1. verisimilitude (ver-uh-si-mil-i-tood, -tyood), noun: the appearance of truth or reality

2.  Literary movement following romanticism  Attempted to portray the “cultural exhuberance” of figurative American landscape and peoples  Showed the reality of American life ◦ Often dealt with serious or “gritty” topics

3.  Focused in the 19 th century ◦ (1865 – 1910) ◦ Tail end of the Civil War and reparations after  Began with French works ◦ William Dean Howell was the first American realism writer, writing about the upper class of Boston  Set during a time of industrial, economic, cultural, and social change ◦ Industrial revolution ◦ Increase in immigration ◦ Structured class system ◦ Important people like Darwin, Ford, Carnegie, Edison, and Teddy Roosevelt

4.  A movement in art, music, and journalism as well as literature ◦ Muckrakers: journalists influenced by the realism movement who would expose greed and corruption, usually of business  Ex: The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

5.  Mark Twain ◦ Most famous realism/regionalism writer ◦ Huckleberry Finn  Stephen Crane ◦ Showed the grittiness of the Civil War in The Red Badge of Courage  Kate Chopin ◦ Showed the plight and strength of women in her various stories such as The Awakening  Jack London ◦ Categorized as a naturalist writer ◦ Often showed pioneer or wilderness life in his stories such as Call of the Wild

6. REALISM Regionalism Naturalism Slave Narratives Classic Realism

7.  Literature set in or about one specific region  Uses the language, slang, customs, and ideas of that area  Mark Twain ◦ Mississippi area  Kate Chopin ◦ New Orleans and Louisiana

8.  Literature based on the written accounts of American slaves, usually after freedom  Made popular by abolitionists or religious missionaries  Often written by the former slaves themselves ◦ Frederick Douglass ◦ Sojourner Truth ◦ Amos Fortune

9.  Naturalism: subset of realism, seeks to replicate a believable everyday reality ◦ Seeks not only to describe a believable reality (like realism) but also to define underlying forces influencing its subjects ◦ Very influenced by Darwin and psychology ◦ Explored very harsh themes like poverty, racism, sex, violence, disease, corruption, etc. ◦ Held a large belief in determinism: the philosophical belief that events are shaped by forces beyond the control of human beings

10.  Very detailed  Characters were more important than plot ◦ This means conflict and irony are also more important  Class structure was a focus ◦ Often the middle and lower classes  Diction is natural vernacular ◦ Characters will speak like they should according to their region (“My dogs was pooped.”)

11. GenreAmerican Author Perceived the individual as... RomanticsRalph Waldo Emersona god Realists Henry James William Dean Howells Mark Twain simply a person Naturalist s Stephen Crane Frank Norris a helpless object

12.  Direct characterization ◦ The author tells the reader what the character is like physically and emotionally  Indirect characterization ◦ The reader must figure out what the character is like based on their actions  Round ◦ A character with many characteristics, emotions, flaws  Flat ◦ A stereotypical character who has one or two strong characteristics  Static ◦ A character that does not change  Dynamic ◦ A character that experiences a change