A Faithful Representation Of Reality

In essence, literary realism is put in place to give its readers a real place of how life was or how something occurs in the pass. The two stories that gave me a good depiction of what realism is are: Editha by William Dean Howells, and The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The two stories put things in perspective when it comes to life in the nineteenth century and the problems that came along with it. Which are so unfortunate in some cases but it gives us the readers the raw truth.

Realism, Naturalism, and Regionalism are just a few examples of the many styles of writing that exist. Each style of writing deals with a specific time period. Stephen Crane’s “The Open Boat”, Henry James’s “Daisy Miller”, and Mary E Wilkins Freeman’s “The Revolt of Mother” are just a few examples of the literary works that represent these time periods. These literary works are perfect examples of the specific time periods each writing style was popular among certain authors. These stories allow readers to compare the modern times that we live in currently to the period these authors were in. They also allow the reader to branch out and be different.

In literature, the Realism Movement occurred in Europe and America in the mid-1800s to the early 1900s, before Modernism. Realism is described as a style and a type of writing where writers wanted to portray life as it really was – real lives, real jobs, and real problems. This type of writing was a reaction to and a rejection of Romanticism, which was a style of writing that focused on optimism. The importance of character and class, plausible events, and renders reality closely are some characteristics of Realism. Some examples of Realism writers include Mark Twain, Henry James, and John W. DeForest.

Rebecca Hardy Davis’ Realistic Approach to Society in “Life in the Iron Mills” Initially published in 1861, Rebecca Hardy Davis’s “Life in the Iron Mills” was printed in a time when the United States was at war. Although the story itself does not speak about war, the story does depict the reality of life in mid-nineteenth century America. It speaks about the moral and social costs that industrialization has wrought to the divided nation. Concisely, it evokes realism and it is one of the literary movement’s greatest pieces.

The philosophy of realism is the quality or fact of representing a person, thing, or situation accurately or in a way that is true to life and Mark Twain, being a leader in the realist movement in the 1880s, integrated this outlook into his books. The bluntness of every character and word in Twain’s book transforms into the topic of how this can be beneficial to students today. James, another caller on the N.P.R. radio talk having to do with the censorship of the word “nigger” and Injun” in Mark Twain’s books, stated that “The N-word is in the book because it is a powerful, explosive word. It is used intentionally and ironically… that that’s exactly as Twain intended… and the language in the book is essential to the meaning of the book.” The racial slurs such as these do pose a moral dilemma to the audience reading the novels. Twain’s realist influence on these books is one of the main reasons so many teachers and parents complain about the value of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. Besides the obviously racial influence within the pages, there are also influences never smiled upon such as a drunken, abusive father, a Coronal that kills in cold blood and a duo who robs from a dead man and mourning family. With these crude, realist behaviors being integrated into the book, one parent might think that this book is too immoral

In the century America, there were changes in the society and politics resulting from the expansion to the westward as well as the civil wars. Artists in America turned to reality and regionalism as a way to bring their concerns during that time. Their concerns included the widening gap in social classes where there were class struggles among those of the working class as well as the middle class who were brought down socially. These artists wrote down these transfo0rmations brought out in the nation by creating removed, impartial status of everyday life. In a bid to bring readers to be fascinated by their stories and to depict their character and the reader’s setting to life, Mark Twain in the adventures of Huckleberry Finn and the awakening by Kate Chopin used regionalism and in the same way, Henry James showed the reality of life in his story Daisy Miller.

Following the Civil War and the reconstruction time period that followed it lead to realism, as a literacy movement, gaining prominence. Therefore, many works of literature during the late 1800s used realism as a key component. Two prominent pieces that used realism during this time period are “Daisy Miller” by Henry James and “The Yellow Wall-Paper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman”. Both of these works have elements of realism, however, “The Yellow Wall-Paper” is more effective in utilizing elements of realism than “Daisy Miller”.

Following reconstruction after the Civil War, the literary movement of realism gained popularity. Therefore, many works of literature during the late 1800s used realism as a key component. Two prominent pieces that exemplify this during this time period are “Daisy Miller” by Henry James and “The Yellow Wall-Paper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Both of these works have elements of realism, however; “The Yellow Wall-Paper” is more effective in utilizing elements of realism than “Daisy Miller”.

Realism Literary Movement - The Realism Literary Movement began with mid nineteenth century French Literature and ending in the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth century authors. Realist authors selected more pictures of everyday and common activities and experiences, instead of a romantic or similar themed layouts. Realism is the attention to detail, and to try and copy the true nature of reality in a way no one had ever done before. Realism started going downhill because the fascination with things falling apart was displeasing to many, and critics accused the practitioners of realism of focusing only on the negative things in life. By the end of the nineteenth century Realism had given way to another form called Naturalism.

Have you ever heard the word “Realism” in literature and thought it was an act of being real ? In fact, Realism was actually the response to Romanticism in which prior to Realism was a time of growth in American Literature. Realism was considered to be a style of writing in which authors sought after revealing life as it truly was. Many of the stories consisted of real life people and real life situations that readers could related to in their daily lives. This time period lasted from the late 1860’s until the early 1900’s. Authors such as Henrik Ibsen who write the play “Hedda Gabler” and Gustave Flaubert who wrote “A Simple Heart” emphasized the main character as being unhappy but somewhat heroic.

"Authors began to focus their writing on ordinary people and their everyday lives" which caused the shift from Romanticism to Realism to begin.Many American authors were influenced by this movement ("Realism"). Realism inspired these authors to take into a deeper meaning the realties of life by further examining the obstacles and circumstances they have undergone (Marshall). The main ideas of literature shifted from giving people supernatural traits to authors portraying humans as the ordinary person ("Realism"). The major theme of this time period was to preserve the foundations that America’s forefathers laid down for the country. The Civil War was ultimately a second chance for the nation to rebuild and gain back the beneficial aspects that were overlooked in times of change. Realism began around the time of the Civil War and ended in early 1900. The changes in the writing styles shifted America’s views on the works of literature in the time period and caused a drastic change in the country (Leonard). Realists wanted to use the diction of the typical person to be able to connect to them and portray the concreteness of life

Realism is the portrayal of the reality of everyday life and period of literature between 1850-1900. Realist fictions speculate myths, assumptions, social norms, sentimentality, collective wisdom, and prejudices. Realism stories are usually about the middle-class people, and it aims to show a truthful portrayal of truth. Regionalism is a class of realist literature distinguished by closeness to the habits, language, dialects, manners, history, traditions, beliefs of a particular geographical region. Regionalism manifests the characters of both realism and romanticism. Romanticism is cultural the period from 1830-1860 in America. Humankind is naturally good. The characteristics of romanticism are passion and emotion, nature over the man, spiritual, intuition, and insight. "A White Heron," by Sarah Orne Jewett, is an example of local color because of its realism. Jewett uses characteristics of regionalism like dialogue to show the contrast between the locals and outsiders, habits, their daily activities, the dress, features of a place. "Editha" by William is the story of realism which has many characteristics of realism like details about war; he uses dialect to hold out the trend of the story, using middle-class peoples character. Dean Howell uses a part of romantic style but all together its categorized as one of the

Between the end of the civil war in 1865 to about 1910, two styles of literature dominated American literature: realism and naturalism. Realism presents the world as it really is. One of the well known writers of realism, William Dean Howell’s, wrote “realism in nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of material.” Realism in literature tends to be the plain and direct account of whatever is being written about. Writers of realism fill their work with facts to complement the readers’ feelings of the fact that these things can happen in their everyday lives. Realists are sure to write about normal, everyday people, living

Realism came about in literary works in the 19th century, and portrayed real life unlike the previous Enlightenment and Romanticism movements prior. Writers and people were sick of the neat, happy stories and endings that were written by the two previous movements, and those people wanted something they could relate to. Because of this, Realistic writers wrote about the boring, ordinary lives that regular folks led and did not sugar-coat anything that occurred but was brutally honest. In the words of Randall Craig, “Realistic writers educate readers, not through humiliation, but by familiarizing them with a re-presented world and enabling them to discover the rules by which it works and to apply them both to the fictional and extra-fictional

Realism in literature is basically the successor to romanticism. It first took off and gained footing in 19th century France. The literary style is a more straightforward and realistic style of writing in comparison to romanticism which was all about exaggeration and symbolism. Realism is often interchangeable with naturalism and branches out into regionalism which is interchangeable with local color. This type of writing is responsible for one of the greatest era of literary works.