1. A man said to the universe: "Sir, I exist!" "However," replied the universe, "The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation." Stephen Crane

2. Naturalism  Offspring of Realism  Characterized by  Detailed description  Focus on scientific/logical causes  An objective, documentary quality  Pessimistic, detached tone of the narrator  Deterministic philosophy  Skepticism of religion

3. Subject Matter  Struggle to survive  Lower middle class to lower class characters  Slums or the wilderness

4. Themes  The "brute within"  "man against nature"  "man against himself"  Nature - an indifferent force acting on the lives of human beings.  “She did not seem cruel to him then, nor beneficent, nor treacherous, nor wise. But she was indifferent, flatly indifferent.” Stephen Crane  Social Darwinism  Illusion of free will

5. Handy-Dandy Chart GenreAmerican AuthorPerceived the individual as… TranscendentalistsRalph Waldo Emerson Henry David Thoreau a god RealistsKate Chopin Mark Twain simply a person NaturalistsStephen Crane Jack London a helpless object