Naturalism

This is not often a terribly fateful decision, but the setting Hardy uses portrays how seemingly dull, routine events can often not be as simple as they seem. Crane being led astray by someone in whom he had placed his trust. It is not just the man that this woman must lie to, but also herself. The woman then, was faced with a decision. In 1958 Zola moved to Paris and became friends with the painter Paul Cézanne and began to write under the influence of the romantics. Thus, many common people, who were looking for answers to their questions about life were drawn to the church, and felt joy, and a sense of peace. ” (FIVE) Thomas Hardy does an excellent job in this work displaying how nature (fate) has put these two people in a place together, and set before the woman a question which may have no right answer. Though he seemed to thoroughly disapprove, Crane is successful in demonstrating that the church of his time was a controlling force in the common man’s everyday life. He says this because the leaders in place in the society are often no more ‘enlightened’ than the common man. All I care about is life, struggle, intensity. Crane is saying that people should not put aside their own search for the answers to their questions, and be so controlled by the external forces in their surrounding environment, such as the church or government.

Stephen Crane’s “A learned man came to me once” is a “fine example of the poet’s work” (FOUR) , not only during the Naturalist movement, but overall. The fact that the man is dying and the fact that these events are taking place in a church seem to battle each other to decide which factor will win out and tip the scales to sway the woman in one direction or another.

Crane is attempting to combat the sheer blind devotion that was common in his time.