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The origins of naturalism lie in the biological, economic, and psychological discoveries of the nineteenth century. Darwinism and his theory of evolution gave validation to the naturalists’ belief and ideas. Darwin created a context that made naturalism–with its emphasis upon theories of heredity and environment–a convincing way to explain the nature of reality about the late nineteenth century.
2.3 American Naturalism
American naturalism derives mainly from French naturalism. Outside of France, naturalism had its most lasting impact in the United States with Frank Norris, Stephen Crane, Jack London and Theodore Dreiser who were acknowledged as naturalist writers in a naturalistic vein. American naturalism came to a dominant position in 1900s. Most of the American writers were especially stimulated by British and French models. In the latter part of the 19th century in America, dramatic historical and social changes took place. “The rise of naturalistic literature in American marks the transformation of American social values.” (Fang, 2007:5)
With the economic, social, and scientific transformations, such as the rapid development of commercialization and industrialization after the Civil War, the rise of monopolies, the significant breakthroughs of science and technology, the influx of immigrants, and the influence of Darwinism and his theory of evolution, American literature had been different from before. Thus, Americans no longer believed in romanticism after this historical change. The Civil War ended in victory for Northern capitalism and its centralizing bureaucracy, its network of roads and telegraphs, and most important at the time-its factories. “Mobilization of industrial resources brought America flooding back into factory cities.” (Seed, 2009:10) Postwar industrialism lured people from farm to town and then to the cities. At the same time, Americans were adapting to assembly lines, electric lights and the modern modes of life. However, the most sweeping change was that the economy was shifting from an agricultural to an industrial production. All these shifts provoked profound changes for American people. Thus, American naturalist writers felt the impulse to explain, or at least to record these changes. They saw an urgent need as well as profitable opportunity to document the new social context.
Although it is greatly influenced by European naturalism, American naturalism has its own unique features. American naturalism in that period rests on a biological model, depending heavily on Darwin’s theory of evolution and some new scientific ideas, and making the point that a human being is the victim of various natural forces such as one’s heredity, instinct, desire and his own social environment, with the lack of free will and reasonable thought. It essentially tends to mirror a truthfulness and objectiveness of modern life. In addition to this, it also emphasizes describing people from the low social and economic class. These people are controlled by the basic requirements for survival, such as panic, hunger etc. The language of American naturalism is very filthy. It will not avoid evil phenomena. Last but not least, American naturalism concentrates on deterministic philosophy and pessimistic attitude. To sum up, American naturalistic novels offer a “panoramic, slice-of-life” drama in front of the readers.
3 Naturalism in Jennie Gerhardt
In 1909, Dreiser’s Jennie Gerhardt was published, and it was well known as the novel in which naturalism attained maturity in the United States. This novel was widely considered as the twin sister of Sister Carrie and a masterpiece of naturalistic fiction. One outstanding feature of naturalism is its emphasis on hereditary factors on one’s fate, and the other one is influence of the environment. According to naturalism, a man is a helpless victim in the universe, at the mercy of heredity, inevitable instinct and the environment. This chapter focuses on discussing the distinctive features of naturalism in Jennie Gerhardt.