 Whenever Richard Cory went down town, We people on the pavement looked at him: He was a gentleman from sole to crown, Clean favored, and imperially slim. And he was always quietly arrayed, And he was always human when he talked; But still he fluttered pulses when he said, 'Good-morning,' and he glittered when he walked. And he was rich - yes, richer than a king - And admirably schooled in every grace: In fine, we thought that he was everything To make us wish that we were in his place. So on we worked, and waited for the light, And went without the meat, and cursed the bread; And Richard Cory, one calm summer night, Went home and put a bullet through his head.

 For the Puritans (17 th century), America was the work of God. Americans’ job was to glorify their Creator through commitment, sacrifice, hard work, and trust. Buzzword: FAITH For the Age of Reason folks (18 th century), America was the work of man’s ingenuity, a land that could be organized, measured, and bound. Americans’ job was to better their communities using science, math, and reason. Buzzword: MIND/INTELLECT For the Romantics (early 19 th century), America was the work of man’s imagination, a land of wonder and prospects. Americans’ job was to celebrate themselves using the power of insight. Buzzword: INTUITION

 For the Realists (late 19 th -early 20 th century), America represented the absence of God and the failure of man’s ingenuity and imagination; America became a land of unequal opportunities and grim realities. Buzzword: MATTER/INSTINCT Realist Period: Civil War through Great Depression

Puritans: believed in a personal God with a providential plan; they might have said, “That can be scary!” Age of Reason folks: believed in an impersonal God that did not intervene in human affairs; they might have said, “That can be empowering!” Romantics: believed in a Nature with which we commune; they might have said, “That can be scary and empowering!” Realists: Remember The Great Gatsby? Wilson says, “God sees everything.” His neighbor says, “That’s just an advertisement.”

“... the American dream, that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.” -James Adams 1931 Is this really possible?

Since the country’s earliest colonists, Americans have believed in the “dream” of a good, prosperous life of freedom and happiness. But generation after generation has found this dream to be unreachable.

A. Begins in 1865 with the Civil War B. End date subject to debate – generally viewed as the end of the Great Depression C. Encompasses a time of great turmoil and change in America

Puritans Puritans Age of Reason Romanticism Transcendentalism Transcendentalism Realism s Timeline of Literary Eras (so far) Timeline of Literary Eras (so far)

1888: Life is Awful, But There’s Hope 1925, 1937: Life is Awful; Then You Die

II. Principles A.The American Dream is dead. B.Life is cruel, violent, and disappointing. C.Humanity is insignificant in the universe. D.There is no God, or, if there is, he does not care about humanity. E.Realism rejects Romanticism’s dream of infinite possibility. F.Its literature aimed at representing and interpreting the actualities of life as it is (= verisimilitude).

A. Genre: Primarily fiction. B. Style: Use of “everyday” language (like the contractions, coined terms, and conversational expressions in Huck Finn, the nicknames in The Great Gatsby, or the profanities in of Mice and Men). C. Characterization/Plot: Often the protagonists fail in the pursuit of their dreams and/or are coldly killed. D. Characterization/Setting: Man is not in communion with Nature. Nature is often presented as far-away and impersonal—and therefore merciless.

And in despair I bowed my head “There is no peace on earth,” I said, “For hate is strong and mocks the song Of peace on earth, good will to men.” … Then from each black, accursed mouth The cannon thundered in the South, And with the sound the carols drowned Of peace on earth good will to men. It was as if an earthquake rent The hearth-stones of a continent, And made forlorn, the households born Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Christmas was in the air and all was well With him, but for a few confusing flaws In divers of God's images. Because A friend of his would neither buy nor sell, Was he to answer for the axe that fell? He pondered; and the reason for it was, Partly, a slowly freezing Santa Claus Upon the corner, with his beard and bell. Acknowledging an improvident surprise, He magnified a fancy that he wished The friend whom he had wrecked were here again. Not sure of that, he found a compromise; And from the fullness of his heart he fished A dime for Jesus who had died for men.