Jack London content introduction bob naturalism (1880s 1940s)

Characteristics of Naturalism 
Naturalism has a few key characteristics to look for. These 
characteristics include a focus on setting, objectivism and detachment, 
pessimism, and determinism. 
Create Naturalism notes faster than ever before 
StudySmarter's FREE web and mobile app 
Setting 
Naturalist writers saw the environment as having a character of its own. 
They placed the setting of many of their novels in environments that 

---

12 
would directly impact and play a significant role in the lives of the 
characters in the story. 
An example can be found in John Steinbeck's 
The Grapes of 
Wrath 
(1939)
. 
The story begins in Sallisaw, Oklahoma during the Great 
Depression of the 1930s. The landscape is dry and dusty and the crop the 
farmers were growing is ruined forcing everyone to move out. 
This is just one example of how the setting and environment play a 
major role in a Naturalist novel—by determining the fate of the 
individuals in the story. 
Objectivism and Detachment 
Naturalist writers wrote objectively and detached. This means they 
detached themselves from any emotional, subjective thoughts or feelings 
towards the topic of the story. Naturalist literature often implements a 
third-person point of view that acts as an opinionless observer. The 
narrator simply tells the story as it is. If emotions are mentioned, they 
are told scientifically. Emotions are seen as primitive and part of 
survival, rather than psychological. 
For he is an inspired man. Every inch of him is inspired—you might 
almost say inspired separately. He stamps with his feet, he tosses his 
head, he sways and swings to and fro; he has a wizened-up little face, 
irresistibly comical; and, when he executes a turn or a flourish, his 
brows knit and his lips work and his eyelids wink—the very ends of his 
necktie bristle out. And every now and then he turns upon his 
companions, nodding, signaling, beckoning frantically—with every inch 

---

13 
of him appealing, imploring, in behalf of the muses and their call" (The 
Jungle, Chapter 1).