1. Realism, Regionalism, & Naturalism
The writers and their stories

2. Defining the Literary Period
Realism: attempts to portray life as it is, without romantic idealism.
Characters are ordinary people in ordinary situations
Focused on lower and middle class characters
Trials, hardships, and ultimate nobility of the common man
Characters written about in an objective and honest way
No sentimentality or idealism of Romantic Period
Settings are developed in detail to re-create time and place for the reader
There are two sub-groups that occur during the period of Realism—Regionalism and Naturalism

3. Regionalism Natural outgrowth of Realism
Accurately represents the speech, manners, habits, history, folklore, and beliefs of a people in a specific geographic area
Factors that contributed to Regionalism?
Publishing boom of late 1880s, especially in magazines and subscription publishing
Targeted rural, middle class
Readers wanted characters who sounded and behaved liked them

4. Importance of Setting to Regionalism
Key elements of Setting
Geographical location and physical features
The history of the time period in which the story is set
The jobs and daily activities of the characters
The culture of the characters, including
Religious beliefs
Moral beliefs
Socio-economic conditions
Dialect: distinctive forms of language spoken in particular areas

5. Naturalism
Naturalism: like realism, wanted to portray life as it actually was
Applied scientific principles of objectivity and detachment to the study of human beings.
Viewed people as helpless victims of natural laws (hereditary, environment)
Man’s fate is governed by heredity and environment.
Often depict man in conflict with nature, society, or himself.

6. Characteristics of Naturalism
Makes people the subjects of scientific case studies.
Tone is often coldly scientific.
Uses great masses of details; their informal arrangement reflects the chaotic state of society and nature.
In diction, sometimes seems to seek out the ugly word for its own sake.
Likely to present nature as chaotic.
Studies society dispassionately to correct the evils found there.
Drops artificial concepts of plot and action for a "slice of life.“
Main characters are usually low on the social scale; often morally frail

7. Ambrose Bierce Author background Style and Theme
Enlisted in Union army at 18
Fought in several major battles of Civil War
After Civil War, moved west to San Fran
Started journalism career
Style and Theme
Style: Known for cynical (bitter) humor and cruel wit
Theme: Futility (pointlessness or uselessness) of war

8. “Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”
Literary Elements
Point of view: the narrative perspective from which a story is told
1st person: the narrator is a character in the story and describes events using I, me, we, my
3rd person: events are related by a voice outside the action, using words like he, she, they
3rd person Omniscient: aware of all characters’ thoughts
3rd person Limited: focuses only on one character’s thoughts
Stream of Consciousness: character’s thoughts are presented as the mind experiences them, without obvious logic

9. “Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”
Structure
This short story is arranged in three numbered sections
Change of section indicates a change in time
Section I: at the execution
Section II: flashback
Section III: picks up where Section I left off
Each section contains a shift in POV—pay attention as you read to where POV shifts.

10. “Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”
Tablework: Looking at sections I and II, determine the POV at the start of the section. Then figure out…
When POV changes—quote a line for the story (for parts I and II).
What POV does it change to?
How does this affect the level of suspense?
The events of this particular story are told out of order to help build suspense…for parts I and II, put the events of Peyton Farquahar’s life in chronological order
Table work: looking at section III, determine what the POV the section is at the beginning of the section. Then, figure out…
When POV changes—quote a line from the story (for part III)
How does the POV affect the level of suspense?
Find three examples of foreshadowing from Part III that help to indicate the Peyton’s escape is only in his mind.

11. Stephen Crane (1871-1900) Grew up in the slums of Asbury Park, NJ
Attended college at Syracuse—never graduated
Became a journalist after leaving college
First book, Maggie: A Girl of the streets
Censored because of the content—the life of a prostitute in the slums
Becomes a literary sensation with second novel, The Red Badge of Courage
Exposed American readers to the brutality of war

12. “An Episode of War” Literary Focus--Naturalism
Subjects: common people in ordinary life situations
Focus: emphasized how instinct and environment affect human behavior
Influenced by Darwin’s Theory of Evolution and Natural Selection
Believed human fate is determined by forces beyond individual control, but that force isn’t God; it’s nature or social forces that determine our fate
Presents a bleak reality without explanation, letting the reader draw her own conclusions

13. “An Episode of War” Literary Focus
Setting--As you read, focus on the details that Crane includes to describe the setting that allow you to visualize the characters, settings and events.

14. “An Episode of War”
Naturalist writers strove to show people as hapless victims of circumstances beyond their control; these forces include hereditary, environment (nature), and sheer chance.
Characters are often victims of their own (bad) instincts or of a violent world
Characters endure suffering quietly, with honor

15. “An Episode of War” Discuss as a table… (answer in your notes)
How is the lieutenant a victim of chance?
Why does Crane leave the lieutenant nameless?
Tablework...in your notes.
Identify three descriptions of human actions in the story that could also describe the actions of animals.
After he is shot, several of the men attempt acts of kindness toward the lieutenant. Identify one gesture of kindness shown to the lieutenant and explain why it fails.
Naturalism focused on the dignified suffering of people who face forces they can’t control. Identify two examples of the lieutenant’s dignified suffering.

16. Jack London (1876-1916) Grew up EXTREMELY poor in San Francisco
Began working full time as an unskilled laborer at age 11
Books were an escape from his life
Inspired him to travel
Graduated from high school; attended one semester of college before heading to Alaska to find gold
Taught him about people’s desire for wealth and power
Our inability to control the forces of nature
(naturalism)
First literary success, The Call of the Wild (1903)

17. Jack London Literary Focus: Naturalism
Conflict: the struggle between opposing forces
Internal: occurs within the mind of a character
External
Man V. Society
Man V. Man
Man V. Nature
Man V. Fate/God
In “To Build a Fire” the setting serves as the opposing force

18. Jack London Literary Focus: Imagery and setting Table Work
Analyzing imagery and setting for hints of foreshadowing
Find three examples of imagery from the beginning of the story until it is noon (page 601) that hint the man may not survive this journey
Find three examples of the dog’s feelings and instincts about survival from anywhere in the story
How do the dog’s feeling and instincts increase the dramatic irony?

19. Kate Chopin (1851-1904) Raised in the Midwest (Missouri)
Father died in RR accident when Chopin was 5
Well educated
Widowed at 31 years old—left to raise 6 children and manage her husband’s business on her own
First published in 1889
Stories often focused on women seeking independence from male dominated society

20. “The Story of an Hour”
Literary Elements: Setting: turn of the century (1900)
Custom and law limited women’s actions and control over their own lives
No right to vote
Could not own property
Educational and Employment opportunities severely limited
Married women were expected to be subservient to and supportive of their husbands

21. “The Story of an Hour” Literary Elements: Irony
Verbal Irony: occurs when someone says something that deliberately contradicts what that person actually means
Situational irony: occurs when something happens that contradicts THE READER’S expectations
Dramatic Irony: occurs when the reader/audience knows something that the characters/actors do not know.

22. Table work: discuss and answer as a group
How do Richards and Josephine expect Mrs. Mallard to react to the news? How do their expectations help to guide our expectations?
In what ways is Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to her husband’s “death” an example of situational irony?
How might the diagnosis of Mrs. Mallard’s cause of death be an example of dramatic irony?
How would you describe the Mallard’s marriage? Is Mrs. Mallard justified in her reaction to the news? Does she hate her husband or the institution of marriage?
Explain why the following descriptive passages are ironic and identify what type of irony they are.
“the tops of the trees were all aquiver with new spring life”
“She was drinking the very elixir of life through the open window”
“She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday that she had thought with a shudder that life might be long.”