Which group of journalists and novelists shared the Naturalistic belief that people are the victims of their environment?

• A. Realists
• B. Symbolists
• C. Modernists
• D. Muckrakers

Answer: (D)

Naturalism emphasizes that people are shaped by powerful forces beyond their control, especially their environment and social surroundings. Muckrakers—the Progressive Era journalists who investigated and exposed poverty, urban corruption, and harsh working conditions—embodied this perspective by showing how systemic conditions trap individuals. Many muckrakers also wrote fiction or supported writers who depicted characters crushed by industrial capitalism and urban life, illustrating how environment determines outcomes rather than personal will alone. The other groups focus more on surface realism, symbolic inner states, or experimental forms, rather than the specific idea that environment drives fate.