Naturalism
The social conditions in America's growing industrial cities, with their great
disparities of wealth, led to the rise of the literary movement called naturalism, a darker
form of realism. Looking to the theories of Charles Darwin and other scientists, writers
who favored naturalism, such as Stephen Crane and Jack London, saw human beings as
helpless creatures moved by forces beyond their understanding or control. While Crane
and others gave voice to ordinary people living in cities, London captured readers with
his tales of an arctic world totally outside their everyday experiences. Riveted by the
exotic settings and thrilling action of his novels, readers were willing to accept tragic
endings. Women writers such as Edith Wharton combined naturalism with their own
experiences to portray a culture that trapped women in narrow, restricted lives.
Reform-minded journalists, part of a progressive movement that aimed to restore
economic opportunities and correct injustices in American life, expressed these
naturalist influences in another way. An immigrant himself, Jacob Riis exposed the
plight of tenement dwellers in his book How the Other Half Lives. A group of
journalists labeled as "muckrakers" sought to expose the political and economic
corruption that resulted from the excessive power of large corporations. Among this
group was Upton Sinclair, whose novel The Jungle helped lead to the passage of new
laws regulating the food industry.
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