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Literature: A Comparison Of Naturalism And Realism

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It is rare that you find a novel or a piece of fiction that is completely unaffected by the author’s world-view. Actually, none that fit that description come to mind when it comes to the influence of world-view and philosophy in a novel. However, it takes a considerable amount of time to see the comparisons between stories from any literary movement. The Naturalism and Realism literary movements are no exception, and the stories that define this movement have extremely similar themes and literary devices, including Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, “The Death of a Hired Hand,” by Robert Frost, and “Home Burial,” also by Robert Frost. Authors from this time period use similar themes and literary devices, all due to the fact that they have the same philosophy and worldview. When a popular world-view coincides with what the authors of that age write about, in theme and style, a new literary movement begins. All three of the stories which dominate this topic is a combination of two literary movements that occurred at the same time, in the mid-nineteenth century and early twentieth century. These literary movements were called Naturalism and Realism, not the most differing movements but with some key differences. Naturalism discounts supernatural events or beings, focusing on natural laws of nature rather than a being who created the nature. Not a god or a supreme being, nature is an outpouring of life and the universe, always working against the protagonists to instigate

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