Naturalism In American Literature

The concept of naturalism is common in American literature. Naturalism was developed in the nineteenth century when scientific advancements were at a peak in society. These advancements ushered a more naturalistic way of writing and prose. This way of writing is demonstrated through the works of Jack London’s, “What Life Means to Me”, and Stephan Crane’s, “An Open Boat”. Within these stories, both of the protagonists are placed in unfortunate situations that are beyond the ability of the characters to control. In London’s “What Life Means to Me”, the common theme is “man against himself”, and Crane’s “ The Open Boat” portrays “man against nature”. Jack London’s “What Life Means to Me” defines naturalism as a struggle for survival, while Stephan

The main naturalistic idea of the story is “man against nature”, with four men lost at sea due to a shipwreck. Naturalism is also characterized that man does not have free will, but are just pawns randomly being controlled through nature. Crane highlights the randomness of nature in the story stating, “She [wind tower] did not seem cruel to him then, nor beneficent, nor treacherous, nor wise. But she was indifferent, flatly indifferent” (597). This part supports the fact that in naturalistic writing nature does whatever it wants without concern for man or anything. Throughout the story, it could be deducted that one of the themes is hopelessness. Crane’s emphasizes this throughout the story with the pessimistic tone. In the story the waves are written like they are the plague stating, “Occasionally, a great spread of water, like white flames, swarmed into her” (587). The trials presented to the crew are never ending from the waves, to sharks, and their physical conditions. The tone Crane creates is naturalistic, reason being that it shows that man has no control over the forces of nature. In the story the crew thinks about what the reason was that brought them so far in their plight. The crew touched that it may have been fate, but the real reason was because of the random events that occurred. This is the core of