Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Naturalism in Age of Innocence
Today in class we did an In-class Essay and one question talked about how the Age of Innocence could be related to Naturalism since it deals with fate. Do you think that this book could be related to Naturalism? We talked about it in class as though Newland chooses to leave it to fate. Is that naturalistic?
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I think that Newland as a character is in fact naturalist because of his surrender to fate. However as a whole the novel's attention to detail and comedic view of Newland's ridiculous and cowardly worries should be characterized as realist.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Chris in that the character of Newland illustrates naturalism throughout the novel. In Naturalistic literary works, the characters believe that fate decides their future and essentially give their lives over to fate. Also, the ending is not always happy as the ending the The Age of Innocence was disappointing to me.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the characters in the Age of Innocence are greatly influenced by fate. But also it is the characters, themselves, who form their own fate. Since the Old New Yorkers care about their appearance and are very superficial, people behave very carefully to maintain a good image and reputation. Archer cannot continue his relationship with Olenska because he is afraid of how people will judge them but it is not the fate that prevents their relationship.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the characters in the Age of Innocence are easily influenced by the idea of their lives being controlled by fate. However, the characters do things that have an influence on the outcomes of their lives. As Hae-Soung mentioned, the characters are always concerned about their appearances and what other people think about them. To me, doing these things and worrying about what people think about them are not naturalist. If your life is controlled by fate, why do anything to try to alter the outcome of your life if it is already determined?
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