Naturalism - AO3 Context

Question 1

What literary genre is Grapes of Wrath?

Answer 1

Naturalism.

Question 2

When did Naturalism arise as a literary genre?

Answer 2

In the late nineteenth century.

Question 3

What does Naturalism accept and reject?

Answer 3

Rejects : Romanticism
Accepts: Determinism, detachment, scientific objectivism and social commentary.

Question 4

How is detachment used within the genre?

Answer 4

The author maintains an impersonal and disinterested tone and point of view.

Question 5

How is determinism used within the genre?

Answer 5

A characters fate has been decided, even pre-determined by impersonal forces of nature beyond human control.

Question 6

What do authors discover and analyse within Naturalism?

Answer 6

The forces or scientific laws that influence behaviour.

Question 7

What author does literary naturalism trace back to?

Answer 7

Émile Zola - ‘The Experimental Novel’ in 1880 - his concept of a naturalistic novel.

Question 8

What does Kornelijie Kvas state Naturalism to be?

Answer 8

Presents ‘forms of human experience not spoken of before - the physiological aspect of human behaviour, sexuality, poverty - as literary topics worth dealing with’.

Question 9

What is American Naturalism and how is it different?

Answer 9

American Naturalism traces back to Frank Norris. Norris believed Naturalism to be romantic and thought Zola to be ‘a realist of realists’.

Question 10

According to Howard what is Naturalism?

Answer 10

“Imagining the world and the relation of the self to the world’.

Question 11

What does Zola say determinism governs?

Answer 11

“Governs the stones of the roadway and the brain of man”.

Question 12

What does Norris say the responsibility of the author is?

Answer 12

‘To depict the truth’ and not mislead the reader by representing ‘false views of life’.

Question 13

How does the land and setting determine the Joad’s future?

Answer 13

‘The shining red earth’ forces them to attempt to escape the harsh natural and economic determinism of their homeland.

Question 14

Steinbeck affirms the idea that a social group is superior to an individual. How does he do this?

Answer 14

Through the Joad’s joining with the Wilson’s, government camps, and the Wainwrights.

Question 15

What is a constant reminder of the naturalistic elements that determine the plights of these Okies?

Answer 15

The dust - they become ‘dusted out of their homes’.

Question 16

What can the Joads not escape?

Answer 16

Naturalistic elements, transitioning from dust to the determining sun.

Question 17

What is the turtle a brilliant analogy of?

Answer 17

Man - the turtle is also an animal that has no power over the higher foces.

Question 18

What does Peter Lisca state about the turtle?

Answer 18

‘The indomitable life force that drives the turtle, the toughness that allows it to survive predators and trucks, the efficiency of nature that uses the turtle to unwittingly carry seeds and bury them, are clearly characteristics also of the Joads’.

Question 19

Like the Joads, why do the turtle’s efforts change?

Answer 19

They become more frantic as their difficulties increase.

Question 20

What does Alfred Kazin state about Steinbeck’s use of animals?

Answer 20

‘The animal nature of man leads to oversimplification and a failure to create fully human characters’.

Question 21

Why is Kazin’s criticism inadequate?

Answer 21

Steinbeck is using the analogy to make clear man’s ineffectiveness in a determined environment.

Question 22

What does Rose of Sharon suffer for?

Answer 22

Being an idealist.

Question 23

What do the Joad’s assemble like to find strength?

Answer 23

‘Clustered like bugs’.

Question 24

How is Casy able to transcend the determining forces?

Answer 24

As the spiritual centre of the novel, through love, he transcends these forces.

Question 25

How does Timmerman outline Casy to be in opposition to the Naturalistic philosophy?

Answer 25

He ‘strikes out from the centre of religious tradition to probe for meaning and knowledge apart from God’.

Question 26

What does Casy believe the best way to deal with natural forces is?

Answer 26

The Christian Golden Rule - To always treat others with love.

Question 27

What does Steinbeck say in the ‘Log from the Sea of Cortez’ that is similar to Casy’s beliefs?

Answer 27

‘Man is related to the whole thing, related inextricably to all reality’ and that ‘all things are one thing and that one thing is all things’.

Question 28

What does Casy say the Holy Spirit is?

Answer 28

‘Downcast and sad’.

Question 29

What does Casy discover?

Answer 29

A spirituality rooted in man and his place in nature.