Just The Nature Of Things

As I was walking to my car from class one evening, I stopped a moment and looked at a tree that was nearby.  I've no idea the species, but it was a small tree, maybe fifteen feet tall at the highest though it's lowest limbs were well within reach.  The leaves were an eclectic mix of autumn browns, reds, and golds which slowly fell one after another, even more as a light breeze moved through the branches.  I swear, I was expecting a Hallmark poem to scroll up in front of my eyes.  It seems that even in today's fast paced, technologically driven world nature still has the ability to take our breath away.  So it's no wonder that nature has often played a role in literature, though that role has changed with the different modes of thought which have come and gone.  A rather interesting, and admittedly sometimes depressing, view is that of the Naturalistic writer.

Stephen Crane, a poet of the late 19th/early 20th century, wrote a short poem which has become a famous (perhaps infamous) quote...

 A man said to the universe: 

"Sir I exist!" 

"However," replied the universe, 

"The fact has not created in me 

A sense of obligation."

That short poem, a mere two sentences, encapsulates one of the tenets of  Naturalistic writing.  Nature as an unsympathetic, uncaring entity.  Naturalism has its roots in Realism which, as the name suggests, is a style of writing where the author attempts to be as true to real life as possible.  In this respect, Naturalist and Realist writer's works often have their protagonists describing their feelings of injustice and the unfairness of life which is very much the case.  

Another work by Stephen Crane that is often read to illustrate his Naturalistic style is a short story entitled "The Open Boat".  In this story, four men are stranded in a small boat after their ship has sunk: the narrator, a reporter; the captain, who has been injured; the cook, who is most optimistic of the group; and finally the oiler, who we learn is named Billie.  Eventually, after much rowing, the four men come within sight of shore and decide their only hope is to swim for it as the choppy seas make it impossible for the boat to make the journey.  Billie, the most physically fit of the group, pulls ahead while the other three flounder as best they can using bits of the boat to stay afloat.  In the end, the captain, cook, and narrator all arrive on shore alive.  Ironically, Billie is the one who doesn't survive as he's seen laying face down motionless in the surf.  This final scene is Crane's way of showing the utter indifference of nature.  Billie was the strongest and most "fit" of the four and yet he is the one who ultimately dies.  Hardly a fair ending, though that's entirely his point.  There is no place for being fair in nature.

Another Naturalist writer takes a slightly different approach.  Jack London, another favorite of mine, takes the Naturalistic approach and combines it with the views of Darwin.  While nature is still unsympathetic to the trials of an individual's life, nature also subscribes to a certain code.  Survival of the fittest.  London's novel Call of the Wild is a staple of many middle and high school reading lists and illustrates London's Naturalistic style.  The setting of the novel is the rugged frontier of Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush.  Buck, a large, pampered house dog of mixed breeding is sold by his family's gardener and shipped north to serve as a sled dog.  Right away, his lessons of nature are harsh and unforgiving.  Buck learns that a man with a club is something to be feared and obeyed and that to obey means survival.  Buck watches as other dogs like him refuse to submit and are ultimately killed.  This is where the novel differs stylistically from a Romantic novel.  In a Romantic novel, the author would emphasis the nobility and spirit of the dogs which refused to be broken, lifting up their deaths as something to aspire towards and idealize.  Instead, we see Buck watching and thinking how foolish those dogs are.  Now that they're dead, what do they matter?  Their deaths didn't matter.  Other dogs will still be beaten, some will submit and others will die.  Better to submit and live than to die.  Survival is paramount in a Darwinistic world.  Throughout the novel, we see Buck as he learns the ways of life out in the wild.  As part of a sled dog team, there is a dynamic pack hierarchy which Buck must navigate and eventually ascends to pack dominance.  Eventually, Buck comes under the care of a man named Thornton.  Unlike his previous owners, Thornton treats Buck kindly and the pair form a bond making them almost equals.  This even camaraderie between man and animal is seen as the ideal relationship where man and beast (man and nature) both coexist for the other's benefit.  But remember that thing I said about nature not being fair?  Well, unfortunately, Buck and Thornton don't get a happily ever after...not together anyways.  While Buck is out hunting, a band of natives attacks the cabin and kills Thornton.  With his owner dead, Buck is no longer tied to humanity and surrenders completely to his animal instincts.

Today, people would describe Realistic and Naturalistic writing as being "gritty" when all it really does is simply portray life as it is.  Sometimes hard, sometimes cruel, and sometimes unfair.  Of course, just as there are bad things in nature, there are just as many good things.  For every life that ends, another life begins.  Life may not be fair, but it's neither cruel nor malicious either.  It's what we choose to focus on that affects our outlook.  So, next time you're outside, stop.  Take a look around.  Inhale.  Exhale.  And know that life is good.