isms final

What war was Puritanism

Coming to America

What war was Rationalism

Revolutionary War

What war was Romanticism

Revolutionary War

What war was Realism/Naturalism

Civil War

What war was Modernism

World War 1

What war was Post Modernism

World War 2

Puritanism

Idea of being pure, Total depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited atonement, Invisible world

Background of puritanism

Group of people left the church of england (anglican church), They believed there was too much corruption, Church wasn’t strict enough, The puritans came to the new world to be extremists

Total depravity

Extreme sinfulness, Everyone is born a sinner, you need to fight your sinner state

Unconditional Election

Everything is already chosen no matter what, Heaven and hell lists are predetermined and god has it all figured out

Limited atonement

Only some people can be forgiven (those going to heaven)

Invisible world

The god and devil are generals of armies, Angels battle for your soul constantly, Spectral evidence

Puritan values on Family

Believed in family, but not fondness, Obedience is godliness, Protected kids from sinning by distancing themselves from birth

Education in Puritanism

High literacy rates, Everyone needed to be able to read the bible, Women were allowed to go to schools, You only learned how to read, not interpret, Only the minister (or sometimes husband) interprets the bible

Puritan government

Followed a theocracy, Church ruled all, Minister was the police and was elected

Famous authors of Puritanism

Johnathan Edwards, Edward Taylor

Rationalism

America's founding, After puritans irrationalism, the rationalists flipped the script, Spectral evidence was banned, People decided to look to reason for answers rather than god's finger, Rise of patriotism

Clockmaker vs puppeteer analogy

Puppeteer: God controls everything, It's all gods plan; Clockmaker: God made earth and gave us everything we would ever need, We need to find them, Don't wait, make it happen now, Self reliance

Deists

Rationalist people who believed in a higher power, Not religion, just believing in god

Philosophies

Building a true american identity, “I can fix things”

Rationalist education

Encouraging change, Education for all, Clockmakers believed in education (so they can run the clock)

Rationalist government

Democratic utopia, can vote against the gov

Rationalist literature

All writing was non fiction and boring, Wrote in complicated language to prove themselves, they wrote fancily to prove their sophistication

Famous rationalist authors

Ben Franklin, Thomas Paine, Patrick Henry

ROMANTICISM

Romanticism

To romanticize is to idealize, Making something more/exaggerated, People wanted to express their feelings for the first time

Idyll

Short poem/story

Romanticism backstory

Began in 18th century Western Europe, Grew during the Industrial Revolution, Reaction to cold industrial world and an overly rational society

Romantics thought that

World during industrial revolution was cold, Leaning in too heavily on science/power/money, Losing connection to humanity, People moving from farms to city, More immigrants

Romanticism values

Emphasis on imagination/feelings, Celebrated emotion, Sheer power and beauty of nature, Nature is powerful and we stay humble, Everyone is celebrated equally, individually matters, Exaggerations, Elements of the supernatural, Humans are part of a larger natural image

Romanticism literature

Wrote in extremely flowery language, Searching for beauty all the times

Idyllic (Romanticism)

rural/non-populated, To reset, you need to be in nature, Vast nature, Humans are only a small part of the world

Gothic (Romanticism)

Same as idyllic but dark, Emergence of psychology, Reveals darker aspects of human mind, Dark and still beautiful, Pathways are paths to darker paths of our mind

Famous Romanticism Authors

Idyllic: Washington irving, James Cooper, William Cullen Bryant, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; Dark romantics: Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Washington Irving

Transcendentalism

Emerged early to mid 1800, A branch of romanticism, Go confidently in the direction of your dreams, Born from emerging middle class, Educated and ready to challenge status quo

Transcendentalism Values

Optimism, Celebrated life and the individual, Evil is merely an absence of good and can be easily transcended, America's “founding hippies”

Civil disobedience (Transcendentalism)

Fight the power, The ability for man to govern himself, Believed that if you know something is wrong, you should fix it, even if you break some rules

McCarthyism

Against civil disobedience

Transcendentalism Values

Opposed to organized religion, not god, They believed that organized religion stifles individuality, Extremely spiritual, Personal relationships with god, Often found relationship through nature, Live in the now and find beauty in it, Contrast to puritan idea of suffer now, enjoy the afterlife

Treehuggers

The believed the whole world was a miracle, and they need to recognize the beauty surrounding them, Nature brings people closer to themselves, which in turn is closer to god

Famous transcendentalists

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Margaret Fuller, MLK, Gandhi

Realism and Naturalism

Began during the Civil War, Reaction to romanticism and transcendentalism, Reaction to the suffering of the civil war

Invention of the photograph

Captured true life, Showed pictures of real dead bodies, real suffering, real life

Realism/Naturalism Literature

Increased literacy and democracy, People were hungry for the truth, Post slave stories, Revealing the dark side of america, Origin of muckraking journalism, Exposing corruption

Realism/Naturalism Values

Describes life without romantic idealism, Realists focus on the immediate and deal with the consequences, Presenting life as it it, not as it could be, Trying to stimulate change by telling stories about the truth, not what the truth could become

Realism/Naturalism In writing

Characters are often poorly educated or lower class, Settings usually familiar to the writer, Character is more important than the plot, Natural vernacular, Written as spoken, Tone is comic/matter-of-fact

Regionalism

Focuses on small geographical areas, Many places have subcultures, Attempts to reproduce speech and mannerism, Writers often write about their homes

Psychological fiction

Character perspective is as real as any reality

Famous Realism authors

Mark Twain, Stephen Crane, Upton Sinclair, William Howells, Kate Chopin

Naturalism

Branch of realism, Realism in extreme (bleaker/ more negative), All fiction, Opposite of transcendentalism, Focuses on laws of nature, Choice is an illusion (fate), Nature is stronger than you, better than you, Characters' free will is restricted (often by extreme circumstances), Lives are predetermined

Famous Naturalism Authors

Jack London, Stephan Crane, Frank Norris

Modernism

After WW1 to end of WW2 to early 1950s, Created from disillusionment, After WW1, there was a loss of innocence and people didn't trust tradition and old leaders, 1920s was decadence and wealth (Representing dreams), 1930s was depression (What dreams really are), Modern did whatever they wanted

Photography as fine art

Changes from documenting to having an emotional purpose, If picture gives info, it’s documentation; If picture gives feels, it’s art

Modernism Inventions

Mass production, Bringing radios, cars, tech into your house

Modernism Light

Integration of electricity, Dark: ignorance and blind tradition; Light: knowledge/progress

Theory of Relativity

anything is possible, the 20s, breaking rules and not limiting, Integration of cars created the suburbs

Avant garde

Attempting to overthrow status quo, Desire to be different, doing what's never been done before, Driven from negative experience and bad traditions, 2/3rds of boys 18-25 were dead, Young adults are the embodiment of hope and almost all died

Modernism Writing habits

Broke writing rules, just like their values, Stream of consciousnes (Writing as one thinks), Point of view (Limited, multiple narratives)

Classical allusions

Referencing commonly known classic

Modernism Famous authors

TS Elliot, John Stenbeck, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Calude McKay

Post Modernism

It is difficult to define because we as humans are becoming more complex, Began after WW2 up until mid 80s/90s, Offshoot of modernism, both a continuance and a rejection, Keep what you like, toss what you don't

End of Post Modernism

Invention of personal computer, which added connectivity

Influences of Post Modernism

War was still kind of idealized,

The atomic bomb changes views on war, Holocaust showed our efficiency at killing,

There was a lot of paranoia surrounding the topic, Embodies the concept of paranoia, fear, anxiety,

Vietnam war (began anti war), Civil rights movement, Women’s lib movement (Equal rights),

Growing diversity, Realities of cultural diversity, both positive and negative attributes,

Space race (Rise of technology, Moon landing), Rise of machine (Lack humanity, Fast paces world, Creation of science fiction)

Post Modernism Writing styles

used experimentation a lot, Varying points of views, Drugs, Alcohol, Disregard for grammar conventions, Changeability, No right answers, Sharply divided politics, Challenged authority, Dystopian literature

Gallows humour

Irony, playfulness black humor

Intertextuality

Pastiche: Mixing genres; Temporal distortion: Non linear jumping in time, No longer bounded by rules of reality

Magical realism

The fantastic among grounded reality, Story set in real world but with magical elements woven in (not fantasy)

Famous Post Modernism Authors

Joseph Heller, JD Salinger, Kurt Vonnegut, Allen Ginsberg, Ken Kesey, Thomas Pynchon, Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, Toni Morrison,Ta Nehisi Coates

Southern Gothic

Sub genre of the gothic romantic style popular in europe in 1800s, Same as dark romanticism but southern, Branch of modernism/postmodernism, Unique to american literature, Often relies on supernatural, ironic events, Twist on southern characters

Grotesque

something /someone so off is creates discomfort, Negative qualities highlight repressed, unpleasant aspects of southern culture, Something in the town, house, farm is bizarre and often falling apart

Kudzu vines

Vines that grow unchecked up houses and over anything, Covering bodies and cars, Metaphor for south, because the pretend their problems don't exist but just beneath lies danger

Fixation on past

Unyielding tradition, Translates to distrust and disdain of outsiders, Idealization of the past, often rewriting history to match the glory days

Cast of off kilter characters

Every character is strange and often broken, Symbolize consequences of an unyielding tradition

Innocent

As a redeemer, often in the form of a child

Freakishness

Characters set apart by an oddity, Can be hero or villain

Outsider

Set apart from cultural pattern, but not a freak, Helps bring people out of the dark

Imprisonment

Both literal and figurative, Can be a real prison or a psychological one (like fate)

Violence

Racial, social, and class differences can often create tension that leads to violence

Sense of place

Old downtown with a stately but worn down building, Clear depiction of rural southern setting, Old small towns