Question

Give three examples of Guy de Maupassant's naturalistic style of presenting characters and plot and show why they are naturalistic

Answer 1

Guy de Maupassant's work are deemed naturalistic because his characters are usually the working class and they are often portrayed in a very harsh conditions of real life where misery is prevalent.

Majority of his themes are about war and German occupation. His stories focus more on women, especially those who are victims and prostitutes. A lot of his stories also focus of depression, paranoia, and madness usually resulting to death and destruction.

Answer 2

Answer:

Guy de Maupassant was a french author, known as one of the biggest representers of Naturalism. Naturalism was characterized by describing social reality, not specifically limited to liberalism, optimism, and the progressive faith of the bourgeois class, but addressing poverty, disease, prejudice, prostitution, and death. His pessimistic and deterministic perspective was one of the main qualities that distinguish this movement from its predecessor, realism.

One example of his style at the moment of presenting a character or plot is “Ball of Suet”. She is a prostitute presented as an insignificant and unpopular person in her town. The pessimism presented in the story illustrates the style of the author. A second example is found in “The Horla”, in which the author presents the topic of mental illness and anguish, being in concordance with the naturalistic perspective. The last example can be found in “The Necklace”, in which one mistake lead the characters to live in misery their entire life. This last example reflects the unexpected situations that can affect people’s lives.