In life, people believe in natural, unnatural, and supernatural spheres of the universe. Whether these phenomena are things or elements associated with life, they are mind boggling. For one to understand the differences, I must explain the terms:
Naturalism
This is based on an objective, empirical presentation of human beings. It maybe associated with realism but is different when adding a moral attitude to the objective presentation of life. In the Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature, it states, “Naturalism is determined by instinct than by reason. Naturalism can be put in a form of spirituality which differs with any form of life”. Even if one creates an object for the first time, and it is copyrighted, that object is considered to be a normal element or a thing provided it is based on the laws of nature.
Unnatural
This is almost known as the contrary to the physical laws of nature. It is directly opposite to the natural. Since naturalism is the physical laws of nature, the unnatural is also associated to the physical laws of nature but it deviates from its expected course of what seems to be normal. For instance, a baby is born from a normal pregnancy whose appearance must be like any human being, yet when the child was born, the baby did not have any eyes apparent. This deformity is a state of unnaturalness. One will say un-naturalism is also a state of deformity since the physical element appears to be different than what is expected.
Supernatural
This means having existence outside the natural world. In mythology terms, supernatural beings are known as angels, demons, fairies, ghosts, God, and guardian spirits.
In Young Goodman Brown, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author plays with natural, unnatural, and the supernatural. One of Hawthorne character, Goodman Brown, is a naïve young man who accepts society in general and his fellow men as individuals at their own valuation. On one terrible night, he is confronted with the vision of human evil. Hawthorne emphasizes the split between the village and the forest to be known as convention and the unconscious by having Brown moves from town to town to the country as he follows his impulses. The deeper he moves into the forest, the more completely he becomes one with his “evil”. The Major image is the “staff” when the diabolic companion throws his twisted staff down at the feet of Goody Cloyse. The act references the biblical story being linked with the opponents of Moses and of the God of Israel.
It typifies deformity, evil, all that which fascinates Brown. The strange antics of the “staff” symbolize the struggle for possession of the mind. The “hanging twig and the coldest dew”, awakens Goodman Brown to “reality from his dream or vision when it scatter cold dew on his cheek”. Because Goodman Brown does not weep, Hawthorne sprinkles “dew” on his cheek to represent the absence of tears. This lack of tears, the outward sign of an inward reality, posits the absence of the innate love and humility that would have possible made Brown moral and spiritual.
In How to tell a True War Story, by Tim O'Brien, he explores the tensions between the natural and the unnatural. O'Brien insists that a true war story is not moral and tells us not to believe a story that seems morally correct.
In the Six Sense directed by M. Night Shyamalan is a supernatural movie involving ghost and spirits but also well used natural and unnatural themes. Shyamalan introduces the character Dr. Malcolm Crowe, who is a successful Philadelphia child psychologist who is haunted by the sudden reappearance and suicide of a former patient. Another main character was Cole Sear, a troubled, withdrawn young boy who bears a striking similarity to his earlier patient. In the movie, the color “red” was used to expose an emotional and horrific scene. Where there was “red”, it signifies that some thing was either going to happen or take place which is the unnatural. Cole came clean and told Dr. Crowe about his supernatural secret when he said, “He sees dead people and sometimes they don't know if they are dead” and, his ability to see ghosts is supernatural. Cole also said that, when it began to get real cold, it meant that the ghost were angry. Dr. Crowe didn't know he was dead until at the end he realized that he never ate the food that was on the table, he never really sat down with his wife at the restaurant because she was by herself, and he never really was talking with Cole's mother on the couch as the mother was just sitting there waiting for Cole. Dr. Crowe saw what he wanted to see. The reason there wasn't cold air movements around Dr Crowe because he never gets angry.
At the end of the movie, it makes more sense because one gets to see the flash backs and put all the puzzle pieces together. Though the movie was a supernatural one, at the end, natural and unnatural also intertwine. The natural roles were Cole's mother trying to get closer and understand her son more and Dr. Crowe wanted to have a closer relationship with his wife. All the emotions were all natural and true. The unnatural was all the “red” representing symbols and clues to show that something was going to happen or finding a clue towards the movie.
In spite of what nature offers, there is an opposite side to it. The unnatural is contrary to the natural. On the other hand, the supernatural is also a form that is drawn into the physical world which is spiritually manifested through a physical form. The natural, unnatural, and supernatural are three unparallel dimensions. They are part of the forces which governs this universe.
