Learning Targets: Vocabulary 11.3a: I can use my knowledge of roots, word parts, synonyms, and antonyms to decode new vocabulary. 11.3c I can analyze the connotation (emotional meaning) of words (distinguished from their denotation- dictionary definition) Learning Targets: Nonfiction Comprehension & Analysis 11.5c: I can use knowledge of one text to make predictions about another text 11.5d: I can use the text to make inferences and support my conclusions with evidence 11.5e: I can compare and contrast how two or more texts treat the same ideas 11.5g: I can recognize and analyze the use of persuasive techniques (e.g., ambiguity, contradiction, paradox, irony, overstatement, understatement) Realism Unit Learning Targets:

Learning Targets: Fiction Comprehension & Analysis 11.4c part 1: I can identify and analyze traditional and contemporary themes and motifs 11.4c part 2: I can identify universal characters (archetypes) 11.4c part 3: I can identify and understand characteristics of genre (elements of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama) 11.4f: I can identify and explain how sound devices (in a poem) support subject, mood, and theme 11.4g: I can explain how figurative language (including imagery) impacts the reader 11.4j part 1: I can analyze the use of literary elements (e.g., point of view, setting, characterization, rhetorical devices) appropriate for genre 11.4j part 2: I can identify verbal, situational, and dramatic irony

Realism: s The basics: Realism attempts to represent subject matter truthfully, without artificiality, while avoiding implausible, exotic, and supernatural elements. In my own words: _________ ________________________________ Bonjour, Monsieur Courbet, Realist painting by Gustave Courbet.

Historical Context Civil War brought demand for a “truer” type of literature that didn’t idealize (or demonize!) people or places! People in society defined by “class”; materialism Reflects ideas of Darwin (survival of the fittest) and Marx (how money and class structure control a nation)

Characteristics of Realism (a.k.a Literary Elements to Look for!) Specific detail and attention to detail in plot events Recurring characters (archetypes) Thematic aspect of challenging commonly held (and beloved) beliefs, customs, institutions –Iconoclasm (eikos = likeness; clas = to break) “Unadorned prose” = plainly spoken –Regionalism and Local Color Colloquialism/dialect Robert Henri, Snow in New York, 1902

Naturalism – a subgenre of Realism The basics: Naturalism suggests that social conditions, heredity, and environment—nature and natural forces—inevitably shape our character. Seeks to expose the dark harshness of life, including poverty, violence, prejudice, corruption, disease, etc. In my own words: ____________ __________________________________ Jean-Francois Millet, The Gleaners,

Characteristics of Naturalism (a.k.a Literary Elements to Look for!) Pessimistic mood Theme of inevitability of death Detached tone (via objective narrator) Focus on plot instead of character Symbolism Thematic aspects of Determinism & Social Darwinism (next slides)

Determinism Determinism means your fate is already decided. Fate is decided by uncontrollable forces (internal and external): background, education, social class, nature, hatred, lust, greed, etc. How does this differ from Romanticism? –Less optimistic, humans not essentially good

Social Darwinism Social Darwinism was the belief that rich people became rich because they were somehow better than poor people (survival of the fittest). This was also a racist theory; they thought whites were in power because they were genetically better than other races. Social Darwinism, to be clear, is very stupid and was used to hurt and manipulate poor, disadvantaged people. Difference with Romanticism –Romanticism stressed the equality of all people

Naturalism vs. Realism Naturalism –Like Realism but darker –Urban and natural settings –Universe is unpredictable –Characters lead lives led by passion and forces out of their control (lust, greed, heredity) –Free will is an illusion –Characters are “victims of fate” Realism –Both urban and rural settings –Situations and characters not nearly as dramatic as Naturalism or Romanticism –Lots of detail, often ordinary people; rejects heroes & adventures –Anti-materialism (rejected the new class system) –View nature as powerful and indifferent force beyond man’s control –Local color and Regionalism More about setting

Romanticism/Transcendentalism vs. Realism/Naturalism

Notable Authors & Texts Mark Twain – Huckleberry Finn, Adventures of Tom Sawyer, “Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” (tall tale) Frederick Douglass – Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Harriet Jacobs –Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Jack London – Call of the Wild Walt Whitman – “O Captain” and “I Hear America Singing” Harriet Beecher Stowe – Uncle Tom’s Cabin Kate Chopin – “Desiree’s Baby” Bret Harte – “Outcasts of Poker Flats” Abraham Lincoln – “The Gettysburg Address” John Steinbeck – Of Mice & Men (later in the year!)