Naturalism - AO3 Context Flashcards
What literary genre is Grapes of Wrath?
Naturalism.
When did Naturalism arise as a literary genre?
In the late nineteenth century.
What does Naturalism accept and reject?
Rejects : Romanticism
Accepts: Determinism, detachment, scientific objectivism and social commentary.
How is detachment used within the genre?
The author maintains an impersonal and disinterested tone and point of view.
How is determinism used within the genre?
A characters fate has been decided, even pre-determined by impersonal forces of nature beyond human control.
What do authors discover and analyse within Naturalism?
The forces or scientific laws that influence behaviour.
What author does literary naturalism trace back to?
Émile Zola - ‘The Experimental Novel’ in 1880 - his concept of a naturalistic novel.
What does Kornelijie Kvas state Naturalism to be?
Presents ‘forms of human experience not spoken of before - the physiological aspect of human behaviour, sexuality, poverty - as literary topics worth dealing with’.
What is American Naturalism and how is it different?
American Naturalism traces back to Frank Norris. Norris believed Naturalism to be romantic and thought Zola to be ‘a realist of realists’.
According to Howard what is Naturalism?
“Imagining the world and the relation of the self to the world’.
What does Zola say determinism governs?
“Governs the stones of the roadway and the brain of man”.
What does Norris say the responsibility of the author is?
‘To depict the truth’ and not mislead the reader by representing ‘false views of life’.
How does the land and setting determine the Joad’s future?
‘The shining red earth’ forces them to attempt to escape the harsh natural and economic determinism of their homeland.
Steinbeck affirms the idea that a social group is superior to an individual. How does he do this?
Through the Joad’s joining with the Wilson’s, government camps, and the Wainwrights.
What is a constant reminder of the naturalistic elements that determine the plights of these Okies?
The dust - they become ‘dusted out of their homes’.
What can the Joads not escape?
Naturalistic elements, transitioning from dust to the determining sun.
What is the turtle a brilliant analogy of?
Man - the turtle is also an animal that has no power over the higher foces.
What does Peter Lisca state about the turtle?
‘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’.
Like the Joads, why do the turtle’s efforts change?
They become more frantic as their difficulties increase.
What does Alfred Kazin state about Steinbeck’s use of animals?
‘The animal nature of man leads to oversimplification and a failure to create fully human characters’.
Why is Kazin’s criticism inadequate?
Steinbeck is using the analogy to make clear man’s ineffectiveness in a determined environment.
What does Rose of Sharon suffer for?
Being an idealist.
What do the Joad’s assemble like to find strength?
‘Clustered like bugs’.
How is Casy able to transcend the determining forces?
As the spiritual centre of the novel, through love, he transcends these forces.
How does Timmerman outline Casy to be in opposition to the Naturalistic philosophy?
He ‘strikes out from the centre of religious tradition to probe for meaning and knowledge apart from God’.
What does Casy believe the best way to deal with natural forces is?
The Christian Golden Rule - To always treat others with love.
What does Steinbeck say in the ‘Log from the Sea of Cortez’ that is similar to Casy’s beliefs?
‘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’.
What does Casy say the Holy Spirit is?
‘Downcast and sad’.
What does Casy discover?
A spirituality rooted in man and his place in nature.
