THE 10 MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTICS OF NATURALISM - LITERATURE - 2025

Some of the characteristics of naturalism are determinism, pessimism, impersonal language, the rejection of Romanticism, the rapprochement between philosophy and science or the scientific method to portray reality.

Naturalism is an artistic, literary and philosophical movement, although with certain differences between disciplines, being especially recognized as a literary style. This movement is usually associated or related to realism, a movement from which naturalism would take some of its aspects.

In literature, although similarly in philosophy and in the arts, naturalism seeks to reproduce reality in an objective, almost documentary way, exposing both the most sublime and beautiful aspects, as well as the most vulgar and dark, of the way in which these occur.

The term naturalism was coined by the French writer Émile Zola. He had published his novel Thér èse Raquin in 1867, which was highly criticized to which he replied: “The group of naturalist writers to which I have the honor to belong, has the courage and the activity to publish strong works, taking with them their defending".

Thus, naturalism began as a branch of realism, which is the attempt to represent subjects without artificiality, avoiding artistic conventions as well as incredible, exotic and supernatural elements. In naturalism aspects of realism such as misery, corruption, racism, vice, etc. were taken.

In painting, on the other hand, the terms realism and naturalism are used interchangeably to refer to the naturalistic movement in painting. Realist or naturalist painters rejected romanticism, opting to portray scenes from daily life, which can be fascinating in themselves.

Characteristics of naturalism

1 - Determinism

In the naturalistic narrative highlights the absence of free will or free choice (belief that people have the power to choose and make decisions).

Thus, in naturalism determinism is present, a doctrine that maintains that every event is coincidentally determined by the cause-consequence chain (the current state determines the future).

In this way, the characters that make up the universe of naturalistic novels do not seem to have hope, even if they have problems and dreams, but without really doing anything about it.

An example of this is in the novel Native Son, where in one part, the character Bigger reflects on not having free will, due to the high level of racism at the time.

2 - Pessimism

It has been mentioned how naturalism inherited various characteristics of realism. In this way, among the main topics or themes dealt with by naturalists, are the darkest situations in human life, topics such as vice, violence, racism, disease. Which led to naturalism being criticized for focusing on the negative aspects of life.

This strong pessimism present in naturalists is a direct consequence of determinism, in which, for example, if a character was born in an environment of poverty, the most likely in the context of naturalism, is that he will die in poverty.

This dark portrait of life can have great value in raising awareness, allowing the reader to understand the difficulties people go through in different situations, and how helpless they can feel.

3 - Narrative and language used

Naturalism had great scientific influence, in addition, many of its main literary exponents and playwrights also worked as journalists. These antecedents influenced the narrative and language used in naturalism.

In this sense, the narrator describes the situations, but in an impersonal tone, without getting involved with the characters or showing signs of affection or repudiation towards the situations that occur. This occurs because naturalists analyze and describe society from a scientific approach.

In addition, regarding the language used by the characters, it will be influenced by the environment and social context to which the characters belong, which usually belong to lower strata of society, therefore, the expressions used will try to be the same as those used. by people living in conditions similar to those described.

4 - Human condition influenced by inheritance

Along with determinism, that is, the absence of free will, naturalists were interested in heredity (genetics) and human nature, which led them to explore how the characteristics of parents can be passed on to the next generation and therefore both determine the future of someone (a character) according to their heritage.

Therefore, the characteristics, positive and negative of someone, will be determined by the presence of these in the parents of the person.

For example, in Emile Zola's novel Thér è se Raquin, the characters Laurent and Camille display strong characteristics, while Ethan Fromme in the novel of the same name cannot escape his passive nature.

5 - Rejection of Romanticism

Romanticism emerged as a cultural movement at the end of the 18th century, as a response against the rationalism of the Enlightenment and Neoclassicism, now prioritizing feelings and a search for freedom.

This movement was endowed with nostalgia, longing and dreams of freedom; which would be rejected by naturalism, choosing to capture situations as they occur, and not as it could be.

Thus, the painting of both movements presents a great contrast, romanticism portraying sublime scenes, while naturalism makes an almost documentary portrait of the scene.

Naturalism as a philosophical movement managed to bring philosophy closer to science, affirming that there is nothing beyond nature (there is nothing supernatural) and promoted the use of the scientific method to investigate anything that is real.

This position was assumed by one of the two currents that naturalistic philosophy adopted, methodological philosophy. This current affirmed that both science and philosophy seek truths through experience.

7 - Scientific method to portray reality

It has been mentioned how, especially in the naturalistic narrative, reality is told with an almost journalistic and scientific impartiality. Precisely, naturalism as a literary movement emphasized the application of the scientific method and observation.

The scientific method is a research method or procedure, mainly used in the production of knowledge in science.

This method consists of the systematic observation, measurement, experimentation, formulation, analysis and modification of hypotheses. In this way, naturalists use this approach to produce the characteristics of their stories and characters.

8 - Methodological and metaphysical naturalism

In philosophy, naturalism represents the idea that only natural laws and forces, and not supernatural or spiritual ones, are operating in the world. Thus, naturalists defend that natural laws control the structure and behavior of the natural universe.

Naturalist philosophy is separated into two streams or positions: ontological naturalism and methodological naturalism. In this sense, ontological naturalism studies with what exists, affirming that what controls the physical world are natural laws, and that nothing that is not physical can then have an influence on the physical world.

On the other hand, methodological naturalism focuses on the search and observation methods used in philosophy, and the approach of this with science. Thus exposing that both disciplines seek truths through the same methods.

9 - Social environment

The life and fate of the characters in the naturalistic narrative are determined by various factors, as mentioned, determinism and heredity. From this also derives the social environment to which the characters belong in naturalistic novels.

In addition to the factors that determine the conditions of the characters, the pessimistic approach of naturalism is conducive to the prevailing social groups in naturalistic works being marginalized sectors of society.

However, the realistic nature of naturalism allows the portrayed social environment to be as it was observed by the author, with its best and worst qualities.

10 - Darwinism

Naturalism was highly influenced by the publication of the book The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin in 1859, which is the foundation of evolutionary biology. In this book, Darwin introduced the scientific theory that populations evolve over generations, through a process known as natural selection.

Darwin showed that the evolution of species is determined by the struggle for survival. In this way, Darwin's theory highly influenced naturalists, who viewed people as different species, that is, different types of people, all struggling to survive and prosper.

References

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