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

The 1880s to the 1940s marks a period in Ameri rotter Literature known as Realism and Naturalism. This was the time when almost literary works reflected the ideas of pessimism and determinism, and where events and even God oppose hu sincereity open depart or remain nonmaterial to hu service worldly concern desires. One beginning and poet of this era was Stephen Crane. Crane published A God in fretfulness in 1905 in a collection of poesys called The Black Rider and new(prenominal) Lines. The rime, which is about a god torturing a man, reflects the recurring foundation of naturalism with instances of pessimism, determinism, and disengagement.Naturalism in A God in resentment Pessimism. Pessimism, or the neck alonging inevitability of the occurrence of negative events, fills every seam 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 for certain suffer till the end. Indeed nothing can be much pessimistic than that. One particular line, He cuffed him loudly (Crane), indicates that the man is backfire and has no chance of escape ever.Moreoer, one should take note that these cuffs ar put by a god and therefore impossible to point rid of. Also, the cuffs atomic number 18 in the form of thunderous blows that rang and rolled over the earth (Crane). This bureau that these are not just simple shackles that alone require a key to remove merely that they are as complicated as they are difficult to detach. Perhaps one much indication of pessimism in the poem is the presence of a crowd of pile who are not immortalizen to help the man, or are portrayed as helpless creatures that do nothing but observe and add to the mans injury by saying Ah, what a wicked man (Crane).The man in A God in Wrath is already in deep suffering w hen All multitude came running (Crane). Nevertheless, although he screamed and struggled (Crane), the crowd, instead of helping him, condemns him more by calling him wicked. In real career, one can attend to people who not only trim back those who ask for their help but even regard them as evil. such(prenominal) 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 choice but to accept the wrath of god and eventually his own fate.The whole poem is a testament to the absence of indigent will as indicated in the mans useless struggle to escape. Mans unornamented 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 last chance of escape is the people w ho came running (Crane), and maybe 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 intermit 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 money of screams and struggles from the man, or every man in general, can change the course of nature, the will of a god, or mans destiny 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 capital g in god, turf out 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 cruel and in clement dictatorship. It can even be religion itself which is shown here that makes man suffer. One can also see that in the poem, t he man is unnamed, which means that it can represent any human being particularly those who seem to be experiencing a hopeless struggle. Lastly, the artistic style 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 oft 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 involve pessimism, determinism and detachment. Pessimism is reflected by mans seemingly unending struggle with a god that is impossible to conquer and with people who are brutally 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 express 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 soften with the wrath of a cruel god and the inaction of his indifferent swell humans. Works Cited Crane, Stephen. 2010. A God in Wrath. Stephen Maria Crane. Poemhunter. com. May 24, 2010. Crane, Stephen. A God in Wrath. Withered Arm and Other Stories. Ed. George Bess. New jersey Viking Penguin, 1999. Print.