--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We have fallen into this very mean…" description: "\"We have fallen into this very mean description of humanity. Naturalism in fiction is too reductive in its definition of human beings.\" — Ben Okri" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/721/ben-okri-3640_description_we-have-fallen-into-this-very-mean-descr_402422.jpg" --- # We have fallen into this very mean description of… ![“We have fallen into this very mean description of humanity. Naturalism in fiction is too reductive in its definition of human beings.” quote by Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/721/ben-okri-3640_description_we-have-fallen-into-this-very-mean-descr_402422.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/721/ben-okri-3640_description_we-have-fallen-into-this-very-mean-descr_402422.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/721/ben-okri-3640_description_we-have-fallen-into-this-very-mean-descr_402422.jpg) > “We have fallen into this very mean description of humanity. Naturalism in fiction is too reductive in its definition of human beings.” [Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Naturalism reduces humanity to deterministic forces, ignoring the complexity and agency of human experience. **In simple terms:** Naturalism oversimplifies humans. Key Takeaway Recognize human agency beyond deterministic views. Themes human nature determinism literary criticism Mood critical thoughtful Type analytical philosophical When to use this quote - literary analysis - creative writing - education curriculum - social policy Key Concepts philosophy existentialism Questions to Reflect On - How do you balance determinism and agency? - What aspects of humanity resist reduction? A Different Perspective Deterministic models can still offer useful insights. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Description](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/description/) [Description Humanity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/description-humanity-3605662/) [Fallen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fallen/) [Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction/) [Human beings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-beings/) [Humanity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humanity/) [Humanity Naturalism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humanity-naturalism-3605660/) [Mean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mean/) [Naturalism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/naturalism/) [Naturalism Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/naturalism-fiction-3605661/) [Nature of man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature-of-man/) ## Related quotes > [Obviously we know Bill Hader is funny and charming, but my question is, can he do raw humanity and naturalism? I think so.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-duplass/obviously-we-know-bill-hader-is-funny-and-charming-but-my-question-is/) [Mark Duplass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-duplass/) > [My ethical naturalism sees us as facing the predicament of being social animals without evolved adaptations that make social life easy. The fundamental problem…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-kitcher/my-ethical-naturalism-sees-us-as-facing-the-predicament-of-being/) [Philip Kitcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-kitcher/) > [If you believe in evolution and naturalism then you have a reason not to think your faculties are reliable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alvin-plantinga/if-you-believe-in-evolution-and-naturalism-then-you-have-a-reason-not/) [Alvin Plantinga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alvin-plantinga/) > [All Jews, however, in proportion as they are one with the leaders and rulers of their race, will oppose the influence of the supernatural…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denis-fahey/all-jews-however-in-proportion-as-they-are-one-with-the-leaders-and/) [Denis Fahey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denis-fahey/) > [Naturalism aimed at giving the primitive wishes full play but failed because these wishes are too primitive, too infantile, too inconsistent with themselves to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-desmond-bernal/naturalism-aimed-at-giving-the-primitive-wishes-full-play-but-failed/) [John Desmond Bernal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-desmond-bernal/) > [I'm not able to completely escape naturalism. It's very difficult to escape from naturalism without being too dry. That's what I try to do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philippe-garrel/i-m-not-able-to-completely-escape-naturalism-it-s-very-difficult-to/) [Philippe Garrel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philippe-garrel/) > [“The smaller the creature, the bolder its spirit.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzy-kassem/the-smaller-the-creature-the-bolder-its-spirit/) [Suzy Kassem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzy-kassem/) > [This man, who for twenty-five years has been reading and writing about art, and in all that time has never understood anything about art,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anton-chekhov/this-man-who-for-twenty-five-years-has-been-reading-and-writing-about/) [Anton Chekhov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anton-chekhov/) > [The naturalistic literature of this country has reached such a state that no family of characters is considered true to life whichdoes not include…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-benchley/the-naturalistic-literature-of-this-country-has-reached-such-a-state/) [Robert Benchley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-benchley/) > [I'm not interested in putting naturalism on stage - I want passion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-tiffany/i-m-not-interested-in-putting-naturalism-on-stage-i-want-passion/) [John Tiffany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-tiffany/) > [“Scientific research is based on the idea that everything that takes place is determined by laws of nature, and therefore this holds for the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/scientific-research-is-based-on-the-idea-that-everything-that-takes/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [“The future's unfolding Swaths of possibilities Rapids of change With cliffs of discovery.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sandy-moonias/the-future-s-unfolding-swaths-of-possibilities-rapids-of-change-with/) [Sandy Moonias](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sandy-moonias/) > [“The most essential prediction of Darwinism is that, given an astronomical number of chances, unintelligent processes can make seemingly-designed systems, ones of the complexity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-j-behe/the-most-essential-prediction-of-darwinism-is-that-given-an/) [Michael J. Behe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-j-behe/) > [“What makes today’s popular atheism so depressing is neither its conceptual boorishness nor its self-righteousness but simply its cultural inevitability. It is the final,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-bentley-hart/what-makes-today-s-popular-atheism-so-depressing-is-neither-its/) [David Bentley Hart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-bentley-hart/) > [“An atheist is someone who is disappointed in his search of god. He is a man who strongly needed god but couldn't find him.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bangambiki-habyarimana/an-atheist-is-someone-who-is-disappointed-in-his-search-of-god-he-is/) [Bangambiki Habyarimana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bangambiki-habyarimana/) ## More by Ben Okri > [We never think that our mothers will die. It was like suddenly an abyss opened at my feet - I was standing on nothing.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/we-never-think-that-our-mothers-will-die-it-was-like-suddenly-an/) [Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) > [“In a fractured age, when cynicism is god, here is a possible heresy: we live by stories, we also live in them. One way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/in-a-fractured-age-when-cynicism-is-god-here-is-a-possible-heresy-we/) [Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) > [The best writing is not about the writer, the best writing is absolutely not about the writer, it's about us, it's about the reader.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/the-best-writing-is-not-about-the-writer-the-best-writing-is/) [Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) > [Maybe there are only three kinds of stories: those we live, those we tell, and those that help our souls fly upwards to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/maybe-there-are-only-three-kinds-of-stories-those-we-live-those-we/) [Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) > [The earliest storytellers were magi, seers, bards, griots, shamans. They were, it would seem, old as time, and as terrifying to gaze upon as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/the-earliest-storytellers-were-magi-seers-bards-griots-shamans-they/) [Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) > [An inner darkness is darker than an outer darkness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/an-inner-darkness-is-darker-than-an-outer-darkness/) [Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) > [The strange thing about Africa is how past, present and future come together in a kind of rough jazz, if you like.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/the-strange-thing-about-africa-is-how-past-present-and-future-come/) [Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) > [Our time here is magic! It's the only space you have to realize whatever it is that is beautiful, whatever is true, whatever is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/our-time-here-is-magic-it-s-the-only-space-you-have-to-realize/) [Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) > [Fire is one of my temperaments. It is behind all my work... Fire is a chemical presence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/fire-is-one-of-my-temperaments-it-is-behind-all-my-work-fire-is-a/) [Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) > [I lived rough, by my wits, was homeless, lived on the streets, lived on friends' floors, was happy, was miserable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/i-lived-rough-by-my-wits-was-homeless-lived-on-the-streets-lived-on/) [Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) > [If we could be pure dancers in spirit we would never be afraid to love, and we would love with strength and wisdom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/if-we-could-be-pure-dancers-in-spirit-we-would-never-be-afraid-to/) [Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) > [Without stories we would go mad. Life would lose its moorings or lose its orientations. even in silence we are living our stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/without-stories-we-would-go-mad-life-would-lose-its-moorings-or-lose/) [Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) > [Literature doesn't have a country. Shakespeare is an African writer. His Falstaff, for example, is very African in his appetite for life, his largeness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/literature-doesn-t-have-a-country-shakespeare-is-an-african-writer/) [Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) > [“So long as a canvas is empty its potential is infinite… The empty canvas can become a gateway into the landscape of nightmares or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/so-long-as-a-canvas-is-empty-its-potential-is-infinite-the-empty/) [Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) > [I went to London because, for me, it was the home of literature. I went there because of Dickens and Shakespeare.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/i-went-to-london-because-for-me-it-was-the-home-of-literature-i-went/) [Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) [Explore all 124 Ben Okri quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) ## More Description quotes > [Developing fewer features allows you to conserve development resources and spend more time refining those features that users really need. Fewer features mean fewer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jakob-nielsen/developing-fewer-features-allows-you-to-conserve-development/) [Jakob Nielsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jakob-nielsen/) > [It is a great delusion to suppose that flesh-meat of any kind is essential to health. Considerably more than three parts of the work…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherine-booth/it-is-a-great-delusion-to-suppose-that-flesh-meat-of-any-kind-is/) [Catherine Booth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherine-booth/) > [“There was a short railway official travelling up to the terminus, three fairly short market-gardeners picked up two stations afterwards, one very short widow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-k-chesterton/there-was-a-short-railway-official-travelling-up-to-the-terminus/) [G.K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-k-chesterton/) > [First of all, principles should be general. That is, it must be possible to formulate them without use of what would be intuitively recognized…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-rawls/first-of-all-principles-should-be-general-that-is-it-must-be-possible/) [John Rawls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-rawls/) > [I already know what things look like - I don't want description. People believe in appearances, and I don't believe in appearances at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/duane-michals/i-already-know-what-things-look-like-i-don-t-want-description-people/) [Duane Michals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/duane-michals/) > [Selfish hedonism is not a pejorative. It is a description - an exactly accurate description of what is involved in homosexual relations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-keyes/selfish-hedonism-is-not-a-pejorative-it-is-a-description-an-exactly/) [Alan Keyes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-keyes/) > [Part of my plan was not only to introduce all useful animals that I possibly could into this part of Australia, but also the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-grey/part-of-my-plan-was-not-only-to-introduce-all-useful-animals-that-i/) [George Grey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-grey/) > [The camera is simply not the supple and powerful instrument of description that the pen is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-malcolm/the-camera-is-simply-not-the-supple-and-powerful-instrument-of/) [Janet Malcolm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-malcolm/) > [The word actress has always seemed less a job description to me than a title](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-tierney/the-word-actress-has-always-seemed-less-a-job-description-to-me-than/) [Gene Tierney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-tierney/) > [My Calvinism persuades me that we are open to God, in the sense that we are not delimited, not organisms with fixed attributes in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/my-calvinism-persuades-me-that-we-are-open-to-god-in-the-sense-that/) [Marilynne Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilynne-robinson/) > [Christianity also stands in opposition to intellectual, as well as physical, health. To doubt becomes sin. 'Faith means not wanting to know what it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-sheaffer/christianity-also-stands-in-opposition-to-intellectual-as-well-as/) [Robert Sheaffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-sheaffer/) > [My tears will keep no channel, know no laws to guide their streams, but like the waves, their cause, run with disturbance till they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-cleveland/my-tears-will-keep-no-channel-know-no-laws-to-guide-their-streams-but/) [John Cleveland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-cleveland/) > [All I want to say, with the utmost emphasis at my command, is that the description of India as a military country is wrong.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/all-i-want-to-say-with-the-utmost-emphasis-at-my-command-is-that-the/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Matter-of-fact descriptions make the improbable seem real.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/matter-of-fact-descriptions-make-the-improbable-seem-real/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Discovered W. Somerset Maugham in about 5th grade. Didn't understand the plots, but loved the descriptions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-p-kinsella/discovered-w-somerset-maugham-in-about-5th-grade-didn-t-understand/) [W. P. Kinsella](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-p-kinsella/) [Browse all 1,075 Description quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/description/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We have fallen into this very mean description of humanity. Naturalism in fiction is too reductive in its definition of human beings.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ben Okri" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/we-have-fallen-into-this-very-mean-description-of-humanity-naturalism/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Description" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/we-have-fallen-into-this-very-mean-description-of-humanity-naturalism/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/721/ben-okri-3640_description_we-have-fallen-into-this-very-mean-descr_402422.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/721/ben-okri-3640_description_we-have-fallen-into-this-very-mean-descr_402422.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/721/ben-okri-3640_description_we-have-fallen-into-this-very-mean-descr_402422.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We have fallen into this very mean description of humanity. Naturalism in fiction is too reductive in its…” — Ben Okri", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Ben Okri", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "We have fallen into this very...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/we-have-fallen-into-this-very-mean-description-of-humanity-naturalism/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/we-have-fallen-into-this-very-mean-description-of-humanity-naturalism/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```