The Naturalism in American Literature

By this, in naturalism, the human studied on their own characteristics. For the individual is no longer free by it self but the part of the universe; society and environment, and then their life is affected by the condition of the society. They also conditioned and controlled by the environment, heredity, instinct, or chance. The human has the basic forces that strengthen the thought and willing in living, and also the attitudes inherited from their each ancestor. The human lives in the world that they cannot control, and then it seems that the life has been determined. The fate is the determination, then they have no free will in life, although the human is superior from others, they still have to realize that they are the part of the universe. The survival of the fittest is also as the key for human in the world life for Darwin, how the human with the best quality will win from those worse, it is can be seen from the up or lower classes in society to take the control over.

3. The Naturalism in American Literature

Naturalism reveals the social critic. This social critic is revealed because of the culture of the society and the condition of American people at that time is wildly change by the outgrowth and revolution in every aspect that is happened in that century. Between 1880 and 1900, cities in the United States grew at a dramatic rate. Owing most of their population growth to the expansion of industry, U.S. cities grew by about 15 million people in the two decades before 1900. Many of those who helped account for the population growth of cities were immigrants arriving from around the world. A steady stream of people from rural America also migrated to the cities during this period. Between 1880 and 1890, almost 40 percent of the townships in the United States lost population because of migration. Industrial expansion and population growth radically changed the face of the nations cities. Noise, traffic jams, slums, air pollution, and sanitation and health problems became commonplace. Mass transit, in the form of trolleys, cable cars, and subways, was built, and skyscrapers began to dominate city skylines. New communities, known as suburbs, began to be built just beyond the city. Commuters, those who lived in the suburbs and traveled in and out of the city for work, began to increase in number. 36 By the growth and revolution in almost of every aspect; including the revolution in economic, technology, industry, and science, then the laborers and workers are just depend on their boss on salary, or how every employee just depend on other employee in the factory because of the specialize on work and the minimum salary. The condition is confusing by the huge revolution, but the prosperity of the society is just neglected. Then, the works of naturalism reveal the real life but not as it is. It reveals the real life scientifically, it shows the social critic because of the condition and culture of the American is changed by the revolution in almost of every aspects at the time and 36 http:memory.loc.govlearnfeaturestimelineriseindcitycity.html. accessed on November 30th, 2009 because the naturalists also try to use their knowledge of science as affected of the theory of Darwin that growth in that century to the literary works. The well-known naturalists in this period are Stephen Crane 1871-1900, Theodore Dreiser 1871-1945 and Jack London 1876-1917. Naturalistic works, such as Londons To Build a Fire and Dreisers Sister Carrie, portray humans as helpless or nearly helpless victims of natural and social forces. Because these forces usually affect the characters negatively--freezing them to death, for example or leading them into poor jobs and destructive relationships--naturalistic fiction and poetry tend to be dreary in tone. Crane is perhaps the greatest of the naturalists, however, precisely because his works transcend their genre. While works such as The Red Badge of Courage and The Open Boat depict men struggling against a natural world that is both destructive and indifferent, they also explore subjects such as fraternity, an individuals role in community, psychology, art, and initiation into manhood. What is more, unlike Dreiser and London, Crane treated his subjects in a highly lyrical style. Indeed, in addition to writing some of Americas most famous stories, he produced a substantial body of poetry. A particularly noteworthy aspect of this style is Cranes use of imagery, which has earned him the title of a literary impressionist. 37 Sister Carrie 1900, the story of a country girls rise to material success first as the mistress of a wealthy man and then as an actress, horrified its publisher, who 37 http:www.uncp.eduhomecanadaworkallam18661913litcrane.htm Accessed on February 7th, 2010 gave it only limited circulation. Dreiser distributed it himself, but it was consistently attacked as immoral; it was reissued in 1982 with many passages from his revised typescript restored. 38 When Jack London wrote To Build a Fire he embraced the idea of naturalism because it mirrored the events of daily life. Naturalism showed how humans had to be wary at every corner because at anytime death could be there, waiting for them to make a mistake and forfeit their lives. He used naturalism, the most realistic literary movement; to show how violent and uncaring nature really is and how no matter what you do nature will always be there. London also presented the basic idea of Darwinism and the survival of the fittest, basically if you are dumb you will die. Collectively, London used naturalism to show how in life, humans can depend on nothing but themselves to survive. 38 http:www.infoplease.comce6peopleA0816090.html Accessed on February 8th, 2010

CHAPTER III THE ANALYSIS OF NATURALISM IN THE THREE OF DEBORAH

DIGGES’S POEMS To analyze the three of Digges’s poems, the writer analyzed the poems intrinsically, and then she describes the naturalism in the poems.

A. Trapeze a. The Poem

See how the first dark takes the city in its arms and carries it into what yesterday we called the future. 3 O, the dying are such acrobats. Here you must take a boat from one day to the next, or clutch the girders of the bridge, hand over hand. 6 But they are sailing like a pendulum between eternity and evening, diving, recovering, balancing the air. Who can tell at this hour seabirds from starlings, 9 wind from revolving doors or currents off the river. Some are as children on swings pumping higher and higher. Dont call them back, dont call them in for supper. 12 See, they leave scuff marks like jet trails on the sky. Digges gives the reader images of nature in this poem. The reader brought to imagine the situation when the world became dark. She makes an imagination when