Stephen Crane presentation:

Naturalism

Naturalism is a literary genre that started as a movement in late nineteenth century in literature, film, theater, and art. It is a type of extreme realism. This movement suggested the roles of family, social conditions, and environment in shaping human character. Thus, naturalistic writers write stories based on the idea that environment determines and governs human character.

We also see use of some of the scientific principles in naturalistic works, and humans struggling for survival in hostile and alien society. In fact, naturalism took its cue from Darwin’s theory of evolution, which holds that life is like a struggle and only the fittest survives.

* Both naturalism and realism are literary genres and interlinked. However, there are some differences between them:

• Naturalism suggests a philosophical pessimism in which writers use scientific techniques to depict human beings as objective and impartial characters; whereas realism focuses on literary technique.

• Realism depicts things as they appear, while naturalism portrays a deterministic view of a character’s actions and life.

• Naturalism concludes that natural forces predetermine a character’s decisions, making him/her act in a particular way. Realism poses that a decision of a character comes from his response to a certain situation.

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Example :The Open Boat (By Stephen Crane)

Stephen Crane, in his short story The Open Boat, portrays men on a boat, representing human endurance against indifferent nature, where they feel themselves helpless. Thus, it contains a themeof naturalism. Whenever a huge wave of water arrives, it shuts everything from the men’s view, and they imagine this particular wave would be the final outbreak of the ocean, like in the following lines:

“If I am going to be drowned–if I am going to be drowned, why, in the name of the seven gods, who rule the seven seas,?”

This lays emphasis on their struggle for survival and lack of choice. Besides, The Open Boatsymbolically represents human place in the huge universe where man struggles against nature. Then we see a definite determination, as men cannot play any part in their outcome, which results in unexpected death of Oiler, despite being an expert sailor. 

Source: https://literarydevices.net/naturalism/