Naturalism In The House Of Mirth By Edith Wharton

Naturalism includes a more realistic approach to literary texts. Naturalism identifies the underlying causes of a character’s actions or beliefs. the reason for this is that naturalism looks at life in a way where our environment has such a big influence on us that it makes us its victims. Edith Wharton novel ‘The house of Mirth’ for instance, Lilly Bart the protagonist character in the novel is example of such a victim. She comes from an environment of glitz and glamour, however just because she is from a well off background does not mean that things are easy for her. This novel focuses on the way in which Lilly’s social environment inevitably brings her to a tragic fate. Lily was brought up to see herself as an object of a wealthy and powerful
Naturalism shows how unfair life can be. these are the reason why characters such as Bertha Dorset who is an unpleasant backstabbing individual doesn’t have the same troubles as Lilly and is able to enjoy life as she pleases “Did you ever see such jewels? Do look at Mrs. George Dorset's pearls — I suppose the smallest of them would pay the rent of our Girls' Club for a year”. She is a great example of the Gilded age society. she has no problem manipulating and making herself superior to others because of her wealth. She shows no remorse or sympathy of her actions when she falsely accuses Lily for committing adultery and having an affair with her husband when in reality she is the one who is committing adultery. This is when Lily’s downfall starts, her uncle upon finding her ruined reputation and bad gambling disinherits her and she is forced to work with people who were once inferior to
Crane’s novel does not focus on the individual free will and character but the underlining issue which comes from heredity and social circumstances. Time and again the reader is shown how Maggie struggles to overcome her social circumstances. She struggles to escape poverty but in each determination, it appears that the Darwinian fight between her and the environment she lives in becomes an impossible force to tackle. This eventually forces her to become a victim of her circumstances and we witness her tragic fate. In the novel Cranes shows the idea of naturalist that when an individual is born to unprivileged parents, societal biological factors this inevitably will make their entire life