Naturalism
Gilded Age Activity
Define
Naturalism was a literary movement taking place from the 1880s to 1940s that used detailed realism to suggest that social conditions, heredity, and environment had inescapable force in shaping human character.
Detail
- Naturalism, which began in the late 19th century, was a literary movement which would replace popular literary themes like Romanticism and Surrealism. This movement was only popular around aspiring American writers of its time. Naturalism is in many ways similar to Realism, however, it more closely identifies with the primary cause of one’s actions and/or beliefs.
- The thought process behind naturalistic writing is to show the reader that instinct and social situations would always be the determining factor in a person’s decisions and that in order to succeed, one must rise above emotion and thought, and embrace knowledge.
- The legacy of Naturalism is the providence of reason behind ones actions and/or beliefs.