Examples Of Social Darwinism In Mcteague

Throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, naturalism and Social Darwinism were very popular topics. Naturalism, a term that “describes a type of literature that attempts to apply scientific principles of objectivity and detachment to its study of human beings”, was a response to romanticism seen in the Victorian Era of literature and arts (Campbell). Social Darwinism is “the theory that persons, groups, and races are subject to the same laws of natural selection as Charles Darwin had perceived in plants and animals in nature” (“Social Darwinism”). Both of these concepts can be seen in the novel McTeague, by Frank Norris. Through the uses of social Darwinism and naturalism, McTeague became a very controversial book. Benjamin

Zola referred to human beings as “human Beasts’ (Campbell). The character of McTeague is a prime example of this. In the novel, it states that Mcteague “pulls teeth out with his fingers” (Norris 15). McTeague later goes on to abuse his wife and eventually kill her. Naturalistic authors believed that they could study characters “through their relationships and surroundings” and “naturalistic writers believed that the laws behind the forces that govern human lives might be studied and understood” (Campbell). These authors used the scientific method to write their

Pizer, unlike many of the previous critics, has a great knowledge of the concepts of naturalism and Social Darwinism. He sees that “a central theme in Norris’ work is that beneath the surface of our placid, everyday lives there is turbulence, that the romance of the extraordinary is not limited to the distance in time and place but can be found “in the brownstone of the office building downtown”” (309). Pizer also notes that “some of the best moments in the novel powerfully these two stems of the commonplace and the extraordinary” (309). Although had originally hated McTeague, it has become known as one of the most used examples of naturalism and Social Darwinism in schools and education