A Comparison Of "Resurrection" And "Sister Carrie" From The Perspective Of Naturalism

The paper studies elements of naturalism in the works of Tolstoy and Dreiser. Aiming to point features of American and Russian naturalism, it introduces "determinism","experimental method" and "inheritance" concepts as main tools to understand meaning of naturalism and analyze "Resurrection" and "Sister Carrie" according to these elements.The term "naturalism" describes 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 Zola's phrase,"human beasts," characters can be studied through their relationships to their surroundings. The most important characteristics of naturalistic literature are:detailed and correct describing of life without any judging or evaluation; using of "experimental method"; pointing that connection between inheritance and society determines one's character. Naturalists show interest to society, they believe revealing of its "diseases" can cure it.The Main Part includes three chapters.The first chapter talks about Tolstoy and Dreiser's aesthetics views and their attitude to their own societies. Tolstoy is a famous Russian writer. Many consider him to have been one of the world's greatest novelists. Tolstoy is equally known for his complicated and paradoxical persona and for his extreme moralistic and ascetic views, which he adopted after a moral crisis and spiritual awakening in the1870s, after which he also became noted as a moral thinker and social reformer. As for Dreiser, he is an American novelist and journalist of the naturalist school. His novels often featured main characters who succeeded at their objectives despite a lack of a firm moral code, and literary situations that more closely resemble studies of nature than tales of choice and agency.Although both authors were born and lived in completely different societies, they could see problems, unfair attitudes, humiliations their people had been facing. In the same way with Tolstoy, Dreiser condemned rotten system he lived in. But Tolstoy gave special attention to lives of people from villages, and Dreiser wanted to emphasize on difficult life of simple workers. Both writers understood role of literature in the world and they wanted to use it for opening people's eyes and helping them to change the society.While describing socio-cultural environment his characters lived in, Tolstoy as a moralist gives evaluation of other's behavior and choices they have made. As for Dreiser, he does not give comments about what he describes as naturalist never does.The second chapter analyses elements of naturalism in the "Resurrection" and "Sister Carrie". Many naturalists reject experimental method as the most important concept of naturalism, however, it is an element of naturalism. We can see how Tolstoy uses it in his work, which is written with emphasized experimental method when people live their lives in the manner of some judicial process. Determinism, a statement that for everything that happens there are conditions such that, given them, nothing else could happen, is easily seen in the "Resurrection" and "Sister Carrie". Protagonists go those ways which were shown to them by others, their environment influenced on them and following this influence they make decisions, often wrong ones. Both writers show us how one's heredity and social environment largely determine one's character. Their novels as many others naturalistic works exposed the dark harshness of life, including poverty, racism, violence, prejudice, disease, corruption, prostitution, and filth.The third chapter introduces main characters of "Resurrection" and "Sister Carrie". It makes an analysis of protagonist's personalities, showing how temper can influence on behavior. We can see in the beginning of novels that Katusha and Carrie are innocent and cheerful young girls. But both of them naive and too trustful to others, this brings them pain and disappointment later. Their melancholy causes despair in which they start to make wrong steps. And only support of some good people can change their attitude to life. Unfortunately, Carrie, having this opportunity to change everything, in the end does not know how to use it and stays lonely and depressed, Katusha, however, is full of desire to begin new life end she does it.Both novels describe American and Russian societies of the end of19th and the beginning of20th centuries through their main characters; show their struggling in the environment, their mutual influences. Although Tolsoy is realist,"Resurrection" uses "determinism","experimental method" and other important elements of Naturalism for describing the story in the same way as "Sister Carrie" does.