On Hardy’s Naturalism in The Return of the Native .doc

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1、ContentsAbstract in EnglishiiAbstract in ChineseiiiI. Introduction11. a Brief Introduction of Thomas Hardy and His Work1B.A Brief Introduction of the Return of the Native31. Importance of Study on Hardys Work the Return of the Native32. Significances to Study Naturalism in the Return of the Native a

2、nd Its Contribution to the Discipline4II. Naturalism6A. Research Status on Hardys Work and Naturalism6B. The Naturalism in the Return of the Native81. The Ideas of American Naturalism82. Its Relation with Tragedy in the Return of the Native9III. Research Procedures and Methods13A. Research Procedure

3、s and Data Collection13B. Research Methods and Data Analysis16IV. Conclusion19Works Cited21Acknowledgments2222I. Introduction Over a century, study on English writer Thomas Hardy and his works has never stopped, and there are an immense number of books about Hardy himself, his ideas, and his literar

4、y works. However, with the passage of time, the focus of the study changes. In recent years, the study on Hardys novels in the world and in China has taken on a new look. Some researchers pay their attention to the tragic effect of Hardys Wessex novels, some analyze the psychological predicament of

5、the characters and indicate the modernism of Hardys works, and some others put emphasis on Nature in his novels. Chinese professor Nie Zhenzhao explains Hardys novel writing through Darwinism in one of his recently published articles. However, there seems to be no article on systematic research in H

6、ardys treatment of Nature in his novels or in Hardys view on Nature and its relation to Darwinism. In the history of English literature, great importance has always been attached to Nature both as a means of artistic expression and as theme. If the study of Nature in English literary works is done w

7、ith the combination of some scientific and philosophic ideas like Darwinism, there will be new understanding of the literary works. Hardy and his works are appropriate for this study. So, the author of this paper tries to do some research in this area through the study of Hardy and his novels.1. a B

8、rief Introduction of Thomas Hardy and His Work Thomas hardy was a famous critical realistic writer in England. He was one of the representatives of the English critical realism novelist, he was also a poet. He is famous for novels of character and environment. His birthplace was in a country which n

9、amed Egdon in the westland; this natural environment formed the main environment in the hardy writes. His father was a stonecutter, but like music, his parents paid more attention on Hardys education. In his childhood，he received the education for theology, but when he grew up, he turned to learn th

10、e literary. After Hardy left school he became a architects apprentice in 1856. And then he went to London to become a post of the building draftsman in 1862. He also took courses in London University. His literature career began with poetry, but due to not have the good fortune to publish it he chan

11、ged the matter for novel creation. His firs novel was published in 1871, the celebrated work was his fourth novel Far From the Madding Crowd(1874),from then on, he dropped construct industry and devoted to the novel creation. Hardy wrote nearly 20 long novels his life, the most famous novels are The

12、 Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), Tess of the DUrbervilles (1891), Jude the Obscure (1896). His works reflected the changed of social economy, political, moral and tradition when the hypocritical bourgeoisie invaded the countries in England. As a transitional writer, Hardy was both influenced by both t

13、he past and the modern, as a result he is known as intellectually advanced and emotional traditional writer. In his novels on the one hand he showed an apparent nostalgic feeling in his description of the simple and beautiful though primitive rural life, which was gradually declining and disappearin

14、g as England marched into an industrial country. He was deeply influenced by Influenced by Darwins The Origin of Species and Spencers The First Principle, he accepted the idea of survival the fittest and believed that mans fate is pre-determinedly tragic, driven by a combined force of nature both in

15、side and outside. The natural environment is shown as some mysterious supernatural force, which is very powerful.B.A Brief Introduction of the Return of the Native1. Importance of Study on Hardys Work the Return of the NativeThe story of The Return of the Native is a tragic story, beginning with a v

16、ivid description of the gloomy and mysterious setting, Egdon Heath. Then Hardy present us with a picture of the tough struggle between humans race and nature, a conflict between men and their fate, through the clash between Clym Yeobright and Eustacia Vye, who are two major typical victims of this t

17、ragic novel. Their opposing souls decide the whole progression of their tragic life and the tragic story.As we know, Hardys famous works, such as The return of the Native, Tess of the DUrbervilles, etc. They focus on the conflict between Nature and the social environment. In The Return of the Native

18、, nature plays an important role. Many scholars put emphasize on Naturalism in Hardys novels. They analyze works from different perspective. Therefore, The Return of the Native is very worthy of studying. It can help us to have a better understanding of Naturalism.2. Significances to Study Naturalis

19、m in the Return of the Native and Its Contribution to the Discipline Naturalistic thinking has a long history, but it has been especially prominent in recent decades, and its influence is felt all across philosophy. This article will look at why and in what ways it is prominent and will describe som

20、e of the most influential versions of naturalism.Therefore, a perspective can be concluded: the naturalism influenced Thomas Hardys work heavily. Check out the literary experience of Thomas Hardy, the author was famous for Wessexnovels, and combined the nature with the plot. The Plot of the novel is

21、 in some way in accordance with Nature. The Proceeding of Nature is controlled by the natural law，yet it is prone some accidental change. Therefore，behind Nature there seems to be logical force and a passionate force. The same is with the plot of the novel. Both human passion and logic play their pa

22、rts in the development of the plot. Eustacias keen love for an imagined lover (then she only heard of Clym) drives her to risk playing the mummery ;Thomasin, out of convention, is still willing to marry Wildeve in spite of the first unrealized marriage. Passion and logic more often than not work tog

23、ether. Diiggory Venn succeeds in intruding into the whole story by using tactics，but he does this out of his whole-hearted，deep and persistent love for Thomasin. Mrs Yeobright succeeds in arousing Wildeves jealousy by implying Thomasins another suitor，but what makes Wildeve finally man Thomasin is h

24、is revenge on Eustacia. Plot is Parallel to Nature in that both are driven by Passionate and logical forces.The rustics on Egdon Heath are narrow and rigid and refuse to change. Therefore, there exists a gap between Egdon Heath and the outside world .There is also a gap between Clym and the rustics,

25、 because Clym has been influenced by some new ideas after years of city life at paris. so, though Clym cherishes an inbom and deep love for the land of Egdon Heath and plans to carry out the reunion with the rustics upon his return. let alone civilize them .Moreover, Clym is too idealistic and fails

26、 to see these two kinds of gaps, and therefore fails to return . Clyms return is a failure because in an evolutionary order it is not Possible to choose to return to an earlier state.In a word，the landscape of Egdon is not just a stage for the tragic story But also an agent in the operation of plot.

27、 The Plot develops in the way that Nature proceeds，on the whole driven by logic forces and human Passion but Sometimes exposed to accidental changes and even some mysterious power. Hardys status as a distinctly regional writer is probably the most apparent in The Return of the Native. Egdon Heath is

28、 based on Black Heath, which bordered Hardys childhood home in Higher Bockhampton, Dorset. In no other novel is Hardys Wessex mythology more pronounced. Egdon Heath is truly a microcosm for a Pre-Industrial Englandits inhabitants are socially conservative laborers who are attached to the natural lan

29、dscape in an almost mystical fashion. The communitys livelihood is completely dependent on the landscape itself; they are bound to the capricious Egdon Heath in an eternal struggle for survival.II. Naturalism A. Research Status on Hardys Work and Naturalism Hardy criticizes certain social constraint

30、s that hindered the lives of those living in the 19th century. Considered a Victorian Realist writer, Hardy examines the social constraints that are part of the Victorian status, suggesting these rules hinder the lives of all involved and ultimately lead to unhappiness. The term Naturalism describes

31、 a type of literature that attempts to apply scientific principles of objectivity and detachment to its study of human beings. Unlike realism, which focuses on literary technique, naturalism implies a philosophical position: for naturalistic writers, since human beings are, in Emile Zolas phrase, hu

32、man beasts, characters can be studied through their relationships to their surroundings. Zolas 1880 description of this method in Le roman experimental (The Experimental Novel,1880) follows Claude Bernards medical model and the historian Hippolyte Taines observation that virtue and vice are products

33、 like vitriol and sugar -that is, that human beings as products should be studied impartially, without moralizing about their natures. Other influences on American naturalists include Herbert Spencer and Joseph LeConte.Through this objective study of human beings, naturalistic writers believed that

34、the laws behind the forces that govern human lives might be studied and understood. Naturalistic writers thus used a version of the scientific method to write their novels; they studied human beings governed by their instincts and passions as well as the ways in which the characters lives were gover

35、ned by forces of heredity and environment. Although they used the techniques of accumulating detail pioneered by the realists, the naturalists thus had a specific object in mind when they chose the segment of reality that they wished to convey. The tension involves the theme of the naturalistic nove

36、l. The naturalist often describes his characters as though they are conditioned and controlled by environment, heredity, instinct, or chance. But he also suggests a compensating humanistic value in his characters or their fates which affirms the significance of the individual and of his life. The te

37、nsion here is that between the naturalists desire to represent in fiction the new, discomfiting truths which he has found in the ideas and life of his late nineteenth-century world, and also his desire to find some meaning in experience which reasserts the validity of the human enterprise. The theme

38、s of it, first is Walcutt identifies survival, determinism, violence, and taboo as key themes. Second is the brute within each individual, composed of strong and often warring emotions: passions, such as lust, greed, or the desire for dominance or pleasure; and the fight for survival in an amoral, i

39、ndifferent universe. The conflict in naturalistic novels is often man against nature or man against himself as characters struggle to retain a veneer of civilization despite external pressures that threaten to release the brute within. Third is Nature as an indifferent force acting on the lives of h

40、uman beings. The romantic vision of Wordsworth-that nature never did betray the heart that loved her-here becomes Stephen Cranes view in The Open Boat: This tower was a giant, standing with its back to the plight of the ants. It represented in a degree, to the correspondent, the serenity of nature a

41、mid the struggles of the individual-nature in the wind, and nature in the vision of men. She did not seem cruel to him then, or beneficent, or treacherous, or wise. But she was indifferent, flatly indifferent. Forth is the forces of heredity and environment as they affect-and afflict-individual live

42、s. Fifth is an indifferent, deterministic universe. Naturalistic texts often describe the futile attempts of human beings to exercise free will, often ironically presented, in this universe that reveals free will as an illusion.B. The Naturalism in the Return of the Native 1. The Ideas of American N

43、aturalism American naturalism was a new and harsher realism, and like realism, it had come from Europe. Naturalism was an outgrowth of Realism that responded to theories in science, psychology, human behaviour and social thought current in the late nineteenth century. In the last decade of the ninet

44、eenth century, with the development of industry and modem science, intelligent minds began to see that man was no longer a free ethical being in a cold, indifferent and essentially Godless universe. In this chance world he was both helpless and hopeless. European writers like Emile Zola had already

45、developed this acute social consciousness. They saw mans life as governed by the two forces of heredity and environment, forces absolutely beyond mans control. American naturalism had been shaped by the war, by the social upheavals that undermined the comforting faith of an earlier age, and by the d

46、isturbing teachings of Darwinism. Americas literary naturalists dismissed the validity of comforting moral truths. They attempts to achieve extreme objectivity and frankness, presenting characters of low social and economic classes who were determined by their environment and heredity. In presenting

47、 the extremes of life, the naturalists sometimes displayed an affinity to the sensationalism of early romanticism, but unlike their romantic predecessors, the naturalists emphasized that the world was amoral, that men and women had no free will, that lives were controlled by heredity and environment

48、, that the destiny of humanity was misery in life and oblivion in death. The pessimistic and deterministic ideas of naturalism pervaded the works of such American writers as Stephen Crane, Frank Norris, Jack London and Theodore Dreiser. Although naturalist literature described the world with sometim

49、es brutal realism, it sometimes also aimed at bettering the world through social reform. This combination of grim reality and desire for improvement is typical of America as it moved into the twentieth century.2. Its Relation with Tragedy in the Return of the Native As one of the master pieces of Tomas Hardy, The Return of the Native is a story of extremes, of all-consuming passions