1 / 9

Naturalism

Naturalism. The Dark Side of Realism. Naturalism and Realism: Similarities. REALISM AUTHORS Whitman celebrates the common man (beauty of mankind) Twain entertains us with characters from the West (man as amusing creature) Bierce explores effects of mortality (man as mortal)

major
Télécharger la présentation

Naturalism

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Naturalism The Dark Side of Realism

  2. Naturalism and Realism: Similarities REALISM AUTHORS • Whitman celebrates the common man (beauty of mankind) • Twain entertains us with characters from the West (man as amusing creature) • Bierce explores effects of mortality (man as mortal) NATURALISM AUTHORS • Focus on ordinary people • Portray life truthfully and accurately • No neat patterns to life

  3. Naturalism and Realism: Differences • Darker view of the world (extreme realism) • Fate determined by environment, heredity, chance • Free will = illusion • Life = cruel joke

  4. NATURALISM: Principle Beliefs • Human beings = Human beasts • Humans can be studied through their relationship to their surroundings • Evolutionary Theory (Darwinism) • Scientific approach to subjects • Heredity + Social environment = Individual's actions and Personality Karl Marx (Communism) Charlies Darwin (Evolutionary Theory) Sigmund Freud (Psychoanalysis)

  5. NATURALISM: Subject Matter & Character Types • CHARACTERS • Lower Class • Poor, uneducated • Soldiers, criminals, homeless, prostitutes SUBJECT MATTER • Raw, unpleasant experiences that reduce humans to degrading behavior/conditions as they struggle to survive • Millieu (social environment) = commonplace, dull, unheroic • Life is not "owned" but "forced" on you • Existence = incomprehensible, purposeless

  6. AUTHOR FOCUS: Stephen Crane • Civil War: 1861 - 1865 • United States (Union) vs. Confederacy (11 secessionist states) • Costliest war in American history, RE: devastation and human lives • 600,000 men killed, at least as many injured • 20% of North's soldiers lost; 25% of South's • $4 billion worth of property destroyed • Wrote Red Badge of Courage • Henry Fleming (protagonist) is propelled by outside actions • Wants his own "red badge of courage" (wound) • Discovers he is actually a coward in battle (fear of death, failure, guilt)

  7. Stephen Crane Poem • A man said to the universe: • "Sir, I exist!" • "However," replied the universe, • "The fact has not created in me • A sense of obligation."

  8. "In the Desert" by Stephen Crane In the desert I saw a creature, naked, bestial, Who, squatting upon the ground, Held his heart in his hands, And ate of it. I said, "Is it good, friend?" "It is bitter -- bitter," he answered; "But I like it Because it is bitter, And because it is my heart."

  9. Stephen Crane: "An Episode of War" • Civil War vignette • How is it naturalistic?

More Related