The Call of the Wild, The Great

War, and a Raisin in Harlem

I. Naturalism

1880-1940

I. NaturalismA. Beginnings of Naturalism

- began as a part of Realism

I. NaturalismA. Beginnings of Naturalism

*Realism: people wanted to show the world like it really was

ex: slavery, industrial revolution, overpopulation, racism, etc.

I. NaturalismA. Beginnings of Naturalism

*Naturalists: focused on the sad reality of people’s lives

I. NaturalismB. Main Topics and Ideas*Heavily influenced by Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution

I. NaturalismB. Main Topics and Ideas*Heavily influenced by Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution- just like all other animals, people are controlled by nature

I. NaturalismB. Main Topics and Ideas*unlike Romanticists/Transcendentalists, they believed that nature was indifferent or uncaring;not noble

Hurricane Sandy

I. NaturalismB. Main Topics and Ideas*characters are often helpless victims of nature, the environment, and their own heritage/background

I. NaturalismB. Main Topics and Ideas*Important Authors: Jack London, Theodore Dreiser

II. Modernism

1900-1950

II. ModernismA. Major Historical Events*1900-10: new technology made people hopeful for a bright future

II. ModernismA. Major Historical Events*1910-20: World War I – 6th bloodiest war ever, made possible by new technology

II. ModernismA. Major Historical Events*1920-30: “Roaring Twenties” – economy boomed, radio and movies became popular, people tried to distract themselves from World War I

II. ModernismA. Major Historical Events*1930-40: Great Depression – stock market crashed, ¼ of Americans unemployed; New Deal – helped people get jobs again

II. ModernismA. Major Historical Events*1940-50: World War II, bloodiest war ever, nuclear bomb

II. ModernismB. Key Ideas of Modernist Literature*after WWI and WWII, people felt lost and disillusioned with America and the modern world

II. ModernismB. Key Ideas of Modernist Literature*many people no longer believed in the power of the individual

II. ModernismB. Key Ideas of Modernist Literature*writers began to look down on the old ways of writing and experimented with creative new ways to write (e.g. stream of consciousness)

II. ModernismB. Key Ideas of Modernist Literature*literature from other cultures (e.g. women, African Americans) gained attention

II. ModernismB. Key Ideas of Modernist Literature*Major Authors: Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, T.S. Eliot

III. Harlem Renaissance

1920-1935

III. Harlem Renaissance

Key Ideas: an explosion of African American art that took pride in being black and studied the experiences of black people in America

III. Harlem Renaissance

*Major Authors: Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston

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