Naturalism Group

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violinlover
violinlover
Student
High School - 11th Grade

What are three characteristics in American Literature? How do I give exaples from Stephen Crane and Jack London's writings?

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Posted by violinlover on Wednesday January 21, 2009 at 10:28 AM and tagged with american literature, characteristics, examples, jack london, literature, naturalism, stephen crane.

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  1. writergal06
    writergal06 Teacher

    eNotes Editor

    Three characteristics of American Literature that can be seen clearly through Stephen Crane and Jack London are 1) a focus on the psychology of the main characters, 2) a pessimistic, naturalistic conclusion to the conflict, and 3) a direct, straight-foward style of writing.

    Stephen Crane and Jack London show these characteristics in their writing. Stephen Crane's poetry is very short and direct, mostly showing that man can do something to stand against the forces of nature at work around him. Jack London usually uses nature as the opposing force in his work, such as in "To Build a Fire", in which the snow storm eventually kills the main character. Both of these authors write in fairly easy to understand language, very bluntly telling what is happening. Also, both of these authors show what is going on inside the characters' heads, giving motives and consequences for decisions, as seen in "To Build a Fire" and "The Open Boat."

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    Posted by writergal06 on Thursday January 22, 2009 at 6:11 AM