Realism aims at seeing reality as a mirror. This is that what we see is what is really happening. One of the major themes for realism is objective thought. This is the idea where we see the world as it is and accept it like that. There is no subjectivity involved and it is straight to the point. Another major theme is social realities, which is heavily portrayed through social classes. There were different social classes and this too was objective. You were from your social class and there was no question to it. One example of realism from the text “A Simple Heart” is portrayed through the character Felicite, the maid of the family. Felicite had no power trying to force Virigne to stay at home. She could not influence Madame Aubain’s choices. Also, No longer did maids give such open ideas and play such a big role within the family, like in Tartuffe. Instead, Felicite, like another maids, knew their role. When looking at Virgine and Felicite’s relationship, Fecilite knew that when Virgine came back home and grew up, Felicite had to respect her as a “Madame” since they were on different social levels. Felicite was a part of the lower working class and she knew that the boundaries of her role have changed. She could not play such a motherly figure to Virgine anymore. This shows that Felicite was the maid, and nothing more. She was simply a lower class citizen, and no matter how close she was to Virgine before, there can be no chance of that now just because society sees Fecilite as nothing more than a worker. The world view during this time was that everything was real and straight forward, no questions asked. It is what it is.

Naturalism aims at being realer than realism. This is that realism was not real enough, and people must go beyond that. People are trying to explain why things happened, compared to realism, where it was objective and everything that happened, just happened. One of the major themes for naturalism is everything being in its natural form in a sense. This is that how have things come about and even why has this happened. Another theme is forces driving the naturalism further, as to what is causing these things to happen. In the text “Hedda Gabbler,” Hedda’s character plays a big role in what naturalism aims to explain. She, for one, was able to commit suicide. This shows how because death is a part of life, she choose to kill herself. This idea of choice shows that it was not just because Hedda wanted to die, but there were reasons beyond her suicide, such as not wanting to be caught in a scandal. Also, within the story, there is a noticeable social class gap between Hedda, and her husband, George. For George to please his wife, he would need to get her a fancy house, buy her a new piano, where everything was materialistic. However, George comes from a lower class who is fond of the memories a pair of slippers bring him, where this means nothing to Hedda. The gap between their social classes shows that the social realities are very strong. It was shown that because of their difference among social classes, this caused Hedda to be so bored and want to manipulate people all the time. The worldview during this time was that everything had a reason behind it and would influence something else in the future. It was almost in a sense natural for Hedda not to get along with George.

Realism is having the ability to accept the understanding of realization in reality and your surroundings. In A Simple Heart, Felicite was a character of simplicity and her mind was focused both on fantasy and imaginations to having a realization of reality. She would think about the clouds and horses running up in the sky but people would talk her out of her imagination and bring her back to the real world. Tragic losses occur with Felicite like the death of her nephew Victor from yellow fever, Virginie from her weak immune system that causes her death, and her parrot Loulou that was stuffed by a taxidermist and kept with her forever. She accepted these losses and moved on correspondingly. Flaubert, the author, described Felicite as a very dull and monotonous character but she lived her life and accepted everything that was brought to her way. She perfected her job as a servant for Mme Aubain and she never tried to step out of her box and achieve better opportunities due to her social class.

Naturalism is based on something scientific and philosophical. People have their own moral values and mentalities which they react in their own way in their own environment. In the literary text, Hedda Gabler, Hedda was manipulating Tesman and the others. Her actions toward certain situations can be seen as immoral. She is defined to be a negative person and she destroys things she cannot accept. For example her pregnancy, burning Lovborg’s manuscripts, sabotaging Tesman, and bullying Thea. She tries to overpower herself and everyone around her. This is due to the reality that she faces. Her committing suicide was her natural way of dealing with her situation. She did not want to face having a scandal that will ruin her reputation and how society will see her so she ends her life. The freedom of taking your own life is something deep and strong that Hedda sees as something beautiful. She could not handle the strong forces of her environment and her surroundings. She has plenty of thoughts running through her mind and she has trouble accepting it. Her decision of ending her life was something she accepted and wanted for a long time.

Realism and Naturalism can be both seen in a positive and negative way. People develop this notion in their minds of how they consider to react in certain situations. Their actions and behaviors are established in their own environment and surroundings. One is seen to be a mirror of reality and an understanding of a particular issue while the other is more of a natural action described in detail of a situation based on environmental forces that can be affected philosophically.

Realism can be seen as a mirror of reality. It aims to capture an accurate portrayal of a situation as it is and to represent it with realistic and factual descriptions. Realism seeks to recreate real-life situations of the average person. For instance, in A Simple Heart by Gustave Flaubert, we are reading about the life of an ordinary woman, Felicity, with explicit details of her endeavors. An aspect of Realism is seen most through the details of the description of her house; the author is showing us rather than telling us. Accordingly, the events that happen in the story are plausible and may actually happen in real life.

On the other hand, Naturalism strives to explain what is happening and why it is happening. Unlike Realism, Naturalism focuses on how the environment and how the person’s surrounding contributes to their behavior. It is based largely on Darwin’s survival of the fittest, therefore an example would be Separate Ways, by Higuchi where social class is determined by birth and family, and unfortunately for Kichizo, he is unable to move in social ranks and is forced to live as peasant/lower class position in society. Therefore, knowing that his status in life is predetermined by societal structures, he doesn’t bother to try to rise in wealth or power.