Unit I: Naturalism and Realism

Common Realistic Characters

middle class characters with real conflicts

Local Color

literature that exploits speech, dress, mannerisms and habits of a specific reason

Common Themes of Local Color

nostalgia, tell-tales, trickery

Naturalism

decpits social problems and views humans as victims of larger biological, psychological, social, and economic forces (determinism)

Whose reality was portrayed in Realism and Naturalism?

white, male, privilege

Whose reality was ignored in Realism and Naturalism?

women and people of color

Literature of Discontent

written by marginalized groups

Themes of Realism

humans control their destiny

verisimilitude

Depicts "life-like" characters and situations

Most prominent realists

Mark Twain, William Dean Howells, Henry James

What Realist was Mark Twain?

comic realist

What Realist was William Dean Howells?

social/moral realist

What realist was Henry James?

psychological realist

How did Naturalism differ from Realism?

It was grittier (sex, crime, drugs, addiction)

Regionalism

A subcategory of Realism that focuses on challenges, speech, and habits of inhabitants of a particular region

Regionalism vs. Local Color

humor and exaggeration are not main features

Noted Regionalism writers

Mary Wilkins Freeman and Kate Chopin

Noted Literature of Discontent writer

Charlotte Perkins Gilman, some of Chopin and Freeman

What marks the end of the first literary history in America

The Civil War

What major economic change was happening during the 19th century?

Industrial Revolution

What did the Industrial Revolution bring?

rural to urban migration

large corporations led to devalued personal relationships between management and workers

craftsmen weren’t as necessary

What did the Transcontinental Railroad bring?

commercial development

What were social changes in the 19th century?

Westward Expansion (Native American’s displaced)

Population explosion

African-American Civil Rights in 19th century

Jim crow laws, “seperate but equal”

Womens Civil Rights in 19th century

entering workfroce, female colleges founded

Charles Darwin

“Origin of Species” (1859)

Sigmund Frued

Father of Psychoanalysis, mind is expressed through urges

Karl Marx

explained human history as the result of class struggles

William James

Father of American Pragmatism (usefulness of material possessions)