A study on Naturalism in the Short Story A Man in the Cage by Iranian Writer Sadegh Choobak

Abstract

Naturalism was a literary movement taking place from the 1880s to 1940s that used detailed realism to suggest that social conditions, heredity, and environment had inescapable force in shaping human character. It was depicted as a literary movement that seeks to replicate a believable literary reality. Whereas realism seeks only to describe subjects as they really are, naturalism also attempts to determine "scientifically" the underlying forces influencing the actions of its subjects. Naturalistic works often include sordid subject matter, frankness about sexuality along with a pervasive pessimism. Naturalistic works exposed the dark harshness of life, including poverty, racism, violence, prejudice, disease, corruption, prostitution, and filth. This study focused on the Sadegh Choobak's Short Story A Man in the Cage from the viewpoint of literary naturalism. In this regard, the story's naturalistic features represented and discussed.