A、Introducing an American naturalist writer and reviewing one of his works. B、Making a review of American realists in general. C

W: Hello, John, what’s up?
M: I have been working like hell with my mid-term paper.
W: Anything that I can help with? What is your topic?
M: The teacher asked us to pick one of the American writers in the period of realism and then make a brief introduction to him and then make a review of one work written by him.
W: Er…I bet the most famous writer of that period is Mark Twain who is called "the father of American literature. " What is your choice then?
M: Your idea occurred to me too, but I am afraid that my paper would turn out to be cliche since many other students would work on him too.
W: Then whom did you pick?
M: Jack London. Do you think it is a good choice?
W: Definitely. Jack London was a prolific author. He was the pioneer in commercial magazine fiction, and he was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone.
M: I am fascinated by his novels which were set in the Klondike Gold Rush. I want to focus on his short story To Build a Fire.
W: That is a classical one. It is basically a story about an inexperienced adventurer and a canny dog.
M: Yes. I decided to write my review from a different angle though—basic instinct in mankind and animals.
W: That sounds innovative. And you can also quote naturalism as your supporting theory. You know the survival of the fittest, that sort of thing.
M: Good idea.
W: Naturalists see evolution as proof that the world is deterministic and that humans do not have free will. Since the evolutionary world is based on a series of links, any action humans make is not "the first step. " Rather, the action has been caused by prior environmental, social, and biological factors beyond our individual control.
M: Determinism influences naturalists a lot. After all, the environment, and not the human, has determined these actions. Therefore keen instinct rather than civilized intellect is necessary for survival. Just like the hero in To Build a Fire, he is lacking this instinct.
W: You are right.
Questions 1 to 4 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
1. What is the man’s assignment?
2. Why does NOT the man want to work on Mark Twain?
3. What can we learn about Jack London?
4. What is the feature of naturalism?