During the late 1800s, a literacy movement called Naturalism occurred in America. Naturalist believed in the idea that peoples’ interactions with environments and other people are what shape them as humans. According to a naturalist named Becker, naturalistic writers approached literature with a “pessimistic materialistic determinism” creating novels and stories that are driven by the forces that rule human lives. To the naturalist, man always succumbs to nature, because he has no control over it. Naturalistic writers use their characters, plots, and settings to portray their worldview that man is controlled by natural forces that dictate his destiny and no matter how hard man tried to fight against it, nature is indifferent to man’s tribulation and will always win because man is weaker. Jack London wrote, “To Build a Fire” a literary work of naturalism. London’s main character is never named, but is referred to as ‘the man.’ The man is travelling in the Yukon alone with his husky dog on a day where the weather is 50 degrees below zero. The man was warned by an old timer at Sulpher Creek not to travel alone on a day like this because it is far too dangerous. Against the old timer’s advice, the man sets out for the freezing trail ahead without human company. Throughout the story, London reiterates that although the man is blind to his human weaknesses, his canine companion is in tune with his natural wolf instincts and understands that they are not able to travel against the subzero weather. The dog tries to stay at the fire and turn back several times, but regardless of the multiple warnings given, the man continues to travel on the icy terrain. London uses the man’s recalcitrance against the old timer and the dog to develop his naturalistic worldview saying, “He was quick and alert in the things of life, but only in the things, and not in the significances. Fifty degrees below zero meant eighty-odd degrees of frost. Such fact impressed him as being cold and uncomfortable, and that was all. It did not lead him to meditate upon his frailty as a creature of temperature, and upon man's frailty in general, able only to live within certain narrow limits of heat and cold; and from there on it did not lead him to the conjectural field of immortality and man's place in the universe.” London is saying that the man was in charge of his own behavior and the old timer had warned him not to engage in a battle with the governing, yet unresponsive, natural world. However, the man arrogantly defies all warnings and ends up dying in the cold snow alone due to his incapacity to handle nature’s forces, proving once again that nature is indifferent to man’s efforts and nature will always prevail. Hamlin Garland wrote “Under the Lion’s Paw,” which was also a literary work of Naturalism. Garlands’ main character is a family man named Jim Haskins. Haskins is a farmer whose crops were destroyed and eaten by grasshoppers and left him and his family penniless and homeless, but not the slightest bit hopeless. Haskins believes that if he works hard enough, he can earn the life he and his family deserve. Haskins thinks he catches a break when he gets Mr. Butler to agree to let him work on his land and sell it to him for two thousand dollars; however, Haskins is naïve and trusts that Mr. Butler will keep his word and does not understand these ways of business. After working his hardest to fix up the new land, he shows Butler the improvements before he secures the price. Haskins spent over a thousand dollars fixing up Mr. Butlers land, turning his two thousand dollar estate into a five thousand dollar estate. Mr. Butler recognizes the increase of the land’s value and changes his price to five thousand five hundred dollars. Haskins begs him to change his price back and consider all the work he and his family had done on the farm, but Butler replies "You're too green t' eat, young feller.” Mr. Butler is probably implying that Haskins is too naïve and innocent for the harsh realities of the world. Mr. Butler is Garland’s character that proves his naturalistic worldview, that regardless of how hard one tries, he or she can never overcome the natural forces that control their lives. Naturalist authors use powerful imagery to describe the setting of the story in a way that they can use nature’s forces to reflect the worldview of Naturalism. In London’s “To Build a Fire,” the man is constantly working against nature. First, the man tries to avoid falling through the ice into the cold water and getting wet, but he fails. With his legs wet up to his knees, the man frantically attempts to build a fire, knowing the certain death that will come if he does not succeed. The man manages to build a small fire, but as he begins to gloat nature humbles the man, as London describes, “The snow fell without warning upon the man and the fire, and the fire was dead. Where it had burned was a pile of fresh snow. The man was shocked. It was like hearing his own judgment of death.” Without fire, the man dies alone in the tundra. The man’s death proves once again, that natural forces control humans’ fate and the attempt to rebel against those forces will result in defeat. Garland’s character Haskins also experiences the backlash of nature. Haskins was subject to a larger force of nature, Garland tells his readers, “He’s been eat up ’n’ drove out by grasshoppers,” Haskins livelihood was destroyed and for the remainder of the story Haskins attempts to earn it back but fails miserably due to his inability to overcome his debt. Naturalist center the plot of the story on the worldview of Naturalism. London uses the plot of his story to emphasize that man’s hubris in free will is an illusion. The man was destined to succumb to forces beyond his control because his existence was trivial and although he fooled himself into dying with ‘dignity’, he was a pitiful being whose pride leads to his death. Garland’s story also mirrors the foundation of Naturalism. Haskins had tried to overcome his natural misfortune and he even finds a home with another family who agrees to help him and his family start over again. However, Garland foreshadows Mr. Haskins downfall shortly after his arrival at the Council’s home saying, “It was an unmeasured pleasure to sit there in the warm, homely kitchen. The jovial chatter of the housewife driving out and holding at bay the growl of the impotent cheated wind.” Garland is personifying the wind emphasizing that although Haskins thinks his troubles are at and end nature always wins and there is no way to cheat nature. Throughout Naturalist novels and stories, the authors maintain the worldview that man is subject to nature’s uncontrollable forces; nature does not help man. If man chooses to battle nature, man will lose because he is weak and insignificant. The naturalist authors use their character, settings, and plots to emphasize man’s frailty and subjection to natural forces beyond his control.