Final answer:
Naturalism is a literary movement that portrays individuals and societies as subject to the indifferent or hostile forces of nature, paralleling the concept of survival of the fittest.
Step-by-step explanation:
Literary Movement: Naturalism
A literary movement focused on the survival of the fittest against nature is Naturalism. Naturalism, coming into prominence after Realism, embraced the influence of Darwin's ideas, and writers such as Stephen Crane, Frank Norris, and Jack London developed it further.
They portrayed human beings as being at the mercy of their hereditary traits and environmental forces that were indifferent or hostile to their survival. In literature, this often manifested as characters faced with immense challenges posed by the natural world, such as vast oceans or deserts, and sociological issues like poverty and crime.
One classic example is Crane's "The Open Boat," where shipwreck survivors are depicted as insignificant against the mighty sea, underscoring the indifference of nature to human suffering.
The concept of survival of the fittest, coined by Herbert Spencer and wrongly attributed to Darwin, was a significant element in Naturalist literature. It implied that individuals with advantageous traits are more likely to survive and pass on these traits to future generations.
This concept was also erroneously applied to societies under social Darwinism, suggesting that certain groups or races were inherently superior. However, Naturalist writers emphasized the random, and often brutal, aspects of the natural world without attributing any inherent morality or superiority to the forces at play.