The ideas and beliefs
of naturalism are fascinating, especially how much it differs from
transcendentalism. It is interesting to see how people can have such opposing
views of humanity, the world, and nature.
Since learning
about it, it becomes clear how much these views influenced the writing of McTeague. The comparisons of humans to
animals are frequent, such as in chapter 2 when Trina is unconscious in
McTeague’s dental chair. McTeague has an inner battle with the animal in him; “It
was the old battle, old as the world, wide as the world – the sudden panther
leap of the animal, lips drawn, fangs aflash, hideous, monstrous, not to be
resisted, and the simultaneous arousing of the other man, the better self that
cries, “Down, down,” without knowing why; that grips the monster; that fights
to strangle it, to thrust it down and back” (21). What this scene also implies
is the pessimistic view of naturalists, that humans are naturally bad. McTeague
has to fight down his bad instincts, although they are so strong that they come
close to winning, and he kisses Trina. Additionally, the way men and women are
presented in this novel seems similar to animals. They have very distinct and separate
roles, men are stronger while women are submissive.
Adhering to
naturalism, McTeague offers a very pessimistic
view of humans and society. The whole tone of the novel seems negative, there
are few positive characters or aspects to it. Things that at first seem good don’t
turn out to be so positive. For example, when Marcus gives up Trina and allows
McTeague to be with her, it seems he is a good character and a good friend, he
is more interested in the happiness of the people he cares about than his own.
But this good deed turns sour when Trina wins the money. Marcus’ reaction makes
it clear that he is no better than anyone else, in fact he may be worse because
of the way he values money over love or happiness.
In McTeague Norris highlights all the ideas
of naturalism, and presents characters that embody it. They are negative,
materialistic and hopeless. They provide a pessimistic view of humanity, and
can’t escape the negative paths their humanity has determined for them. While
naturalism claims to be about what is rather than what should be, these negative
ideas for humanity seem a lot worse than what is. While there is a lot about
humanity that is negative, this novel and naturalism both ignore good aspects.
It seems in naturalists’ world there is no room for any hopeful or positive
characters.
Your post brought up a lot of really interesting points and made me rethink several of the ideas I had previously entertained.
ReplyDeleteFirst, in the section where you speak about McTeague fighting his inner beast and how they "come close to winning, and he kisses Trina." What I found most interesting about this point is that you say they come 'close' to winning, not that they won. This proposes the idea that there was worse he could have done, but he did manage to hold back, at least a bit.
The other very interesting point you made was "men are stronger while women are submissive."
I thought this most interesting because obviously, Trina wasn't a very submissive wife. In some senses she was, but in many ways she was stubborn and obstinate. This makes me think that perhaps McTeague felt powerless and thus imasculated because of the lack of control he held over his own wife. Perhaps this was the reason for his eventual downfall.