NATURALISM IN AMERICAN LITERATUREContents1. introduction (1)2. Naturalism Literature in American (2)2.1 Origin of Naturalism Literature (2)2.2 The Development of Naturalism Literature in the USA (3)3. Stephen Crane and Naturalism (4)3.1 The ―Precursors‖ Stephen Crane (4)3.2 The Create Background of The Open Boat (5)4. An analysis on American Naturalism Literature from The Open Boat (6)4.1 Nature in The Open Boat (6)4.2 The Fight between Human and Nature (9)4.3 The Relationship between Man and Man (10)4.4 Life of Hope (12)4.5 The Growth of Personal and the Sublimation of Sprint (13)5. Conclusion (14)6. Bibliography (15)1.introductionNaturalism theory is based on the theory of positivism presented by a famous French philosopher Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier Comte (1798-1857). As a product of social development to a certain stage, naturalism is regarded as a new development of positivism. It is also been called light realism or pessimistic realism. Instead of reveal the nature authentically which recognized by individuals, it presents a power, for example the social power, social reform, inheritance and environment, that cannot be control, conveying a theory that the human beings are living in a mechanized world. American naturalism could trace back to the transition of social values in the process of American industrialization.It promulgates the deep-seated problems of modern American society core values and explores the historical changes of intricate cultural mode, social mentality and individual behavior during the process of industrialization and the post-industrialization. As the representative work of naturalism in American literature, ―The Open Boat (1898)‖is created by famous American writer Stephen Crane (1871-1900) who creates this work through his own experience of marine perils on the way to Cuba. It is a famous short story of American literature, depicting how four men struggle and fight to the ocean for surviving with a delicate description. In the story of ―The Open Boat‖, the relationship between natural and human, hope and desperate, human and human and individual growth present the naturalism vividly. The article will discuss the origin and the development of naturalism literature in the USA, and then give an introduction of Stephen Crane as well as his representative work ―The Open Boat‖and make an analysis with naturalism.Key words: Naturalism; American literature; The Open Boat2.Naturalism Literature in AmericanNaturalismis regarded as a type of literature that aims at applying scientific principles of objectivity and detachment to the study of human beings. Unlike realism, which focuses on literary technique, naturalism implies a philosophical position. In relation to this objective study of human beings, naturalistic writers believed that the laws behind the forces that govern human lives. Naturalistic writers thus used a version of the scientific method to write their novels; they studied human beings governed by their instincts and passions as well as the ways in which the characters' lives were governed by forces of heredity and environment. Although they used the techniques of accumulating detail pioneered by the realists, the naturalists thus had a specific object in mind when they chose the segment of reality that they wished to convey.2.1 Origin of Naturalism LiteratureSince the renaissance of European literature, the naturalism, a new literature ideological trend, has sprung out, experiencing the evolution of the classicism, enlightenment and Romanticism. It is an ideology originated from France and gradually propagated to German, UK, Spain and Japan, Italy and the US as well as many Latin America countries and regions, replacing the critical realism that flourished in that period and becoming the literary mainstream around the world in late 19th century to early 20th century.Naturalismliterature is based on the theory of the critical realism. During the reign of Napoleon, form 1851 the beginning of the political reform to 1871 the ending of the franco-prussianwar, France was reached a turbulent society. On one hand, political and economic adventurers disrupted social ethos by jobbery and extravagantanddissipated comforts, on the other hand, the general civilians struggled against ignorance and poverty. In relation to this, some insight men criticized this generalmoodofsociety bravely by criticizing and satirizing in their article.With the gradual development of France, the capitalistindustrialization had been done and new inventions and technology has been adopted. The active productivity was based on the development of naturalscience which reversely impacted and promoted the development of scientificresearch. Therefore, the development of naturalscience has led to the rapid development in the field of philosophy, sociology, psychology and literature. Thus the naturalism literature has been created with the powerful driving force by the science, civilization and the history.2.2 The Development of Naturalism Literature in the USAAmerican literary naturalism is well known for its formal engagement with determination and abstraction and its thematic preoccupation with Anglo-Saxon degeneration.In the last decade of the nineteenth century, with the development of industry and modern science, intelligent minds began to see that man was no longer a free ethical being in a cold, indifferent and essentially godless universe. In this chance world he was both helpless and hopeless.European writers like Emile Zola had developed this acute socialconsciousness. They saw man‘s life as governed by the two forces of heredity and environment, forces absolutely beyond man‘s contro l. American naturalism had been shaped by the war, by the social upheavals that undermined the comforting faith of an earlier age, and by the disturbing teachings of Darwinism.In the last half of the 19th century Emile Zola (2 April 1840 – 29 September 1902),was a French writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of naturalism and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism.One of the most far-reaching intellectual events of the last half of the nineteenth century was the publication in 1859 of Charles Darwin‘s The Origin of SpeciesAmerican writers accepted the more negative implications of evolutionary theory and adopted this pessimistic form of realism.Of course,every one incorporated their individual assumption into his or her works.At the end of the nineteenth century came a generation of writers whose ideas of the workings of the universe and whose perception of society‘s disorders led them to naturalism, anew and harsher realism.American literary naturalists dismissed the validity of comforting moral truths. They attempted to achieve extreme economic classes who were determined by their environment and heredity. In presenting the extremes of life, the naturalists sometimes displayed an affinity to the sensationalism of early romanticism, but unlike their romantic predecessors, thenaturalism emphasized that the world was amoral, that men and women had no free will, that lives were controlled by heredity and environment, that the destiny of humanity was misery in life and oblivion in death.The pessimism and deterministic ideas of naturalism pervaded the works of such American writers as Stephen Crane, Frank Norris, Jack London and Theodore Dreiser.Crane‘s Maggie: A Girl of the Streets is the first American naturalism work. Norris‘s Teague is the manifesto of American naturalism. Dreiser‘s Sister Carrie is the work in which naturalism attained maturity. These writers‘ detailed description of the lives of the downtrodden and the abnormal, their franktreatments of human passion and sexuality, and their portrayal of men and women overwhelmed by blind forces of nature still exert a powerful influence on modern writers.Although naturalist literature described the world with sometimes brutal realism, it sometimes also aimed at bettering the world through social reform. This combination of grim reality and desire for improvements is typical of America as it moved into the twentieth century.3.Stephen Crane and NaturalismCrane was a great stylist and a master of the contradictory effect. Stephen was born in 1871 and died in 1900.He lived a life of rebellion—against his strict upbringing, his school and university, and what he considered a poorly regulated, unjust society.3.1 The “Precursors” Stephen CraneAs the fourteenth and youngest child of Methodist, active concern with social welfare and public morals, Crane first chafed against the constraints of his structured family life.His father was a strict Methodist minister, who died in 1880, leaving his devout,strong mother to raise the rest of the family.Crane lasted through preparatory school, but spent less than two years in college. When he was 22, Crane escaped to New York City where he lived in over-crowded slums. There he collected firsthand information for his first novel: Maggie: a Girl of the Streets. His times in New York City were split between his apartment in the Bowery slum in Manhattan and well-off family in the nearby town of Port Jervis. Crane published Maggie in 1893 at his own expense.Crane published this novel himself under a pseudonym. But it turned out that the novel was a failure because of its frank, realistic description of life in the slums of New York City(Lin, T. &Songtao, W. 2010).Crane worked as a journalist. He was hired to go to Cuba as a journalist to report on the rebellion there against the Spanish.On the way to the island, Crane was in a shipwreck, from which he was originally reported dead. At this point, rumors abounded about Crane, few of them good. There was talk of drug addiction, rampant promiscuity, and even Satanism, none of them true. Crane was disgusted with them and eventually relocated to England.His second novel Red Badge of Courage proved to be a success and brought Crane international literary fame. In 1899 Crane settled in Sussex, England, but he was in a fierce battle against debts and illness. The stress of this life, compounded by an almost disregard for his own health, led to his contracting tuberculosis. He died while in Baden, Germany, trying to recover from this illness. He was not yet 29 years old.He also was a pioneer imagist poet. He published a poem collection Black Riders and Other Lines(Xiaofeng, Y. 2006).3.2 The Create Background of The Open BoatStephen Crane is active in American Literature as an American novelist, short story writer, poet and journalist. Prolific throughout his short life, he writes notable works in the Realist tradition as well as early examples of American Naturalism and Impressionism. The Open Boat is his masterpiece in short fiction. As he mentions under the title, this story is based on his real experience of ―four men from the sunk steamer commodore‖, so The Open Boat has some realistic elements, but in essence, it is more a naturalistic works, as is shown in the following four aspects.He rowed toshore in a dinghy, along with three other men, having to swim to shore and drop his money in the sea to prevent from drowning. This experience directly led to his most famous short story ―The Open Boat‖ (1897).As the masterpiece of American naturalism, The Red Badge of Courage (1895) written by Stephen Crane is discovered by Henry Fleming, a recruit in the Civil War. It is often considered one of the best American war stories ever written, even though the author was born after the events and never saw battle himself. His purpose in writing the book was to explore fear and courage in the face of the most daunting trial imaginable: battle.The book won international acclaim for its realism and psychological depth in telling the story of an old soldier (Anyur, M. K. 1992). Crane had never experienced battle personally, but had conducted interviews with a number of veterans, some of whom may have suffered from what is now known as post-traumatic stress disorder.4.An analysis on American Naturalism Literature from TheOpen BoatStephen Crane produced a considerable amount of literary content - both prose and verse - in his brief lifetime. It is commonly acknowledged that Crane is often a writer used in college studies and assignments. His classic story 'The Open Boat' - considered by some as one of the finest short stories in the English language - shall be analyzed as the work of choice. The present author is not out to attack literary labels, but terms like ―naturalist tradition‖, ―writer of realism‖, etc. can be misleading.To be more specific, an actual assignment posed students at a major university shall be employed: ―Show how Crane attacks the benevolence of God in 'The Open Boat'―.4.1 Nature in The Open BoatIn The Open Boat, as is a typical feature of naturalistic works, man is only part of the world just as much as the animals and plants. Human beings have no superiority over animals. They are imprisoned in the dingy afloat in the ocean, and have no freedomthat the gulls enjoy. The gulls can fly freely far and near, and they ―sit comfortably in groups‖, the whole universe is theirs. At the same time, these four men are crowded in a ten-foot dingy not bigger than a bath tub, and dare not knock the gull away, ―because anything resembling an emphatic gesture will have capsized this freighted boat‖. Two of them huddle in the stern and will ―twist their bodies for a moment and groan‖ when the icy sea water pile into the boat. Human beings are not different from animals in certain circumstances.Beyond the obvious mention of the story in the assignment, the Open Boat has qualities very special outside the area of mere composition. When these aspects are clarified, its selection as indicative of the truest Crane writing becomes all the more compelling. The Open Boat is based on a real life experience, and this is conveyed in the beginning of the story as a sort of subtitle that reads: 'A Tale intended to be after the fact. Stephen Crane envisioned a sort of conflict here, in terms of didacticism and the duality of the telling. It may well be for this reason and others that the reported story is mostly to do with the ship's sinking, and the Open Boat sort of carries on from there - giving a more impressionistic telling of their efforts in the ten foot dinghy (life-boat) to get back to land (Jameson, 2007).The story begins with the surrounding hopelessness and chaos of such a situation - of four men in a dinghy - that is constantly on the brink of capsizing (―swamping‖), and the sea - the mighty drunken sea offers the occupants little hope. If god is but its surveyor and controls the currents of the seven seas, there seems at best indifference - a flat indifference. Eventually, there is time to think beyond the immediate precariousness of the situation, and the correspondent (Crane) as narrator describes his impression of the hurt captain.For example, ―Show how Crane attacks the benevolence of God in 'The Open Boat'(The Open Boat, 1897). There is not a question as to whether the author attacked the benevolence, but how was this done. Here is an assumption of Naturalism, where someone born or thrown into a desperate circumstance must rely solely upon themselves to survive, and in a dinghy smaller than many a ―bathtub‖ as Crane says, the forces are man against nature, the natural forces of God, or so it would seem.Nature also allows the four characters no real choices. They can‘t decide the size of their boat; all they can do is to try every effort to handle the ten-foot dingy safe. They want to head for the light-house, but the wind goes against them, turning from the northeast to the southeast and later the ―tide and the wind are swinging the dingy northward (The Open Boat, 1897)‖.When they see a man running on shore, they can‘t communicate successfully with him and let him send for people to save them. Even the gull perching on the captain‘s head and the shark swimming alongside the dingy exist as great dangers to them; as well as the waves, they might easily capsize their boat. In front of nature, human beings are incapable of making meaningful choices. Even his attitude towards nature has greatly changed. Correspondent believed that nature was conscious of human beings and wouldn‘t scathe them after so much industrious rowing and having allowed them to survive for so long a time on the sea. He swears that if nature or Fate is not able to give people justice, ―she should be deprived of the management of men‘s nature(The Open Boat, 1897).‖ But nature turns out totally indifferent to human beings. The ocean is still significant and splendid though they have no time to appreciate the natural beauty. However hard they have tried to handle the dingy safe, nature just ignores them and sends them strong waves, which may capsize the boat at any moment. Finally he truly understands that ―nature doesnot seem cruel to him, nor beneficent, nor treacherous, nor wise. But she was indifferent, flatly indifferent (The Open Boat, 1897).‖ It is nature itself that gives the correspondent such an understanding of the unconcern of the universe.Crane describes his impressionof the natural forces of the sea as ―indifferent‖, but it is might agree there is something more than this. His wonderful reference to the poem ―A Soldier of the Legion Lay Dying in Algiers‖, and a new profound understanding show the wisdom gained as he later says ―in this new ignorance of the grave-edge‖(Bert, B.1998), being consequent to a distinction between right and wrong that is absurdly clear to him. Here, again we see the reproach as previously alluded to. The final circumstances of this story need clarification.Besides these four features discussed above, The Open Boat fits other features of anaturalistic works, such as the plot over character, self-viewed in terms of personality, and emphasis on the body and physical, material world. Like Stephen Crane‘s many other works, The Open Boat is a typical naturalistic works.4.2 The Fight between Human and NatureNature in ―The Open Boat‖ is ruthless and it shows no sympathy to those four people who struggled for their lives on the sea. ―A singular disadvantage of the sea lies in the fact that after successfully surmounting one wave you discover that there is another behind it just as important and just as nervously anxious to do something effective in the way of swamping boats.‖ Here the description of the heavy waves in part one in the story is the reflection of the cruelty of nature. Waves symbolize nature. The author also wrote these words in part four, ―The billows that came at this time were more formidable. They seemed always just about to break and roll over the little boat in the turmoil of foam. In the part seven in the short story, there is such a sentence, ―The third wave moved forward, huge, furiousand implacable.‖ All these sentences above reveal the cruelty of nature through the expression of harsh waves.The captain is referred to by various descriptions, but never by name. There is something remarkable in the correspondent's rendering of the story, and in this he becomes self-analytical, a reproach that seems anything but blameful of the forces of nature. The first indication is subtle and perhaps coincidental: after the cook and Crane exchange words that seem to show their disagreement regarding the difference between a house of refuge, and life-saving station, the cook mentions how lucky they are to have an ―onshore wind‖, and this is promptly acknowledged by all (except the captain) as they ―wouldn't have a show‖ otherwise. This is the first natural force that is regarded in their favor, and is essential to the story. So the wind is in the direction of the land, and is mentioned in the story.As Crane swims, he ―remained in the grip of this strange new enemy-a current. The shore, with its white slope of sand and its green bluff, topped with little silent cottages, was spread like a picture before him. He thought: 'I am going to drown? Can it be possible can it be possible? Can it be possible?' Perhaps an individual must considerhis own death to be the final phenomenon of nature. But later a wave perhaps whirled him out of this small, deadly current, for he found suddenly that he could again make progress toward the shore. Later still, he was aware that the captain, clinging with one hand to the keel of the dinghy, had his face turned away from the shore and toward him, and was calling his name. 'Come to the boat! Come to the boat!'―.―In his struggle to reach the captain and the boat, he reflected that when one gets properly wearied, drowning must really be a comfortable arrangement, a cessation of hostilities accompanied by a large degree of relief, and he was glad of it, for the main thing in his mind for some months had been horror of the temporary agony. He did not wish to be hurt.‖ But here he writes: ―a large wave caught him and flung him with ease and supreme speed completely over the boat and far beyond it. It struck him even then as an event in gymnastics, and a true miracle of the sea.‖ This is written near the end - after he had endured so much, and was obviously near drowned - and quite rightly illustrates the presence and belief of the forces of benevolence as naturally present So after all the hardship against it, the sea acted, if only briefly, as a saving force and was a true miracle.4.3 The Relationship between Man and ManIn The Open Boat, the four men behave more and more animal like as the time goes on. They tolerate physical pain, the correspondent and the oiler just row and row ―mechanically‖, and they find that ―the human back can become the seat of more aches and pains than are registered in books for the composite anatomy of regiment‖(The Open Boat, 1897). Besides, they have lost their passion as normal human beings possess. The correspondent forces himself to think but his mind is dominated by muscles in such condition, and the muscles say they don‘t care. Even when they are going to jump the boat, ―there are no hurried words, no pallor and no plain agitation.The men simply looked at the shore‖(The Open Boat, 1897). They behave instinctively rather than civilized men would do. They curse those people on shore who see them but don‘t come to their rescue, no matter whether the peopl e on shore realize their difficult situation or not, one of them even hopes to soak the manwaving the coat just because he seems so cheerful. When human beings are totally in the control of nature, they will response more like animals.The main character, the correspondent, is formed external world, for instance, a site on which external forces act. He has endured great mental changes when confronted with the nature. He was once cynical, and was indifferent to human lives. The death of a soldier was not important to him, because he thought it was not his affair, nor a matter for sorrow. Actually, the death of the soldier was less than ―breaking of a pencil‘s point‖. However, now he cries out, ―‗yes, but I love myself.‘‖ and he feels a brotherhood establishe d on the sea. After understands that ―a distinction between right and wrong seems absurdly clear to him‖, he would like to ―mend his conduct and his words‖ if he were given another chance. When he is rowing the boat alone at night, a shark is alongside the ir boat, he feels horror, but it ―does not affect the man with the same horror that it would if he had been a picnicker‖. Nature forces these changes on him.With the development of the story, much irony becomes evident. Everything seems to be absolutely precarious, and this is easy to assume as something inherently hostile; but really, is this a lack of benevolence, or is it indifference, a flat indifference, or not? They do make it to their first intended destination, but the person or persons on the shore that notice them and acknowledge this, either don't care or believe they're simply out boating. It is then that they are forced to take the dinghy out to sea again, because the surf is too treacherous for a landing attempt without help. Through the night they fight to keep the dinghy, really too small for its purpose, from capsizing.It is becomes apparent that the oiler, Billy Higgins, works the hardest, and is the ―wily oarsman‖, and Crane makes sure to tell near the beginning that ―the oiler had worked a 'double-watch' in the engine-room of the ship before the foundering‖(The Open Boat, 1897), and it is clearly he who is expending most of the energy before they deliberately abandon the dinghy to swim to shore. And it is he, with certain sacrificial wisdom evident throughout, who meets the ―sinister hospitality of the grave‖. This is really mentioned after the correspondent writes: ―the welcome from the land.‖(The Open Boat,1897). The men took to the sea despite its inhospitable nature, and it ismen who sank the ship, and it is menwho must find the land. And men, not the sea failed them the first time they found it. At one point, in reference to men, and his cynicism regarding them, the author elaborates that the boat and comrades, are part of the best experience of his life.4.4 Life of HopeIt must have been incredibly difficult for Stephen Crane to render such first-hand experience, but he never forgot that the uncertain tides of the sea did not invite him - he took to the ocean, despite its unfriendly nature. So great is my respect for Mr. Crane, for it is dedicated to him. Open was his gaze into the stars, but he never lost sight of the ground below his feet and the depths of the tumultuous currents, or the plight of those who faced their hardships.Faced with the severe natural environment, people on the boat did not give up. They battled with death again and again. They were afraid to die while they were unwilling to die. ―The correspondent thought that he had been drenched to the skin, but happening to feel in the top packet of his coat, he found therein eight cigars. Four of them were soaked with sea-water; four were perfectly scatheless. After a search, somebody produced three dry matches,and there upon the four waifs rode in their little boat, and with an assurance of an impending rescue shining in their eyes, puffed at the big cigars and judged well and ill of all men.‖ At this moment, these four men slightly felt at ease because they saw a glimmer of hope in front of them(George, M. 1984).The Open Boat has a vertical plot, which is another feature of naturalistic fiction. The whole fiction has three risings and fallings. People in the boat are hopeful when they believe they are approaching the light house at Mosquito Inlet. They row and row when the ―lighthouse‖ is just like ―the point of a pin‖, then the dot grows larger and appears like ―a little gray shadow on the sky‖, and gradually, it becomes ―a black line‖, and this line finally ―bec omes a line of black and a line of white, trees, and sands (The Open Boat, 1897)‖, and they even believe they see a house on the shore. At this time, their hope reaches the highest. But after waiting for a long time, they seeno sign of help coming for them, and they have to set the boat into the sea as the wave is going to capsize the boat. They row and row and suddenly they see a man running and then a group of persons and a man waving a coat to them. This arouses their hope again, and they become excited and believe they can soon be saved. However, the shore becomes dusty and no man comes to save them. They are disappointed once again. This is the second rising and falling. At last, they jump the boat, an old man save them while they are struggling in the sea water. They have survived after so many days on the ocean. People are hospitable and bring them blankets, clothes and flasks and many other things, but ―a still and dripping shape is carried slowly up the beach‖. It is Billie, the oiler, the most strong and capable one among them. This fiction stops after the third rising and falling.In addition, the goodness of human beings comes into being in readers' mind. ―It would be difficult to describe the subtle brotherhood of men that was here established on the seas. No one said that it was so. No one mentioned it. But it dwelt in the boat, and each man felt it warm him. They were a captain, an oiler, a cook, and a correspondent, and they were friends, friends in a more curiously iron-bound degree than may be common.‖These four people were not familiar with each other at all before they were on the little boat. But they united together, cooperated and cared about each other in order to survive. This, to great extent, shows the goodness of human beings.4.5 The Growth of Personal and the Sublimation of SprintThe correspondent, i.e. the author, has a new understanding of life and death after this unique experience on the sea. When the correspondent thought he would die at any time in face of the huge sea, a verse occurred to him(Thomas, C. 2008).―A soldier of the Legion lay dying in Algiers,There was lack of woman's nursing, there was dearth of woman's tears;But a comrade stood beside him, and he took that comrade's hand,And he said: 'I shall never see my own, my native land.' ―(The Open Boat).He was very familiar with this verse since he was a little child. But he nerver paid。
