Gangs of New York, an Example of Naturalism

In the beginning, it seems unlikely that Gangs of New York will be an example of naturalism. Unlike To Build a Fire or Open Boat, the whole story of Gangs of New York happens in a civilized area, and nobody is in a case of danger because of the nature. Naturalism is implicit in this article. But being implicit does not mean it is ineffective. Instead, the idea of naturalism within this article is more confound than other two stories we studied before.
The very first scene, a cave is hidden underneath a mission, somehow revealed the naturalist’s idea of brute within. Cave is a symbol of primitive, brute, and undeveloped. Mission is a symbol of civilized, peaceful, and developed. Another similar dramatic reminding of this idea is priest Vallon. Vallon is a Catholic priest being the head of a gang, on the one hand holding a crucifix and blesses his warriors, on the other hand holding a knife and ready to kill. The contradiction between wild and civilized reminds us the naturalism idea of brute within.
Five Points is the setting of the movie. People live in Five Points are conditioned and trapped by the environment. One example is Bill Cutting. Because his father fought for U.S. and died for U.S., Cutting has a strong Nativism belief. The environment conditioned Bill Cutting and made him resent immigrants. As another example, being a witness of his father’s death, Amsterdam’s goal is nothing other than revenge for his father. This also trapped him into Five Points. After getting out of Hell Gate, Amsterdam can be a priest and go to a better place than Five Points. But he threw the Bible away and chose the path of revenge. A second chance is offered to him when Jenny asks him not to go to the duel and go to San Francisco with her. Agai...

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...uralism by her illusion of free will. She wants to get out of Five Points. In order to achieve this goal, she saves ten cents from every dollar she made since she started working. Finally, she had the enough money and bought the passage to San Francisco. But by the power of the indifferent nature, her trip is completely destroyed because of riot. Even at the last minute she struggled for her goal, including killing a lady. But all those efforts did not get herself out of the Five Points. She is like the oiler in the Open Boat. She has the ability to achieve her goal. She prepared to achieve her goal. She worked to achieve her goal. But the unpredictable nature prevented her from achieving her goal.
The setting and environment of the movie had successfully fulfilled the naturalism setting. The characters’ fate also matched the naturalist’s perspective about humanity.