Naturalism (early 19th century movement)

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Naturalism(early 19th century movement)

• By
• Cera Connors, Ryan Cameron, Tyler Given, Eli
  Greene, and Mick Schroeder

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What is Naturalism?

• Naturalism is a movement in literature that
  developed out of realism.
• Naturalism was a literary movement that
  originated in France in the late 1800s.
• Like the realists, the naturalist sought to
  render common people and ordinary life
  accurately. However, the naturalists emphasized
  how instinct and environment affect human
  behavior.
• Strongly influenced by Charles Darwins ideas,
  the naturalists believed that the fate of humans
  is determined by forces beyond individual
  control.
• Naturalism almost entirely dispensed with the
  notion of free will, or at least a free will
  capable of enacting real change in lifes
  circumstances.

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Key Elements in Naturalism

• Naturalism was from 1900 to 1914
• It was during World War 1
• They analyzed human behavior as a scientist would
  and attempted to study their characters.
• They believed that human behavior is shaped by
  heredity and environment. A person can never
  completely escape either influence.
• Because of this, humans cant control their own
  destinies
• Thus, life is often depicted as a losing battle
  against an uncaring universe.

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Naturalistic Authors

• Stephen Crane- Maggie A Girl of the
  Streets(1893), The Red Badge of Courage(1895)
• Edith Wharton- The Age of Innocence (1920) Fast
  and Loose (1878), Verses(1878)
• Frank Norris- Blix (1899), McTeague (1899)
• Emile Zola- Les Rougon-Macquart (1871-1893), The
  Fortune of the Rougons (1871). A French author
  who inspired the start of naturalism in the late
  1870s in France.

Stephen Crane
Emile Zola
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Man vs. Nature

• Characters can be studied through their
  relationships to their surroundings.
• Writers studied human beings governed by their
  instincts and passions as well as the ways in
  which the characters' lives were governed by
  forces of heredity and environment.
• Naturalism dramatizes the loss of
  individuality.   
• George Becker- naturalism's philosophical
  framework can be simply described as "pessimistic
  materialistic determinism."
• When it occurs to a man that nature does not
  regard him as important, and that she feels she
  would not maim the universe by disposing of him,
  he at first wishes to throw bricks at the temple,
  and he hates deeply the fact that there are no
  bricks and no temples. - Stephen Crane, "The
  Open Boat" 

Illustration from The Open Boat by Stephen Crane.
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Stylistic Devices used by Writers

• Naturalists ideas reflected intellectual trends
  emerging in Europe in biology, economics, and
  psychology.
• - Emile Zola wrote novels of human
  behavior under the influence of heredity and
  environment. He used ideas that were mostly
  scientific.
• Origin of Species (1859) Darwin proposed his
  theory that species evolve through natural
  selection, where those with the most favorable
  traits adapt and survive (survival of the
  fittest).
• Writers believed that the fate of humans was
  determined by the forces beyond individual
  control.
• Characters are crushed by the force of a
  universe they can neither understand or control.
• - Ex Man vs. Nature (man fights to
  survive a snow storm, but in the end nature is
  dominate and the man can freeze to death.)
• Writers also focus on the filth of society and
  the hard labor of the lower classes as the focal
  point of their writing.
• Some devices used were metaphors, similes, and
  personification but were not a driving force
  through the movement.

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Themes

• Naturalist writers apply scientific principles
  and methods to the writing of fiction.
• Authors introduce readers to a character and then
  set the events of the novel in motion to see how
  the characters inherited traits and
  environmental influences will determine their
  outcomes.
• Unexpected opportunities is also introduced to a
  character for a chance for him/her to take it or
  leave it.

Environmental setting
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Characteristics of heroes/main characters

• Unaffected, honest, simple and people in natural
  setting/jobs.
• Writers focused on Charles Darwin's theory of
  evolution.
• They believed that one's heredity and social
  environment determine one's character.
• They worried about the problems in the world.

Antigna, Alexandre
(1817-1878)
Realism/Naturalism
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Comparison to Naturalism

• Naturalism
• -They believed that one's heredity and social
  environment determine one's character.
• -Characters were in full detail.
• -Focused on the problems in the world.
• -They were also described for the different
  social classes they were in

• Modernism
• -Stayed away from the conventional writings. 
• -Focused on the inner problems of man.
• -Characters were not explained in full detail.
• -The characters were alienated.

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The End!Thank You