“Realism is nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of material” --William Dean Howells

 The Civil War had ended  Westward expansion had begun  Immigrants from Western Europe and Scandinavian countries were crowding the shores  By 1915 the population of the U.S. had increased by 42 million people

 Style of writing, developed in the 19 th century  Attempts to portray ordinary life of ordinary people as they lived  Life in factual way

 Insistence upon and defense of “the experienced commonplace”  Character more important than plot  Attack upon Romanticism and Romantic writers  Emphasis upon morality often self- realized and upon examination of idealism

 Philosophy known as ‘descendental’  Reality is the sensory experience  Subject matter drawn from our own experience  Relations between people and society are explored  Emphasis placed on scenic presentation

 Humans control their own destinies  Characters act on their environment rather than simply reacting to it  Character is simply superior to circumstance

 Setting familiar to writer  Plots emphasize norm of daily experience  Ordinary characters, studied in depth  Complete authorial objectivity  Responsible morality

 Literature depicts distinct culture, landscape, attitudes and dialects of a specific area  Also referred as ‘local color movement’ because it implemented the local dialects and landscapes to add regional flavor to each story  Examples:  William Faulkner  Kate Chopin  John Steinbeck  Sarah Orne Jewett  Sinclair Lewis  Mark Twain

 Depicts people’s lives as controlled by hereditary and environment  Portrays life exactly as it is  We are not in control of our own destiny  Shaped by uncontrollable circumstances  Examples  Stephen Crane  Jack London  Grapes of Wrath