1. Under the Lion’s Paw
Hamlin Garland

2. Identifying Irony
Complete the worksheet before reading the story in class

3. Under The Lion’s Paw
Historical Background Information handout – complete for homework prior to reading the story in class

4. NATURALISM

5. While many modern works contain naturalistic elements, naturalism refers specifically to a literary movement that took place in America, England, and France during the late 1800s and early 1900s, which produced a unique type of “realistic” fiction. Naturalism is essentially realism with an additional facet: Determinism

6. Life is an inescapable trap
Determinism
Characters do not have free will; external and internal forces control their behavior
This belief is called determinism
All determinists believe in the existence of the will, but the will is enslaved due to a multitude of reasons
Characters attempting to exercise free will are hamstrung by forces beyond their control
Life is an inescapable trap

7. Characters as Marionettes
Naturalists view individuals as being at the mercy of biological and socioeconomic forces, whereas realists hold that humans have some degree of free will that they can exercise to affect their situations
Things happen to people, as if they were marionettes whose movements are entirely determined by forces beyond their control.

8. Forces Beyond the Character’s Control
Characters are dominated by external or internal forces:
Environmental
A storm, or a character lost at sea
Social conditions
A character born into poverty
Chance (fate)
A character’s child is suddenly stricken with typhoid fever
Internal Passions
Lust, greed, or desire for dominance or pleasure overcome rational behavior

9. “Survival of the Fittest”
Heavily influenced by emergent scientific theories of the time:
–Darwin’s theory of evolution
It’s corollary, “survival of the fittest”
Fight for survival brings out the "brute within" each individual
conflict is often "man against nature" or "man against himself"

10. The Indifferent and Omnipotent Power of Nature
Nature/Fate is an indifferent force acting upon the lives of human beings
Works often describe the futile attempts of human beings to exercise free will in a universe that ironically reveals that free will is an illusion
Violence and tragedy are often the result

11. Subject Matter
•Generally deals with raw and unpleasant experiences which reduce characters to "degrading" behavior as they struggle to survive –Characters are mostly from the lower- middle or lower classes •Generally poor, uneducated, and unsophisticated •“drama of the people working itself out in blood and [filth]” (Norris)

12. •The characters are generally commonplace and the unheroic
–life is usually the dull struggle of daily existence.
–But, the naturalist reveals qualities in their characters that are usually associated with the heroic or adventurous
•Often, acts of violence and passion lead to desperate moments and violent death
–Life at its lowest levels is not so simple as it seems to be
•Panoramic, “slice-of-life" drama
–often a "chronicle of despair"

13. Naturalism: A Scientific Study
Attempts to apply the scientific principles of objectivity and detachment to its study of human beings
The characters are but higher-order animals “fully subject to the forces of heredity and the environment”
These “human beasts” studied impartially, without moralizing about their natures
The story is told in third person
The narrator is detached, objective, and unsympathetic
The narrator does not comment on the morality or the fairness of the situations in which characters find themselves
The reader, however, is meant to empathize with the characters

14. Maintaining Dignity in Adversity
•Man is conditioned and controlled by environment, social conditions, heredity, chance (or fate), or instinct
–But, they have compensating humanistic values which affirm their individuality and life
•Their struggle for life becomes heroic and they maintain human dignity despite degrading circumstances
•Man is faced with overwhelming and oppressive material forces that control their lives
–But, they maintain their self-worth

15. From "The Open Boat“ by Stephen Crane:
When it occurs to a man that nature does not regard him as important, and that she feels she would not maim the universe by disposing of him, he at first wishes to throw bricks at the temple, and he hates deeply the fact that there are no bricks and no temples.

16. Naturalistic Poem:
A man said to the universe: "Sir, I exist!“ "However," replied the universe, "The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation."

17. Hamlin Garland

18. His Life Garland was born to very poor farmers in the American Midwest
He moved to Boston, determined to never be a farmer
He married and had several children and grandchildren

19. In Boston, Garland met several famous American authors
He worked as a teacher, lecturer, and author
Garland focused on the legal difficulties of the American farmer, and their lack of protection from immoral landowners
Garland lived most of his married life in California

20. Garland often lectured about tax reform, sometimes without being paid
He felt that people were unable to fulfill their true potential because of economic inequalities

21. His Work Garland was known for his use of dialect
His characters often face trials that are depressing and unfair, although highly realistic

22. Veritism
Garland coined the term, “veritism,” which means writing in the most honest way possible, no matter how depressing or discouraging
In order to pay his bills, Garland also wrote commercially acceptable stories that “depicted heroic characters in melodramatic situations”

23. Most of the things Garland addressed are part of a life that has disappeared from the American scene

24. Literary Terms

25. Irony – A contrast or discrepancy between what is stated and what is really meant, or between what is expected to happen and what actually does happen
Dramatic Irony — a reader or an audience perceives something that a character in the story or play does not know
Structural (situational) Irony — the writer shows a discrepancy between the expected result of some action or situation and its actual result
Verbal Irony — a discrepancy between what is said and what is really meant; sarcasm

26. Denotation – The explicit meaning of a word, as listed in a dictionary
Connotation – The suggested meaning of a word or phrase
Dialect - a particular kind of speech used by members of one specific group because of its geographical location or class

27. Lesson Focus
Determine how an author’s personal experience affects their work and determines their point of view, particularly an author whose cultural background is vastly different from the student’s
Understand the three types of irony and identify them in a text
Identify words with both connotative and denotative meaning
Identify elements of foreshadowing in a text
Translate dialect into modern language as necessary to understand a text