MAASAI MARA UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF C.I.E.M
BACHELOR OF EDUCATION
SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
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STUDENT NAME:
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LECTURER:
MAJOR LITERARY MOVEMENTS
LIT 417
MUTHEE PIUS MWENDA
ED/019/2015
PROF. KITCHE MAGAK

TASK
Clarifying the validity of the statement; The boundaries of literary movements are blurred with reference
to any three literary movements.
DATE HANDED IN: 26th/3/2019
In the field of literature, one cannot arguably prove, state a convincing explanation or say that there is a
clear cut when it comes to plainly differentiating the roles played by some literary movements. This is
because of the fact that one literary movement obviously led to the emergence of another movement
similarly or a little bit related to its predecessor. Other movements also had a tendency of adding more
weight to each other. This is an article I have put down on paper examining from my own perspective
how the boundaries between literary movements might be referred to as being blurred. The term blurred
in this context is used to refer to the dwindling or shrinking of the differences that lie between one literary
movement and another. This implies that one literary movement can trace some of its feature and
attributes from another movement. Whatever characteristic is evident in one literary movement can get
identified in another. Henceforth one cannot fully describe a certain literary movement upon its own or
independently. In this article I am going to lay more emphasis on three key literary movements namely;
Naturalism, Modernism and Harlem Renaissance. These movements appear to share a common ground
and as I may describe it ‘a common school of thought.’

A brief overview of Naturalism, Modernism, Harlem Renaissance

Naturalism
t t
This is a literary movement that started in the 19 century to early 20 century in the fields of literature,
theater, art and film. It is a type of extreme realism. The movement attempted to portray a detailed
account of realism in day to day life implying that a social and environmental conditions were the
inevitable driving force behind the shaping and molding of the human character. Naturalists therefore
purported that the environment shapes and controls or determines and governs human character.
Naturalism also uses some scientific principles with a philosophical stand that applies these scientific
principles and methods of objectivity and detachment to its study of human beings. There is application of
some scientific principles in naturalistic works and humans struggling for survival in hostile and alien
societies. In fact, Naturalism was motivated by Charles Darwin's theory of evolution which holds that life
is like a struggle and only the fittest survive. Naturalism therefore identifies the underlying causes of a
person’s actions or believes. It also tries to replicate everyday life and reality without giving characters
and individuals special treatment for instance turning to be rich all of a sudden. It is a movement that
looked to imitate and represent a believable reality, inspired by life as it was. Naturalistic literary pieces
often revealed the dark and painful truths of reality and the worst of what was seen including racism,
poverty, illness, slavery and death. Naturalism seeks to define the underlying factors that determine the
behavior of its subjects.
Modernism
t th
This is an artistic and aesthetic movement that arose between the late 19 century and early 20 century. It
tries to depart from and opposes the classical and traditional forms and conventions. So as to have a full
of what Modernism is all about first we will have to place it in the context of Modernity era. The
Modernity period is an era characterized by mainly industrialization and the loss of uncertainty that was
provoked by the fresh and new scientific approaches which brought about an awakening of secularization
and by reactions against the cruelty and animosity that had been inflicted upon by the World War 1. The
catastrophe of the war had shaken faith in the moral basis, coherence and durability of the Western
civilization. As a result, there was rise in doubts about the adequacy of traditional literary modes to
represent the harsh and dissonant realities of the post war world. According to T.S Eliot, the inherited
mode of ordering a literary work could not accord with the immerse panorama of futility and anarchy
which is contemporary or being experienced currently.
The Harlem Renaissance
th
This was a literary movement that arose in with the inception of the 20 century. It was referred to as
Harlem Renaissance since it was first noticed in Harlem, a neighborhood of New York city. The
movement was an African American cultural explosion that was expressed through essays, songs,
theoretical pieces, novels and poetry. Harlem Renaissance poetry and works of literature and art had a
chief intent of improving and uplifting African Americans through historical awareness and a popular
culture that reflected self-awareness and self-worth of black American individuals in an alien society.
Poetry in this movement is characterized by laying a focus on the Black American experience and
relevant themes. It examined the historical place of the contemporary African with regards to history and
future. Where has the Black American been and where is he going? Alienation and marginalization of the
African American was one of the major concerns. Harlem Renaissance helped shape American culture
through literature and art thus offered new ways of seeing and understanding what it meant to be black at
that crucial time of history. It fostered a new black cultural identity, whereby the black American
community was able to seize upon its first chance for group expression and self-identity. Harlem
Renaissance contained features such as racial pride, racism, racial and social integration, effects of
institutional racism, black identity, question of how to convey the experience of modern black life in the
north and the influence of slavery experiences.
Naturalism, Modernism and Harlem renaissance vary in terms of the visual goals and philosophical
agendas they advocated for however they are responsive to the changing circumstances of the eras they
represented. Each of these literary movements in one way or another led to social changes. In terms of
compositional goals Naturalism, modernism and Harlem renaissance depicted the struggles of the lower
class, poor educated and poor individuals and mostly involved themes and taboo like theories.
A feature common in Modernism is experimentation of form. This is mainly by way of manipulation of
form and by the realization that knowledge is not absolute or complete in itself. Modernists writers such
as T.S Eliot composed works of literature that cut across a range of styles and genres. Eliot's The Waste
Land for instance jumps from one verse form to another, gathers allusions in a collage manner and also
incorporates a host of narrative voices. Naturalism on the other hand also uses the same principle whereby
there is application of scientific principles with a philosophical stand that applies these scientific methods
and principles of objectivity and detachment to its study human beings in their social settings. This is
mostly seen in Naturalistic works as that represent human being as beings who struggle for survival in
hostile and alien society. The reason for this is because Naturalism identifies the underlying cause of a
person’s actions or believes and tries to replicate everyday life as and reality without giving characters’
special treatment or extraordinary circumstances like suddenly becoming wealthy. Harlem Renaissance
also although not fully experimental, laid its focus on the Black American experience and hence
henceforth examined the historical place of the contemporary African American with regard to history
and the future. Where was has the black man been? Where is he ending? A common trait of these three
movements was looking at things keenly and not just laying a weak argumentative foundation of issues at
hand. For this reason, these literary movements can be fully independent since they are linked in one way
or another. For instance, Harlem Renaissance is somehow coupled with Modernism and Modernism on
the other hand coupled with Naturalism from the view of experimentation of form.
Naturalism is seen as movement that looked to imitate and represent a believable reality, inspired by life
as it appeared to be. Naturalistic literary works often revealed and portrayed the dark and painful truths of
reality and the worst of what was seen, including racism, poverty, illness and death. Modernism sees a
decay and a growing sense of alienation of the individual. This is on the view point or angle of perceiving
machinery of modern society as impersonal, capitalist and antagonistic to the artistic impulse. Instead of
new and fresh technology the modernist sees cold machinery and increased capitalism which alienated the
individual and led to loneliness. Harlem Renaissance which was a black movement had a major concern
of alienation and marginalization of the African American which were the pending reality of the era.
Racial and social integration, black identity, effects of institutional racism, influence of slavery
experience and racial pride were the pending realities and just like Naturalism, Harlem Renaissance
sought to represent a believable reality, inspired by life as it was. It sought to give a real image of the real
situation pending at the time which was composed of racism and aftermath of slavery.
A central preoccupation of Modernism is with the inner self and consciousness. Harlem Renaissance
poetry and works of literature had a chief intention of improving and uplifting African
Americanindividuals through historical awareness and a popular culture that reflected self-awareness and
self-worth of black American individuals. From this perspective one can argue that the Harlem
Renaissance movement borrowed from Modernism in the sense that it concentrated on the inner self and
consciousness of the black American individual as far much as the issue of black identity is also
concerned. Through this we discover that Modernism helped Harlem Renaissance foster a new black
cultural identity, in which the black community was able to seize upon its first chances for group
expression and self-identity. For this reason, then are we to say that Harlem Renaissance is composed of
Modernistic elements?
It is unethical to differentiate Naturalism, Modernism and Harlem Renaissance since they all tended to be
straight forward or frank in their presentations. Naturalistic work of literature revolved around ill-
educated or middle class individuals in an urban setting, struggling to survive in their experiences.
Modernism in the same sense was an outcry upon modern life. In the rise of technology, consumerism
and mass entertainment, modernists see culture in a crisis moment. The advent of the automobile, warfare
on a world scale mainly through world war 1 and in which there was a pointless blood bath, massive
factories, commercial phenomena such as advertising and vulgar attitudes in general made life in the west
a confusing experience and encounter. Harlem Renaissance also advocated for the immediate needs of
the black American folks. Issues to deal with racial pride, racism and black identity are dealt with in a
straight forward manner. Most of the writing in this period was straight forward revealing the animalistic
and crude way of life among the blacks in the west as they were being mistreated by the majority whites.
There is presentation of pessimistic world of experiences faced by individuals as purported by all these
movements, in their quest to try and respond to the changing circumstances of the periods they
represented. Naturalistic works have a pessimistic and predetermined fate. Modernists in the same sense
saw a decline in civilization and increased capitalistic nature that alienated the individual and led to
loneliness. The new technology and the horrifying events of both world wars but more particularly World
war 1, made many people question the future of humanity and as a matter of fact, what was becoming of
the world? Similarly, Harlem renaissance concentrated on the question of how to convey the experience
pf the black modern life in the North, the influence created by the experience of slavery, racial
integration, black identity and the effects of institutional racism which were all pessimistic attitudes dealt
with by the black American folk in Harlem and beyond. The pessimistic view makes the boundaries
between these literary movements blurred.
Naturalism took its cue from Charles Darwin's theory of evolution which holds that life is like a struggle,
which hold that life is like a struggle and only the fittest survive. Harlem renaissance can be said to be as
a result of such an idea. The black Americans were in a struggle to survive in a harsh and volatile
environment in which there was too much suffering and agony inflicted upon them by the white majority.
In this sense the black Americans were in a struggle to cope with a negative environment. From this
perspective I can comfortably say that the Harlem Renaissance cab be referred back to Naturalism.
Naturalism, modernism and Harlem Renaissance in general were reactions to the ill fitted traditional
forms of daily life, cultural and social impediments, social conditions and focus on the real scenarios.
These movements can be regarded as fundamental views of life and humanity and by this opposing and
went against Romanticism so as to present natural and real outlook of the experiences. Generally stating
that these literary movements vary diversely would be unsatisfactory.

References

The Harlem Renaissance: Edited by Harold Bloom 2004 Poets.org: A Brief Guide to the Harlem
Renaissance. Institute of International Visual Arts: The New Negro.
S.E Woodson Arizona State University Professors Article Giving Information About the
Naturalism Movement.

Childs, Peter (2008). MODERNISM

Brooker, Peter, eds. Modernism/Postmodernism. London. Longman 1992

Charles Darwin, Theory of evolution.