Active Recall otázky - Local Color Writing

What is the Postbellum era in American history?

The period following the American Civil War (1861–1865), marked by Reconstruction, industrial growth, and social change.

What was Reconstruction?

The period from 1865–1877 during which the U.S. attempted to address slavery’s legacy and reintegrate Southern states into the Union.

What is the Postbellum era in American history?

The period following the American Civil War (1861–1865), marked by Reconstruction, industrial growth, and social change.

What was Reconstruction?

The period from 1865–1877 during which the U.S. attempted to address slavery’s legacy and reintegrate Southern states into the Union.

What characterized the North during the Postbellum era?

Rapid industrialization, urbanization, and economic expansion.

What helped fuel Westward expansion in the late 19th century?

Railroad construction, notably the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869.

What was the Gilded Age?

A term coined by Twain and Warner for the era of rapid economic growth and wealth, but also corruption and inequality.

What literary style focused on regional features like dialect and customs?

Local Color Writing (Regionalism).

Why did Local Color writing flourish after the Civil War?

To preserve unique regional identities amid rapid national change.

What is a Tall Tale?

A humorous, exaggerated story presented as true, rooted in frontier folklore.

Why were Tall Tales popular in the West?

They reflected the extremes and absurdities of frontier life and settler experiences.

What is American Naturalism?

A literary movement viewing characters as shaped by heredity, environment, and social conditions, often depicting survival in indifferent settings.

What is Realism in literature?

A movement focused on truthful representation of everyday life, ordinary people, and social realities.

Who was Mark Twain?

A major American humorist and Local Color writer, known for using tall tales and regional settings.

Where did Twain grow up?

In Hannibal, Missouri, fictionalized as St. Petersburg in his novels.

What was Twain’s profession before becoming a writer?

Printer, steamboat pilot, miner, and journalist.

What gave Twain material for Life on the Mississippi?

His work as a Mississippi River steamboat pilot.

What was Twain’s breakthrough story?

“The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” (1865). - a humorous short story in which a man named Jim Smiley trains a frog to out-jump any other, only to be tricked by a stranger who secretly fills the frog with lead shot. The story is framed by a narrator who visits a talkative local, Simon Wheeler, and gets drawn into this absurd tale instead of finding the information he originally came for.

What style of humor did Twain favor?

Tall humor with deadpan delivery and absurd exaggeration.

How did Twain define the American humorous story?

A story told gravely and seriously to enhance its absurdity, unlike English or French humorous styles.

What is Roughing It about?

Twain’s Western adventures, using tall tales to blur fact and fiction.

A humorous travel memoir about his adventures in the American West during the 1860s. It follows his journey with his brother to Nevada, where he tries (and fails) at silver mining, becomes a newspaper reporter, and explores frontier life, including encounters with Mormons in Utah, gamblers, and prospectors. He ends the book with a visit to Hawaii. The tone is witty and exaggerated, offering a comic but insightful look at the rugged, chaotic spirit of the Wild West.

What kind of humor is seen in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer?

Playful, based on boys’ imagination and adventures.

Who narrates The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?

Huck Finn, using a seemingly naïve first

Why is Huck’s narration important?

He reports neutrally, prompting readers to interpret social and moral issues.

What are three types of humor in Huck Finn?

Cheerful joking (Tom/Huck), con games (King/Duke), and sinister observations (cruelty to slaves).

How does Huck Finn critique Southern society?

Through Huck’s innocent narration of hypocrisy, violence, and racism.

What does Huck’s struggle to help Jim reveal?

The conflict between societal norms and personal morality.

What is ironic about the “NOTICE” at the start of Huck Finn?

It forbids readers from finding a motive or moral, though the novel is rich with both.

What does Life on the Mississippi depict?

Twain’s experiences and reflections on the Mississippi River and steamboat life.

What is The Gilded Age (novel) known for?

• Coining the term “Gilded Age” to describe post–Civil War America.

• Satirizing greed, corruption, and political dishonesty during rapid industrial growth.

• Being one of the first novels to critique American capitalism and government in fiction.

What is “Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offences”?

Twain’s humorous critique of Cooper’s unrealistic and clumsy writing.

What did Twain accuse Cooper of?

Bad observation, implausible plots, and clichéd literary devices.

What shift in literature does Twain’s critique reflect?

A shift from Romanticism to Realism.

Who was Joel Chandler Harris?

A Local Color writer and folklorist known for Uncle Remus stories.

What influenced Harris’s work?

Stories he heard from African Americans while apprenticing on a plantation.

What is Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings?

A collection of African American folktales told through the character Uncle Remus.

Who is Br’er Rabbit?

A trickster figure who uses cunning to outwit stronger opponents.

What is a trickster?

A folkloric figure who breaks rules and defies authority through cleverness.

What is “The Wonderful Tar Baby Story”?

A Br’er Rabbit tale where he escapes by reverse psychology, symbolizing the underdog outsmarting power.

How was Harris received in his time?

He was widely praised and became famous, though he remained reclusive.

How did Harris use dialect?

He replicated African American dialect with footnotes for Northern readers.

Why was Harris’s use of dialect controversial?

Critics said it perpetuated racist stereotypes and reinforced ideas of inferiority.

How did Southern readers react to Harris?

They embraced the dialect as authentic and nostalgic.

What did Thomas English say about Harris?

That he humanized African Americans for readers who otherwise saw them only as a “problem.”

Who was Bret Harte?

A journalist and Local Color writer who focused on the California Gold Rush.

Where did Harte live and work?

In California, working as a miner, teacher, and writer.

What kind of stories did Harte write?

Tall tales and Local Color stories with dialect and moral contrasts.

What is Harte’s most famous collection?

The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Stories (1870).

What is “The Luck of Roaring Camp” about?

A mining camp transformed by a baby’s birth, showing civilizing effects of innocence.

Who was Kate Chopin?

A Local Color and feminist writer focusing on Creole Louisiana and psychological realism.

What is Creole, in this context?

Descendants of French/Spanish colonists in Louisiana, often Catholic and multilingual.

What themes did Chopin explore?

Female identity, societal roles, psychological complexity.

What is The Awakening about?

A woman’s emotional and sexual awakening in a restrictive society.

What is “Désirée’s Baby” about?

A tragic tale of racism and hypocrisy in the Old South involving a mixed

What is the twist in “Désirée’s Baby”?

The white father, not the mother, has mixed

What literary trend did Chopin help start?

Independent women’s fiction in the post

Who was James Fenimore Cooper?

A Romantic writer known for inventing the literary American Indian and frontier hero.

What was Twain’s issue with Cooper?

That Cooper’s works lacked realism and featured implausible storytelling

The Use of Vernacular: More Than Just “True to Life”

While Twain’s use of regional dialect is indeed realistic—accurately capturing antebellum Southern speech—it serves more profound literary functions:

• Establishes Huck’s Voice: The ungrammatical, colloquial voice is immediately disarming and personal. It brings the reader into Huck’s intimate, unpolished worldview, making his moral growth feel authentic rather than imposed.

• Undermines Authority and Pretension: Twain deliberately contrasts simple, vernacular truth with the hypocrisy and moral blindness of “civilized” adults. The dialect undercuts the legitimacy of the social order Huck describes—one where slavery is taken for granted and religion is used to justify injustice.

• Forces the Reader to Work: By avoiding “elevated” language, Twain compels the reader to navigate the complexities of race, morality, and freedom through Huck’s limited perspective, which means paying attention to what’s not said, or what Huck doesn’t yet understand.

Huck as a Vehicle for Social Criticism

Twain uses Huck’s innocence, confusion, and internal conflict as a mirror to reflect—and critique—Southern norms and values, especially regarding slavery, religion, and “civilization.” Let’s break this down:

a. Critique of Religion and Providence (Chapter 3 excerpt)

“I says to myself, if a body can get anything they pray for, why don’t Deacon Winn get back the money he lost on pork? Why can’t the widow get back her silver snuffbox that was stole? Why can’t Miss Watson fat up?”

Huck’s childlike logic exposes the absurdity of religious platitudes. His analysis is both humorous and biting: adults invoke divine “Providence” as a moral authority, but can’t explain or embody its supposed justice. He rightly observes the contradictions between Christian preaching and behavior, especially the widow's and Miss Watson’s moral inconsistency.

“I judged I could see that there was two Providences... a poor chap would stand considerable show with the widow’s Providence...”

This line sharply critiques the idea of a single, universal moral order. Huck intuits that there are different “Providences” for the rich and the poor—reflecting Twain’s critique of religious hypocrisy and class stratification.

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b. Critique of Slavery and White Morality (Huck’s remorse about helping Jim)

This section is one of the central moral crises in American literature.

“It got to troubling me so I couldn’t rest... What did that poor old woman [Miss Watson] do to you... she tried to be good to you...”

Huck’s conscience has been warped by Southern norms—he believes turning in Jim is the “right” thing, even though Jim is his friend and a man seeking freedom. Twain shows us that the moral education Huck has received (from people like Miss Watson) is ethically bankrupt. Huck's turmoil allows Twain to explore how even “good” people perpetuate injustice.

“I was paddling off, all in a sweat to tell on him; but when he says this, it seemed to kind of take the tuck all out of me...”

Jim’s expression of trust and gratitude confronts Huck with a deep emotional truth—a truth his society denies. Twain constructs this tension so the reader sees Huck’s moral growth before Huck himself does, creating a slow, painful irony that critiques slavery at the level of emotion and conscience.

“I didn’t answer up prompt... I just give up trying, and up and says: ‘He’s white.’”

This moment—Huck’s lie to protect Jim—is often viewed as the turning point of the novel. Even though Huck still thinks he’s doing “wrong,” his actions defy the morality he’s been taught. Twain uses Huck’s “failure” to speak the truth as a victory of the heart over racist ideology.

Advantages and Disadvantages of the First-Person Naïve Narrator

Advantages:

• Authenticity & Emotional Resonance: Readers experience events as Huck does, feeling his confusion, fear, guilt, and joy. This intimacy makes the moral issues more visceral.

• Irony: Twain creates layers of meaning—the reader understands more than Huck does, so Huck’s misinterpretations become sources of insight and critique.

• Gradual Moral Awakening: We witness Huck’s evolution organically, not through speeches or dramatic revelations, but through tiny decisions and emotional conflicts.

Disadvantages:

• Limited Perspective: Huck can’t articulate complex ideas about race or justice, so Twain must rely on implication and irony.

• Risk of Reader Misunderstanding: Some readers (especially in earlier decades) took Huck’s racist language and thoughts at face value, failing to grasp the satirical intent.