1. Realism Naturalism

2. Can you name…
This movie…
And this TV show…
Thinking about the canon of American literature, what’s the significant difference between these two?
The Avengers is a model of Romantic heroism, whereas The Office is an excellent representation of Realism’s satiric look at ordinary life.

4. Realism

5. Realism
The Civil War took place ( ) and the whole world of Romanticism came crashing down! People were looking at life as ‘reality’ … and it wasn’t pretty!
The war made people look at things differently. It wasn’t about finding out who you were anymore or enjoying the world of make-believe. They were looking at things as they ‘really’ were...death and destruction.
Immigrants were entering a country with nothing and thrown into the ‘working world’ of America. Many worked in factories for long hours with little pay. They didn’t have the time or luxury to “go out and find themselves in Nature” anymore.
The common housewife was becoming weary and wanted more out of their lives than the social institution that they were confined to.
It was a faithful representation of reality for many people.
Focused on specific actions and their consequences.
Depicting people how they really are. It’s down to earth and focused on middle class.

6. Characteristics of Realism
Describes reality in comprehensive detail
Characters are more important than the plot and action
Complex ethical choices are often the subject of the literature
Characters are related to nature, to each other, to their social class and to their own past. This relation makes up the complexity of their temperament and motive.
Class is important (usually describes the middle class)
Events are usually believable
The style of speaking is natural, not heightened or poetic

7. Realism is divided into two parts: - Regionalism - Naturalism

8. Regionalism

9. Regionalism – Local color
Emphasized a specific region
Used dialect and mannerisms of local people
Kate Chopin, Story of an Hour
Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Ambrose Bierce, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

10. Mark Twain’s Huck Finn
“All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.” – Ernest Hemmingway
What’s so awesome about The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:
First, you read it just as a rollickingly fun childhood adventure
Then, you dig deeper and read it as life instructions about how to be a man
Finally, you dig even deeper and read it as a biting social commentary of the society of the time

11. Naturalism

12. Naturalism Focuses on the forces that are beyond human control.
“Fate” is a huge factor in life. This could be a good thing, or a bad thing depending on what your ‘fate’ is!
Views nature as a thing that humans must fight against (storms/destruction)
Doesn’t really make life look too happy…more like a hopeless life.
Attempts to apply scientific principles to the study of human beings.
Naturalistic writers use a version of scientific method and apply it to their writing. The study of human beings focuses on their instinct, passion and the ways in which their lives are governed by forces of heredity (genetics) and environment.

13. Characteristics of Naturalism
Survival, determination, violence and taboo are often displayed in a naturalistic novel
The "brute within", "man against nature" or "man against himself" are all conflicts that surface in a naturalistic novel. Usually the character must fight off external temptations or pleasures that might release the "brute within".
Nature often acts as an indifferent force that governs the lives of human beings.
Forces of heredity and environment
Naturalistic novels display the useless attempts of individuals to exercise their free will.

14. Characteristics of Naturalism
Characters frequently are ill-educated or lower- class whose lives are governed by the forces of heredity, instinct and passion. The main challenge often is their attempts at exercising free will or choice that are beyond their control. Social Darwinism and other social theories explain their fates and situations in life to the reader. The main setting for naturalistic novels tend to be urban, and seem to depict an endless cycle of despair.

15. Realist Writers
William Dean
Rebecca Howells
Rebecca Harding Davis
John W. DeForest
Henry James
Rudolfo A. Anaya, Bless me, Ultima
Yann Martel, Life of Pi : a novel
Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses
Naturalist Writers
Emile Zola
Stephen Crane
Theodore Dreiser
James T. Farrell
Henrik Ibsen
Frank Norris
Sherwood Anderson
Ernest Hemingway
Ambrose Bierce
Upton Sinclair, The Jungle
John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath