Naturalism Essay
By Julia A. Keirns
Naturalism is a literary movement that began in the late nineteenth century. The father of naturalism is French author Emile Zola. “He based his characters, events and explanations on natural rather than supernatural or divine causes. His series of novels regarding the Rougons and the Macquarts completely lay emphasis upon their behavior as influenced by heredity and environment” (Mambrol, 2018). Personally, I have begun purchasing this series at used bookstores as I find them and hope to read the entire series someday.
According to Donna Campbell, naturalism is “a type of literature that attempts to apply scientific principles of objectivity and detachment to its study of human beings” and “characters can be studied through their relationships to their surroundings” (Campbell, 2017). In philosophy class, I learned that naturalism is the belief that only natural laws and forces operate in the world. Therefore, when you put the two ideas together, the idea of naturalism in literature is that the natural laws and forces operating in the world control the environment of the characters and how they act, think and survive. Outside forces almost solely control their choices and outcomes.
Many naturalist writers set their characters into an environment in nature to see how they would survive and what they would do in certain situations such as hurricanes, lost at sea in a boat, or harsh winters. However, even just inner-city life can constitute an environment. Some of the main themes of naturalism include survival, determination, and violence. Readers learn to stay somewhat detached from the characters in a naturalist novel. Things do not always seem to go so well for them. They suffer a lot. They just have no control over what happens to them and they are not very optimistic. Poverty seems to make the characters not just poor, but very poor and survival in a naturalist novel is harsh. Characters either survive, or die. There is not a lot of in between area.
I have especially enjoyed reading naturalist author Jack London’s Call of the Wild, White Fang, The Sea Wolf, and even his short story To Build a Fire. He is another great example of a naturalist writer. London describes the harsh environments he places his characters into in such vivid detail that you can feel their distress. He take his characters through the act of surviving in unrelenting environments. He displays nature as unforgiving, and his characters have no choice but to endure and survive or die. In the Call of the Wild, Buck must first survive the beatings of the humans who steal him. He has no control over the way they treat him. Secondly, he must survive the harsh winters of the Alaskan Yukon. Naturalism shows us that the environments characters must endure are not limited to just the elements of nature, but also the elements of human nature.
Stephen Crane’s poem “A Man Said to the Universe” probably gives the best definition of nature and man’s relationship to it –
“A man said to the universe:
“Sir, I exist!”
“However,” replied the universe,
“The fact has not created in me a sense of obligation.”
Nature does not bend or bow to man’s will, but rather the other way around. Man must bend and bow to the will of nature. Nature and our environment control our circumstances in every way. If it rains, we cancel our trip to the outdoor zoo or park and go somewhere indoors instead. Our trip to the Caribbean is cancelled when a hurricane forms. Delayed and cancelled flights are common due to bad weather. The forces of nature and our physical environment control our lives more than we think. We might be able to slam on the brakes if another driver does not stop at the stop sign, but we cannot control the other driver. Life is beyond our control. That is nature. That is what it means to be a naturalist and believe in naturalism. Naturalist writers track everything that happens to their characters back to an environmental cause.
Other naturalist writers I am familiar with include Thomas Hardy, Frank Norris and Jane Goodall just to name a few. There are many others, and someday I hope to become familiar with many more of them.
Works Cited
Campbell, Donna M. “Naturalism in American Literature.” Naturalism in American Literature. March 8, 2017. https://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/natural.htm
Mambrol, Nasrullah. “Literary Theory and Criticism.” The Naturalism of Emile Zola. January 8, 2018. https://literariness.org/2018/01/08/the-naturalism-of-emile-zola/