Social Darwinism In Emile Zola's Mcteague

In 1893, a woman named Sarah Collins was brutally murdered by her husband, Patrick Collins, in the cloakroom of the kindergarten at which she was a janitress. In his novel, McTeague, Frank Norris eerily echoed this case, which was claimed to be evidence of social Darwinism. The novel, named after the protagonist, is centered on a man named McTeague, a hulking and dim-witted dentist, and the events that befall him and those around him. Though the novel initially met much resistance and little success, it opened the door for other novels of its kind. Through the stylistic influence of Emile Zola, Frank Norris swayed to the notion of naturalism and subsequently wrote McTeague naturalistically to persuade readers of the influences of heredity and environment on an individual, and of the validity of social Darwinism.
Benjamin Franklin Norris, better known simply as Frank Norris, was the first celebrated American writer to use the naturalist style. His first work under that genre, or any genre for that matter, to garner any mass attention was a piece by the …show more content…
The phrase laissez-faire comes from the French for “let them do it.” The practice called for free, unregulated business and an economy in which supply, demand and self-interested competition would organically provide for the needs of the public. However, it extended further than simple economic measures; the idea of hands-off government applied to all aspects of life. It made no provisions for the poor, sick, elderly, or any other vulnerable group of people. These were generally ignored by the government, which left the task to private organizations such as churches and charities. Indeed, the laissez-faire approach asserted that the government’s involvement in economics and public affairs was unethical. The government’s sole role was in the protection of individual