Naturalism

Naturalism

Naturalism depicted the universe as cold and heartless, and person's fate is determined by heredity, society and natural forces. Naturalism focused on poverty, cruelty, and war. A major idea of naturalism was that humans could disappear and it would have no effect on the universe because we are obsolete. Naturalism focuses on the negative side of things, usually with little or no humor. Jack London, author of "To Build a Fire", was just one of many naturalistic writers. His story has 3 main ideas incorporated into it. The main idea is that life isn't fair, nothing is going to go the way you want in your life. Another is that humans are obsolete in the universe. The last main idea is that life goes on. These 3 main ideas of naturalism are depicted in "To Build a Fire".

The idea that life isn't fair is a major part of naturalism, and this is shown many times in London's story. The character in his story has to overcome many obstacles on his journey, but in the end he dies anyways. His first, and biggest, obstacle is the severe cold; the whole story revolves around the harsh and unforgiving climate. When he first removes his gloves to build a fire his hands freeze almost instantly in the cold, but he gets his fire going and warms up. At this point in the story it seems like humans aren't as pointless as naturalism suggests. But when he falls in the water and then fails to build a fire, resulting in him freezing to death, the idea that life isn't fair is present. It seems unfair for him to die after all the things that he endured, but that is what naturalism is about.

In naturalistic stories humans are meaningless to the universe, and if we were to disappear, the world would be just fine. This idea is shown is the story because when he dies at the end the world doesn't stop, everything keeps going and the universe isn't affected at all. A cold and merciless universe decides our fate and we cannot change that.

The last idea of naturalism is that life goes on. When he dies nobody knows, and even when they do find out they will eventually forget about him and keep living their lives. Even his dog forgets about him after he dies and leaves to find someone else who it can live with. London shows that the universe is cold and heartless, and doesn't care what happens to us.

London's story "To