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.