REALISM AND
NATURALISM IN
AMERICAN LITERATURE
The Awakening
By Kate Chopin
Realism: the depiction of life as
most people live and know it
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Realism is a literary response to Romanticism
Concentrates on the typical and average, avoids
the unusual
Deals with the immediate, the here and now
Objective representation of life (plain and simple
truths of life and relationships)
Dealt with issues of ethics and conduct
Subject matter centered around the common
actions and minor catastrophes of a middle class
society.
Written in simple, clear and direct prose
The Tenets of Realism
(1870 -1910)
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Man has free will; what happens to him is
due to his choices
Life is shown and depicted realistically “a
slice of life”
Writers were objective and celebrated the
individual
Ideas dealt with the ordinary
Writing reported the moral condition of
ordinary people
Emphasized the real over the imaginary
Naturalism
(1890-1910)
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Naturalism is an extension of Realism
Naturalism is a literary movement that
attempts to apply scientific principles of
objectivity and detachment to its study of
human beings.
Naturalistic characters can be studied
through their relationships to their
surroundings and nature.
Beliefs of Naturalism
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An individual is a helpless object
Human existence is determined
and influenced by natural forces
Nature is indifferent to human
problems
Humanity has no control over fate
Fate is determined by one’s
environment
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Man does not have free will
Man is the victim of large, impersonal
forces and social-economical pressures
Moral choice is forced upon man by
heredity, his environment, and his
relationships
Man is animalistic
Man cannot deny animalistic tendencies
Man is the victim of his environment
Characteristics of Naturalism
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Objective
Examines life bluntly and crudely
Pessimistic tone
Overly descriptive
At times reduces characters to
degrading behavior to survive
Ideas dealt with the negative
Characteristics of the Period
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Naturalism thrived in America from 1890 to
1910. (Although its influence lasted more than
20 years.)
Between 1870 and 1890 the population of the
U.S. DOUBLED
Tenement housing issues grew in cities
(Tenements held as many families as possible,
no windows, poor ventilation, diseases spread
rapidly, little running water, TB common)
More growth in urban centers (cities)
Major reasons for growth in cities:
1. Immigration
2. Freed slaves after the Civil War
Major Naturalistic Writers
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Kate Chopin
(Major work: The Awakening)
Stephen Crane
(Major works: The Red Badge of
Courage and Maggie: A Girl of the
Streets)
Kate Chopin Background
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1850 - Born Katherine O’Flaherty born in St. Louis,
Missouri on February 8
1855 - Her father died in a train wreck when she was
five years old.
1860 - Entered the Academy of the Sacred Heart run
by an order of French Catholic nuns. During her
studies and as a writer she was greatly influenced by
Guy de Maupassant. He was a French realist author.
She wrote often about his works in her diary.
1869 – Wrote “Emancipation: A Life Fable” and met
Oscar Chopin
1870 Kate and Oscar marry and settle in New Orleans,
Louisiana (He is six years her elder.)
1871 - birth of first son, Jean
 1873 - birth of second son, Oscar Jr.
 1874 - birth of third son, George
 1876 - birth of fourth son, Frederick
 1878 - birth of fifth son, Felix
 1879 - birth of only daughter, Lelia; family
moves to Cloutierville, Louisiana
 1882 - Oscar dies of swamp fever
 1884 - Kate returns to St. Louis to live with
her mother, Eliza. She begins writing more
frequently.
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1885 – Eliza (Kate’s mother) dies
 1890 – Chopin’s first novel is published
titled: At Fault
 1891 Her second novel Young Dr. Gosse
and Theo is completed, but she is unable to
get it published and she destroys the
manuscript.
 1899 The Awakening is published. The
novel was not well received and her morals
were criticized.
 1904 Kate Chopin dies of a brain
hemorrhage at the age of 54.
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Kate Chopin
Image below from the archives of the Missouri Historical Society.
"Whatever we may do or attempt, despite the embrace and transports of love, the
hunger of the lips, we are always alone. I have dragged you out into the night in
the vain hope of a moment's escape from the horrible solitude which overpowers
me. But what is the use! I speak and you answer me, and still each of us is alone;
side by side but alone.” In 1895, these words, from a story by Guy de Maupassant
called “Solitude”, which she had translated for a St. Louis magazine, expressed a
melancholy wisdom that Kate Chopin found compelling. This quote has been
attributed as part of her inspiration for The Awakening.