American Realism

Life in America n Still growing and prosperous at end of 1800s. n Most powerful nation in western hemisphere and about to be the most powerful nation in the world. n Growing working population of industrial workers and farmers.

American Attitudes n Frontier was gone, but still a powerful force. n Dreams of people did not match the realities of their lives. n People uncertain of their place in society. They were fearful they were caught up in large, impersonal forces beyond their control.

Interpersonal Question n With a partner, discuss a time in your life when your dreams did not match your reality. What did that make you feel like? How do you think the people in Huck Finn feel about their “realities”?

Definition of Realism n A literary and intellectual movement that led poets and novelists not to imagine life as it could be, but to examine life as it was actually lived and to record what they saw around them as honestly as they could. n The realistic writer is concerned with recording the details of ordinary life, and with showing the reader not generally, but precisely, how ordinary life is lived.

Mastery Question n Restate in your own words the definition of realism.

Influences on American Realism n Journalistic accounts of the Civil War established a taste for realistic writing. n New subject matter - factory and farm life, slums, corruption, politics, hardships, poverty n Great interest in science and scientific method. n Darwin’s “Law of the Jungle”

Elements of Realism n Realists were concerned with the whole of life, not just surface of it n Produced intensely personal works as well as broad studies of a changing society n Used local color. Portrayed through dialects, dress, mannerisms, custom, character types, and landscape.

Self- Expressive Question n Write a paragraph using the dialect you speak with when talking to your friends. What might this dialect show someone about who you are?

The realists were not certain humans could improve their lives, only that humans could continue to try.

Mark Twain n Samuel Langhorne Clemens n Philosopher and Humorist n Worked as miner and newspaper reporter n The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884)

Understanding Prompt n Provide at least five examples (quotes) from Huck Finn on your graphic organizer showing why he is a realistic writer. Justify your selections by writing a 3-4 sentence explanation for each.

Model n Quote: (p. 2 – 5 th paragraph in chapter 1) –“Pretty soon I wanted to smoke, and asked the widow to let me. But she wouldn’t. She said it was a mean practice and wasn’t clean, and I must try to not do it any more. That is just the way with some people. Here she was a bothering about Moses, which was no kin to her, and no use to anybody, being gone, you see, yet finding a power of fault with me for doing a thing that had some good in it. And she took snuff too; of course that was all right, because she had done it herself.”

Model (continued) n Explanation –This quote is evidence that Mark Twain was a realist writer because here Huck Finn is explaining precisely and bluntly how some people think, behave, and respond, when he says, "That is just the way with some people. They get down on a thing when they don't know nothing about it." He's not sugarcoating his observation of Widow Douglas' response to his wanting to smoke; instead, Huck is telling it exactly how it is. Huck goes on to explain how people have double standards and are thus hypocrites when he says, "...yet finding a power of fault with me for doing a thing that had some good in it. And she took snuff too; of course that was all right because she done it herself." Huck is being realistic here by seeing human nature for what it actually is versus looking beyond Widow Douglas' faults and letting idealism fog his perception of her.