Naturalism unlike realism adopts more a philosophical position and holds man responsible for his actions and negates divine interventions. Naturalism considers human beings to be determined by their heredity and environment. The individual is at the mercy of determining social and economic forces. Each human being is determined by heredity and environment and "subject to the social and economic forces in the family, the class, and the milieu into which that person is born" (Abrams 153). Naturalistic themes, thus, include an opposition between "human will and hereditary and environmental determinisms that both shape human beings and frustrate their desires" (Howard 40). Naturalism addresses the crisis of the meaninglessness of traditional notions
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Despite the first person narration, the reader can sense the detachment on the part of Ishmael. Ishmael is presented to us as a detached man who faces events of life with stoic resignation: “And doubtless, my going on this whaling voyage, formed part of the grand programme of Providence that was drawn up a long time ago.” (MD, p.22) Ishmael, despite travelling aboard the same ship introduces other character with sheer objectivity and the portrayal harbors little sympathy or consideration for the fellow shipmates and the misfortunes few meet with. Ishmael’s naturalist enterprise is ambitious, and by devising the system he distances himself from ad-hoc naturalists, the mere observer and recorder, calling himself “the architect, not the builder” (MD, p.116) This aspect of novel substantiates the naturalistic philosophy adopted by Herman …show more content…
Pessimistic determinism is a dominant feature in the naturalist works. The crew of the Pequod is destined to meet death by the White Whale. The harsh determinism of the sea is a naturalistic theme. The pessimistic determinism and harsh settings are intimately connected in naturalistic works. The novel Moby Dick too holds a bleak setting:
It was a queer sort of place—a gable-ended old house, one side palsied as it were, and leaning over sadly. It stood on a sharp bleak corner, where that tempestuous wind Euroclydon kept up a worse howling than ever it did about poor Paul’s tossed craft. (MD, p14)
As the novel proceeds, Ishmael introduces Queequeg, the description of whom necessarily support Emile Zola’s (the pioneering exponent of naturalism) popular phrase ‘human
Despite the first person narration, the reader can sense the detachment on the part of Ishmael. Ishmael is presented to us as a detached man who faces events of life with stoic resignation: “And doubtless, my going on this whaling voyage, formed part of the grand programme of Providence that was drawn up a long time ago.” (MD, p.22) Ishmael, despite travelling aboard the same ship introduces other character with sheer objectivity and the portrayal harbors little sympathy or consideration for the fellow shipmates and the misfortunes few meet with. Ishmael’s naturalist enterprise is ambitious, and by devising the system he distances himself from ad-hoc naturalists, the mere observer and recorder, calling himself “the architect, not the builder” (MD, p.116) This aspect of novel substantiates the naturalistic philosophy adopted by Herman …show more content…
Pessimistic determinism is a dominant feature in the naturalist works. The crew of the Pequod is destined to meet death by the White Whale. The harsh determinism of the sea is a naturalistic theme. The pessimistic determinism and harsh settings are intimately connected in naturalistic works. The novel Moby Dick too holds a bleak setting:
It was a queer sort of place—a gable-ended old house, one side palsied as it were, and leaning over sadly. It stood on a sharp bleak corner, where that tempestuous wind Euroclydon kept up a worse howling than ever it did about poor Paul’s tossed craft. (MD, p14)
As the novel proceeds, Ishmael introduces Queequeg, the description of whom necessarily support Emile Zola’s (the pioneering exponent of naturalism) popular phrase ‘human