Frank Norris: Social Darwinism And Naturalism

At the end of the nineteenth century, society was divulging in all the new scenes in literature and society: realism, romanticism, naturalism, etc. The people of this time tended to veer towards the newly presented socialism. The idea of Social Darwinism, that humans compete in a struggle for existence in which natural selection results in survival of the fittest, prevailed at this time (Social Darwinism). This idea interested the young mind of Frank Norris, who happened to be a naturalist. Norris was a proclaimed socialist who showed his support for the idea of Social Darwinism through his works. After reading an article one day, he birthed the idea to write a work that intertwined the ideas of Social Darwinism and naturalism. With this intent in mind, he began to write his timeless novel, McTeague, a novel full of Social Darwinist views. Norris’ naturalistic views inspired him to write his novel so he could portray the popular notion of hard to control animalistic instincts, which connects with the survival of the fittest view, as well as incorporate naturalism into his modern day. Norris’

Norris grew up comfortably; his father was a jeweler and his mother was an actress (Online Literature). He first believed he was meant to be an artist, so he studied in paris for two years until he decided that art was not his calling. He then went on to study literature at Berkeley in California (Encyclopedia Britannica). There he discovered his love for writing and the west coast. He adopted the western culture, and quickly adapted to their socialist ways (Online Literature). It was throughout his journey where he found his naturalist mentality and grew to agree with social Darwinism as his social theory. The west influenced the writing of his book because he was introduced to the ideas presented in the book while he adapted to his western