Realism/Naturalism/Regionalism
What is the necessary background information
and the important features of this time period of
American Literature?
Prelude to the Civil War
The North
•Commerce ruled—money and expansion
•Expanded transportation turned towns into
cities
•Education, banking, science, reform—all
important issues
•Large tide of Irish and German immigrants
coming, mainly between Boston and Baltimore
Prelude to the Civil War
The South
•Slower paced land of plantations and small farms
•Cotton, sugar, rice, tobacco are key crops
•Not much of a technological/industrial revolution
•No discussion of the social issues revolving around
the industrial revolution
•Main issue: Slavery
Prelude to the Civil War
Fugitive Slave Act
•Passed in 1850
•Required all citizens—north and south, free state
and slave state—to help catch runaway slaves
•South saw it as just; North saw it as an outrage
•KS-NE Act opened up the west to slavery and
became a hotly contested political action
Cost of the Civil War
The Human Cost
The North lost one out of ten
(110,100 in battle; 224,580 to disease)
The South lost one out of four
(94,000 in battle; 64,000 to disease)
Economic Cost
Estimated at $6.6 billion, which would be
$165 billion today
In the fifty years after the war,
America underwent a physical and
social expansion that transformed
the landscape, economy, and
national identity.
The Effects of the Westward Migration
•Homestead Act of 1862 promises 160 acres to
anyone who would live on the land for a certain
period of time and make minimal improvements
•500,000 farmers, included many emancipated slaves,
staked claims on the Great Plains
•Miners headed west by the thousands
•Expansion was aided by the completion of the first
transcontinental railroad in 1869
The Effects of the Westward Migration
•The expansion left destruction in its path
wild buffalo were gone
Open plains disappeared
Indian nations were displaced, destroyed, and
forced onto reservations
•Had to be strong to survive
•Few stores and major cities
(Women had to make clothes, soap, quilts,
candles, and other goods by hand and worked
as teachers, doctors, and farmers)
The Effects of the Industrial Revolution
•Migration from rural to urban areas
•Independent, skilled workers replaced by semiskilled laborers;
•Large corporations were established, devaluing the
personal relationships
•Political Upheaval: Power Shifts, Civic Corruption,
Expanded Federal Government
•Migration westward expanded the U.S. from the
Atlantic to the Pacific
The Effects of the Industrial Revolution
•Native American populations displaced and
subjugated
•Growth of Industry(Steelmaking, Petroleum,
Electrical)
•Growth of population (Total population doubled
from 1870 to 1890)
•Gap between rich and poor widened
A Changing Society
•Electricity becomes a normal part of society
•Introduced to electric light, telephones, cars, motion
pictures and phonographs
•Immigration boom in the country
In 20 years the population grows from 50 million
to 76 million
Almost 10 million of these new Americans are
immigrants
Most settle in large cities, which leads to a
inexhaustible supply of cheap labor for industry
A Changing Society
•Industrial boom leads to great extremes in poverty
and wealth in the county
•Child labor becomes the norm, as wages are so low it
takes the whole family working to make a living
•Meanwhile, the owners of the big industries—
Carnegie, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt—live like kings
and only grew more and more wealthy
•Twain called it “The Gilded Age”. This was a satirical
comment on the great disparity between the
rich and poor.
Literature of the Realism Period
Frontier Voices
Slave Narratives
Literature of Discontent
Wartime Voices
Realism
A literary method of the 19th century writings that are
based on careful observations of contemporary life.
Features:
•Often focusing on the middle and lower classes
•Attempted to present life objectively and honestly,
without the sentimentalism or idealism of
earlier literature
•Settings and characters developed in great detail in
an effort to re-create a specific time and place
for the reader
•Uneventful plots with story revolving around
community
Naturalism
In addition to the Realism methods of writing:
Emphasized how instinct and environment affect
human behavior
Believed that the fate of humans is determined by
forces beyond individual control
Influenced by Darwin’s ideas
Example: A Mystery of Heroism by Stephen Crane
Regionalism
Also Known As: Local Color Realism
Style of writing that truthfully imitates ordinary life
and brings a particular region alive by portraying the
dialects, dress, mannerisms, customs, character types,
and landscapes of that region.
Mark Twain uses Regionalism frequently in his
writings.