NATURALISM

Goodbye to Old Conventions

In Traditional fictional plots…The noble and the good rewarded in the

end.

Also, Goodbye to…

In Traditional fictional plots…Nature reflects human realities and seems

to pity us in our misfortunes and celebrate our successes.

NATURALISM

Instead, naturalism shows man as a small figure in a deterministic system.

WHAT?…YOU’RE SAYING I DON’T MATTER?!!!!

Naturalism ignores the individual. Man is caught in an irresistible evolutionary process wholly indifferent to individuality.

Sources of Naturalism

• Bitter reality of the Civil War. • Rise of industrialism.• Bleakness of small town life.• Harshness of proletarian cities.• Darwinism and Social Darwinism.• Scientific world view.

Typical Plot Device

Over-civilized man taken into primitive environment where he must live by muscle and wit.

Themes of Naturalism

Man against nature. Or, Man against himself.

Man v. nature results in…

The struggle to remain civilized despite external pressures that threaten to release the “brute within.”

NATURE IS…

an indifferent force acting on the lives of humans.

SOCIAL DARWINISM

Forces of heredity and environment as they affect individual lives.

INDIFFERENT, DETERMINISTIC UNIVERSE

Futile attempts to exercise free will.

Naturalism and Realism

• Realism and Naturalism are closely related.

• However, unlike realism, naturalism is not just a literary technique, but also a philosophical stance.

So Remember….

Always be good, do your best, try hard AND you MAY SUCCEED….but then again, nature is indifferent and DOES NOT CARE IF YOU WIN OR LOSE!

And finally…

For listening to this presentation…you win a delicious breakfast (picture only)