Realism
Circa 1850-1900
Realism:
Literature which attempts to
create in fiction a truthful
imitation of ordinary life.
Historical Events:
Rise of Realism

Abolitionist Movement


Exposed the horrors of slavery
Civil War
620,000 lives were lost
 Photography records the realities of war


Industrial Boom
New European immigrants
 Technological growth – typewriters,
telephone, light bulb
 Move to cities – less focused on nature

Historical Events …continued

Women’s Movement



Fight for the right to vote
Other issues: property rights, education, child
custody, and wages.
The New Frontier



1841, first covered wagons crossed the Great
Plains
8 million settlers were transported out west in
two decades
Native American life was changed forever.
Realism…
was a reaction against the Romantic’s
idealization of nature and the common
person.
 was inspired by the journalist
accounts of the Civil War.
 Replaced romanticism as the
dominate way of viewing life, by the
end of the Civil War.

Local Color Realism

Local color realists portrayed:
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Dialects
Dress
Customs
Mannerisms
Landscapes
Character types
of their region with an eye for accurate detail.
Local Color Authors
Twain – South
 Willa Cather – Great Plains
 Kate Chopin – Deep South
 Mary Wilkins Freeman – New
England
 Mark