AMERICAN REALISM

How History Influences Texts

American Realist Period (1860 – 1910)

A time of tremendous change in the United States

During this period, an isolated rural nation transformed into an industrialized world power.

Realism is “a strategy for imagining and managing the threats of social change.”Amy Kaplan, Social Construction of American Realism ix

American Realism is a reaction to:

Early:The horrors and

injustices of slaveryThe heroism and futility

of the fighting on both sides during the Civil War

Late: Industrialism,

urbanization, immigration

America’s rapid growth and ensuing social change

Values of American Realism

American Realism …

rejects the unrealistic, idealized world of Romanticism

centers its attention on the immediate, the here and now, the specific action and its consequence

attempts to document history

is interested in psychology and rational philosophy

respects science and empirical data

Characteristics of Realist texts

Devoted to the accurate representation and an exploration of American lives in various contexts

Character is more important than plot.

Characters are complex, as are their relationships and motivations.

Events of the plot are believable, not fantasy.

Diction is natural and regional, not poetic or heightened.

More characteristics of Realist texts

The author’s objectivity is valued

No overt moralizing Texts aim to depict people

as they actually speak and behave.

More importantly, they try to offer insight into why they behave that way.

Because Realists see life as full of irony, texts are frequently ironic.

Ethical choices are often the subject of plots.

Situations rarely involve tragic or cataclysmic consequences.

Regionalism

Literature that emphasizes a specific geographic setting

Based on the fear that rapid changes in the U.S. would destroy the country as it was and leave behind no record

Local traditions are valued—literature is an attempt to document and preserve “local color”

Makes use of the speech and manners of the people who live in that region

Naturalism

Also called “Sordid Realism” Based on Darwinism Central tenet: Human behavior

is determined by heredity and environment

Our fate is not in our hands Human life is a grim, losing

battle Relies on emerging disciplines:

Psychology and Sociology Tries to dissect human

behavior with the objectivity of a scientist

Often focuses on the fringes of society: the criminal, the fallen, the down-and-out

Some Naturalists are better thought of as Ironists

The Progression of American Thought

Genre American Author

Perceived the individual as …

Romantics Ralph Waldo Emerson

a god

Realists Henry JamesWilliam Dean HowellsMark Twain

simply a person

Naturalists Stephen CraneFrank Norris

a helpless

Realist writers use plot and character development to state their philosophy about how much control mankind has over his own destiny.

This image is the Bandit's Roost slum at 59½ Mulberry Street,

considered one of the most crime-ridden, dangerous parts of

New York City.

OVERVIEW – What is the overall impression you get from this photograph?

PARTS – What are some of the specific details you observe in the photo?

TEXT – What does the text say?

INTERACTION – How does the text interact with the photo to present an argument?

CONCLUSION – Considering all of the above, what is the thesis of the photograph?

Bandit's Roost , Jacob Riis, from How the Other Half Lives, 1888.

OPTIC – Five analysis questions for

any visual argument