Charles Darwin's theory of Naturalism is examined in the story Death in the Woods. The characters in the story are shaped by their heredity and environment. Mrs. Grimes life is shaped by her environment while, her husband and sons life is shaped by their heredity.
             Mrs. Grimes is a bound girl who did not know her father or mother. She is in others words a slave. The environment in which she grows up in is one of men taking advantage of her and having to constantly cook and feed them. Jake Grimes, who later becomes her husband, himself is able to take advantage of her, "He got her pretty easy himself, the first time he was out with her"(Anderson). After marrying Jake she still continues to be taking advantage of and forced to cook and feed her family. "If there wasn't anything to eat in the house when they came home the old man gave his old woman a cut over the head"(Anderson). Even her own son treats her the way the rest of the men in her life have. They both would leave everything at home for her to manage and left her with no money when they would leave. The environment in which she is forced into shaped the outcome of her life. "It was a matter of pure luck how it came out"(Anderson).
             Jake Grimes was born into a wealthy family His father owned a sawmill and made lots of money. But after some time his father started to drink heavily and went after women. And the money started to disappear. After his father dies there is not much money left for Jake and his family. As Jake becomes older he soon takes the heredity of his father. He quickly blows the rest of the money his father left behind and begins to drink heavily and cases women around. "He (Jake) went into debt for a threshing outfit and ran it for several years, but it did not pay"(Anderson). Jake never made enough money to support his family because of his drinking. When he did have money he and his son would blow it off...