By Dr. Lakshmi Muthukumar Head, Dept. of English

NATURALISM The term ‘naturalism’ suggests that human life is controlled by natural forces such as those explored in the natural sciences – Darwin’s work for example. Naturalism as a philosophy is based on the thesis that man belongs entirely to the order of nature and does not have a soul or any other connection with a religious or spiritual world beyond nature; Man is therefore a higher order animal whose character and fortunes are determined by two natural forces – heredity and environment.

THE AIM OF NATURALIST WRITERS Naturalist writers attempted to create accurate representations of characters and their interaction with their environment based on scientific truth. Man was depicted in the novels of the naturalist writers as one who inherits his personal traits and compulsive instincts. He is always subject to the social and economic forces in the family, the class and the milieu into which he is born.

PIONEERS OF THE MOVEMENT The movement was particularly associated with the nineteenth-century French novelist Emile Zola ( ) and influenced English writers like George Gissing ( ) and Arnold Bennett ( ) and American novelists like John Steinbeck. Other American naturalists: Frank Norris, Stephen Crane, Theodore Dreiser and James Farrell.

The Ending of such novels Naturalist novels usually end tragically (not in the classical or Elizabethan sense of the term) with the hero losing in the struggle of the individual mind and will against god, enemies and circumstances. The protagonist of the naturalistic plot is a pawn to multiple compulsions and therefore is wiped out.

REALISM Realism refers to a method of writing about people and settings which could really exist and events which could really happen. As a movement, it rejected classical models and Romantic ideals and favoured a realistic portrayal of actual life in realistic settings, often focusing on the harsher aspects of life under industrialism and capitalism.

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