American Literature / Unit 12 AML 1101 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Naturalism: Realism With a Thesis
Captions available
The idea
Naturalism keeps realism's ordinary subjects and adds a claim: that people are the helpless pawns of economic and social forces beyond their control. The witness calls it the literary expression of determinism, and its stories test a character against a force rather than against a choice.
In practice
Ordinary lives, decided by forces.
Where people slip
The thesis is what separates it from realism.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
- Nothing. This is a starting point.
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