something to do with naturalism the writers preference
Assignment Sheet for Thursday, November 3rd-Wednesday, November 9th at 11: 59 PM
Prepare the following activities by Wednesday, November 9th at 11:59 PM.
Writing a Paper about Naturalism
During this time period, you will be organizing, developing, and writing a paper about naturalism. Naturalism is a dominant form of writing in American literature that appeared in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Below are more general comments about naturalism:
“Naturalism is a literary genre that started as a literary movement in late nineteenth century in literature, film, theater and art. It is a type of extreme realism. This movement suggested the role of family background, social conditions and environment in shaping human character. Thus, naturalistic writers write stories based on the idea that environment determines and governs human character. We also see use of some of the scientific principles in naturalistic works, and humans struggling for survival in hostile and alien society. In fact, naturalism took its cue from Darwin’s theory of evolution that says life is like a struggle and only fittest ones can survive.”
“Naturalism.” Guide to Literary Terms. January 2010,
https://www.rfwp.com/samples/guide-to-literary-terms.pdf.
Your paper is to follow these guidelines:
1. Develop a paper that presents three dominant features of naturalism. Select three of the following topic sentences to organize and develop the body paragraphs: paragraphs 2, 3, and 4. (You should paraphrase these topic sentences so that they blend well into your paper.)
• In stories of naturalism, the characters have little control over their fate. No matter how hard these characters try, they cannot change their circumstances or overcome obstacles.
• The narrator of this form of literature remains detached and impersonal. This speaker merely gives the details of the plot and offers little sympathy for what happens to the characters.
• Naturalists contend that the characters’ social environments determine who they are and how they behave. Naturalists, in other words, believe in determinism.
• Naturalists rely on realism as they present the way life actually was in a given time period. The characters and plot mirror real life in that time.
2. After reviewing the above primary features of naturalism, study closely the following readings: A Raisin in the Sun, “The Chrysanthemums,” “The Story of an Hour,” “Barn Burning,” “The Man Who Was Almost a Man,” and “The Lesson.”
Your goal is to see what examples of naturalism appear in each of these tales.
3. Your next step is to brainstorm by listing specific examples from the stories or play that illustrate one or more specific features of naturalism. You need to provide at least three well-developed examples from the readings to develop each feature of naturalism that you present in your essay.
4. In Blackboard, I have placed a cluster diagram that will help you organize your ideas.
Below is an illustration of the clustering that helps develop the topic sentence.
Topic Sentence: One of the traits of naturalism is the impartial narrator, one who shows no emotion for the situations the characters confront and must endure.
The cluster appears at the top of the next page.
5. After you have mapped ideas to develop three topic sentences of your paper, then, write a first draft for the three paragraphs, each of which focuses on one feature of naturalism.
6. This paper requires a formal introductory paragraph. Create this introduction by giving background information about naturalism. Mention the time in which the form of writing developed and any outside source or sources that influenced naturalism to become a major form of literature. Rely on the information I have given you. Be sure to paraphrase this information.
7. At this point, you are ready to develop the three body paragraphs, each of which focuses on one feature of naturalism. As I stressed in the earlier comments, each topic sentence of a paragraph presents one major characteristic of naturalism. Then, this paragraph presents examples of this trait in the stories we read.
8. After you develop the introductory paragraph and three paragraphs, each of which presents and develops a feature of naturalism, you are ready to write the closing paragraph. See the top of the next page.
This paragraph presents the following:
• A transitional restated thesis (“Restate” means to present the thesis of the paper again but use different wording than you did in the last sentence of the introductory paragraph.)
• Statements that convey important ideas or themes each of the stories you have discussed present
Example:
In “The Chrysanthemums,” Steinbeck emphasizes the characters’ inadequacies and the ability to change these shortcomings. For example, Elisa is unable to acquire from her husband an appreciation of her special talents and even more an acknowledgement of her beauty and his desire for her.
• A final statement that gives the paper a sense of closure
9. The final page of the paper is the works cited page.
• The title of the page is “Works Cited.”
• This page contains works cited for all of the stories or the play referenced in your paper. These works cited give the proper and required information.
Here is an example for a play:
Shakespeare, William. Othello, the Moor of Venice. Literature Craft & Voice.
McGraw Hill, 1202-1271.
*Titles of short stories are placed in quotation marks, not italicized.
• Each work cited is presented in alphabetical order by the authors’ last names.
• The second, third, fourth, and remaining lines of each bibliography are indented five-typed letters to the right.
10. The entire paper is typed according to MLA formatting guidelines, 12 point, times new roman, please do an excellant job as always, please call me if you have any questions,432-816-3686,
