Naturalism in Stephen Crane’s “A God in Wrath” Essay Example for Free

Naturalism in Stephen Cranes A God in Wrath Es placeThe 1880s to the 1940s marks a period in American Literature known as Realism and Naturalism. This was the time when most literary works reflected the ideas of pessimism and determinism, and where scourts and even God oppose hu manhood free volition or remain indifferent to human desires. angiotensin-converting enzyme author and poet of this era was Stephen Crane. Crane published A God in Wrath in 1905 in a collection of verse forms call(a)ed The Black Rider and Other Lines. The poem, which is ab off a god torturing a man, reflects the recurring theme of naturalism with instances of pessimism, determinism, and backdown. Naturalism in A God in Wrath Pessimism. Pessimism, or the being inevitability of the occurrence of negative events, fills all line of the A God in Wrath. In the poem, the very fact that a god is punishing the man is perhaps the greatest indication of pessimism considering that no man can ever be greater than a god. Therefore, no man can ever escape a gods wrath and so a man who is suffering from it will surely suffer till the end. Indeed nonhing can be more pessimistic than that. unitary particular line, He cuffed him loudly (Crane), indicates that the man is bound and has no chance of escape ever.Moreover, one should think note that these cuffs are put by a god and therefore impossible to get justify of. Also, the cuffs are in the form of thunderous blows that rang and rolled over the earth (Crane). This means that these are not just simple shackles that simply require a key to remove but that they are as complicated as they are difficult to detach. Perhaps one more indication of pessimism in the poem is the presence of a crowd of tidy sum who are not shown to help the man, or are re turn over as helpless creatures that do nothing but observe and add to the mans blur by saying Ah, what a wicked man (Crane).The man in A God in Wrath is already in deep suffering when All peop le came running (Crane). Nevertheless, although he screamed and struggled (Crane), the crowd, quite of helping him, condemns him more by calling him wicked. In real life, one can see people who not only ignore those who ask for their help but even regard them as evil. such is the picture of the society that Crane may have wanted to show through the element of pessimism in the poem. Determinism. Determinism in A God in Wrath centers around the idea that the man has no prime(prenominal) but to accept the wrath of god and eventually his own fate.The whole poem is a testament to the absence of free will as indicated in the mans useless struggle to escape. servicemans free will is figuratively strangled when the god cuffed him loudly (Crane) and that although he screamed and struggled (Crane), which means that he wants to assert himself and his free will, no help arrives and there is no escape. Perhaps the mans fail chance of escape is the people who came running (Crane), and mayb e he smiles at the fact that all of them seem to come to his aid.Unfortunately, it seems that he is predestined to suffer and perhaps even die of his suffering when he finds out later on that the people who come running actually do nothing but say Ah, what a wicked man (Crane). Crane here shows that no amount of screams and struggles from the man, or every man in ecumenic, can change the course of nature, the will of a god, or mans requisite to suffer. Detachment. The stone-cold objectivity in Stephen Cranes tone is felt in the poem in his use of such nameless characters as a god, a man, and all people.The absence of a nifty g in god, except perhaps in the title, clearly indicates that this god is not necessarily the Christian God but perhaps any form of deity considered to be a symbol of vicious and inhuman dictatorship. It can even be religion itself which is shown here that makes man suffer. One can in any case see that in the poem, the man is unnamed, which means that it c an represent any human being peculiarly those who seem to be experiencing a hopeless struggle. Lastly, the phrase all people (Crane) may represent everyone else in the world of the man who suffers.Also, the fact that all of them came running (Crane) tells us that they are united in their action, and that when they all together cried, Ah, what a wicked man (Crane), one can see that people in general are wicked and often express their ridicule and cruelty in unison. On the whole, the element of detachment in Cranes A God in Wrath tells us that the situation portrayed in the poem and its painful events are not exclusive to the characters in it but also to every suffering human being. ConclusionStephen Cranes A God in Wrath is a poem that portrays the elements of the era of Literary Realism and Naturalism, which include pessimism, determinism and detachment. Pessimism is reflected by mans seemingly immortal struggle with a god that is impossible to conquer and with people who are br utally indifferent to his suffering. Determinism is present in the lines that show that his fate seems inevitable and that no amount of struggle and will to survive may seem enough to free the man in the poem from his suffering.Finally, a sense of detachment is show by the fact that the characters in the poem are unnamed. Hence, this makes the particular literary work a mirror of what actually goes on in the life of every human being who suffers and how much pain he has to bear with the wrath of a cruel god and the inaction of his indifferent fellow humans. Works Cited Crane, Stephen. 2010. A God in Wrath. Stephen Maria Crane. Poemhunter. com. May 24, 2010. http//www. poemhunter. com/poem/a-god-in-wrath-2/ Crane, Stephen. A God in Wrath. Withered weapon and Other Stories. Ed. George Bess. New Jersey Viking Penguin, 1999. Print.