levels, is described with a casual, detached ease characteristic
of the entire novel.
Naturalism
in popular literature achieved several ends: it acted as a social
microscope, examining the details of life and dissecting “how
man worked,” it provided entertainment in a somber approach
which many modern readers sought, and indulged the voyeuristic and
curious sides of the reading public—informing them how the
“other half” lived. This Naturalistic subset of the
larger Realist Movement was significant in preparing the American
landscape for the modern movement to come. Given the social
environment and psychological unrest of the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries, it is not surprising that a theory such as
literary naturalism would come into fashion.
Works Cited
Norris, Frank. “The Project Gutenberg Etext of McTeague, by
Frank Norris”. Sept. 1994. Project Gutenberg. 3 Dec 2003.
<http://ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext94/mcteg10.txt>.
London, Jack. “The Sea Wolf The Project Gutenberg EBook of The
Sea Wolf, by Jack London.” Oct. 1997. Project Gutenberg. 3 Dec
2003. <http://ibiblio.org/gutenberg/
