Naturalism
by Nick Wagner, Sarah Allchin, and Breena Gwaltney
Key Terms
Naturalism: An outgrowth of Realism, except it opposes nature and is viewed in an objectual scientifical manner. (Page 470)
Realism: The depiction of things as they appear in real life, factual. (Page 470)
Conflict: A struggle between two opposing forces. Internal conflict, a struggle within a character, and external conflict, conflict between a character and an outside force. (Page 607)
Dramatic irony: A contradiction between what a character thinks and what the reader knows to be true. (Page 607)
Speaker: The voice of the poem. The speaker is most often the poet but it can also be a fictional character or non-human entity. (Page 665)
Attitude: Details that suggest how the speaker feels about the subject. (Page 671)
Important Naturalism authors
Predominant Themes and Genres of this Period
- Frontier (Page 470)
- Survival fate (Studyguide.org)
- Nature is an indifferent force acting on humans. (Studyguide.org)
- "Brute within" (Studyguide.org)
Stylistic Qualities of the Period
The characters were mainly lower class or lower middle class. Many of these stories in this period had tragic endings. (Studyguide.org - Naturalism)
Important Historical Events
- The Civil War (Page 470) Idealism is shattered after the Civil War and writers turn from Romanticism to Realism.
- The Closing of the Frontier (Page 470)
- Industrialization (Page 470)
- Charles Darwin and Social Darwinism ( The Literature Network)