SOURCE: "Frank Norris' 'The Puppets and the Puppy': LeContean Idealism or Naturalistic Skepticism?" in American Literary Realism, Vol. 26, No. 1, Fall, 1993, pp. 50-9.

In the following essay, McElrath explores Norris's satirical depiction of philosophical views in "The Puppets and the Puppy. "

A good deal has been written about Frank Norris' philosophy. Since the turn of the century, in fact, more attention has been given to the understanding of his thought than to the qualities—period and personal—of his literary artistry. This began to change by the late 1970s. Happily, the growing emphasis has been upon his salient traits as a prose fictionalist. Yet novels like Vandover and the Brute, McTeague, and The Octopus inevitably lead critics of all persuasions back to considerations of Norris' Weltanschauung and the identification of his themes. This is due largely to the idiosyncrasies of Norris' narrative techniques—particularly his use of free indirect...