REALISM, NATURALISM AND REGIONALISM

Entering the Twentieth Century in the USA

The Civil War 1861-1865

The Civil War left Americans feeling uncertain about the future. 615,000 Americans

killed 410,000 Americans

wounded 10 % of all Northern

males died in the war 30% of all Southern

males died in the war

Remember the Romantics? Believed in the

individual, emphasized the imagination, emotions, and creativity, etc.

Realist writers turned away from Romanticism and Transcendentalism with their emphasis on the fantastic, the imaginative, and our need for harmony.

Historical Context

Americans had a hard time appreciating the beauty of nature as the Romantics and Transcendentalists did because they had seen the horrors of war and the assassination of President Lincoln

As a result of the Civil War, the assassination of Lincoln, and the expansion of the American West, the ideals of the transcendentalists (Emerson and Thoreau) and the Romantics (Poe, Longfellow, Bryant) were rejected for a more rugged, realistic version of reality.

Three New Literary Movements- All Connected Realism- any effort to offer an accurate and

detailed portrayal of actual life based on careful observation of life (often focused on middle & lower classes)

Regionalism- accurately represents the speech, manners, habits, history, folklore, and beliefs of people in specific geographic areas

Naturalism- offshoot of Realism; sought to describe people and events realistically; emphasizes how instinct and environment influence human behavior

Realism

1865-1910 Reaction against

Romanticism Turned from strange things

to ordinary things (a slice of life and how life is really lived)

Realistic writers sought to portray ordinary life as real people live it: factory workers, politicians, gunfighters and cowboys.

Realistic Writers

Realistic writers attempted to show characters in an “objective, almost factual way.”

They “tried to find meaning in the commonplace.”

Finds the drama and tension beneath the ordinary surface of life

Believed that humanity’s freedom of choice is limited by the power of outside forces

Realist authors are more descriptive than symbolic.

Realistic Writers

Bret Harte

Realistic Writers

Mark Twain

Regionalism

Accurately represents the speech, manners, habits, history, folklore, and beliefs of people in specific geographic areas

Regionalism is often referred to “local color” Such writers use regional dialect. They use vivid descriptions of the landscape. They sought to capture the essence of life in

the various regions of the nation, attempting to capture customs, dress, speech, and other local differences.

Regionalism

Because America was leaping into a new modern age with the industrial revolution (standardization, mass production of goods, etc.), people feared that local folkways and traditions would soon be forgotten.

Connection: Realism & Regionalism Responding to these sentiments,

realistic writers set their stories in specific American regions, rushing to capture the “local color” before it was lost.

Regionalism grew out of Realism

Local Color

Captures the special atmosphere of the area and its people

Often contains regional dialects, well-known places, customs, etc. of a particular area

Because of lack of communication and transportation, it shows how people lived in other parts of the country

Regionalist Writers

Bret Harte

Regionalist Writers

Kate Chopin

Regionalist Writers

Mark Twain

Naturalism

1900-1914 Extension of Realism A reaction against the emphasis on the

“ordinary” lives realist writers portrayed Naturalist writers insisted that the

extraordinary is real, too. Instead of middle-class realities, naturalists

wrote about the fringes of society—the criminal, the fallen, the down-and-out.

Naturalism

Were Darwinists—they believed that individuals have no choice in life because a person’s life is dictated by heredity and the external environment

We inherit compulsive instincts such as hunger or the drive to accumulate possessions, and then we are subject to the social and economic forces in the family, class, and surroundings into which we were born.

In other words, people are caught within the forces of nature or society that are beyond their understanding or control

Naturalism

The naturalists believed that one’s destiny is decided by heredity and environment, physical drives, and economic circumstances.

They believed that human beings had no control over events.

They also believed that human beings are at the mercy of nature and its brutal forces.

Naturalism

Facts-only approach (avoids idealistic solutions to problems)

“Brutal Realism” The protagonist, subject to multiple

compulsions, usually disintegrates, or is wiped out, by the end of the story.

Aimed at bettering the world through social reform (bringing a situation to the eyes of the public so as to improve it)

Naturalistic Writers

Jack London The first American

author to make a million dollars from his writing.

He was also known to drink a quart of whiskey/day, which caused him to have numerous accidents.

Naturalistic Writers

Stephen Crane

Naturalistic Writers

Ambrose Bierce

Mexico—his actual death date and place are unknown

Genre AmericanAuthor

(s)

Perceived the

individualas…

Presents

life as…

Freedom of

choice?

ROMANTICS

Transcendentalists

R. W. EmersonH.D. ThoreauWalt Whitman

A god We wouldhave it

be,want it to

be

Do whate

verpleases

you –limitless

possibilities

Dark Romantics

Washington Irving

Edgar Allan Poe

Filled with

the poten

tialfor sin

Potentially

dark

Choicepossible,

buttends to

thedark side

REALISTS

Realists/Regionalists

Edith WhartonMark Twain

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Ambrose Bierce

Simply aperson

As it reall

yis

Choices are

limited byoutside

forces(class,

race,etc.)

Naturalists/Regionalists

Kate ChopinJack London

Stephen CraneAmbrose

Bierce

A helpless

object

Determined

only byheredity

andenviron-

ment

No choice

s –we are

pawns of our

background

and curren

tenvironm

ent