Great Authors of the
Realist Age
9th Grade English
By Steven Dewhurst
By Steven Dewhurst
Introduction
• Welcome to your 9th grade Intro to Great Literature course!
During this unit, you will learn about many famous realist
authors and you will read some of their works. In this
presentation, you will learn about four well-known authors
and one work from each of them, and then take a short
quiz. Have fun!
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Mark Twain
Arthur Miller
Ray Bradbury
John Steinbeck
QUIZ!!!
Mark Twain Overview
• Born/Died: Nov 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910
• Notable Works:
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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
The Chronicle of Young Satan (unfinished)
• Other Notable Events:
• became a licensed steamboat captain in 1859
• newspaper reporter for the Virginia City
Territorial Enterprise
Early Life
• born in Florida, Missouri in 1835; moved to Hannibal
at age 4, lived there until age 17
• real name: Samuel Langhorne Clemens
• “worked as a storekeeper, lawyer, judge, and land
speculator”
• had a negative outlook on life
• father died in 1847; mother became leader of
household, Twain quit school to provide for family
Writing Huckleberry Finn
• written over many years
• received much negative criticism upon publication, even from his
own wife
• became very popular, regardless; had big influence on modern
American literature
•
"All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark
Twain called Huckleberry Finn”
–Ernest Hemingway
• Huck Finn’s success allowed Mark to earn a lot of money from
future works
Huckleberry Finn and Romanticism
• Twain had a distaste for Romantic literature
• Examples in Huckleberry Finn:
• Tom Sawyer: Huck’s friend; counters Huck’s realistic mindset with
fantastic stories of adventure
• Sir Walter Scott: the name of a famous Romantic writer; the name of a
sunken steamboat on the Mississippi River
• Grangerford/Shepherdson feud: parodies Shakespeare’s Romeo and
Juliet
• The Duke and the King: two characters that use false personas to con
the common folk out of money and valuable possessions
Later Life
• Twain headed west in 1861 to look for gold and silver
(failed)
• got a job as a reporter, and his stories became popular
• was well-known, popular author by 1869
• married Olivia (Livy) Langdon in 1870, and loved her
very much; had four children
• eventually, three of the children and Olivia died of
disease
• Twain lived out his remaining years as a broken man
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Arthur Miller Overview
• Born/Died: October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005
• Notable Works:
• Death of a Salesman
• All My Sons
• The Crucible
• Other Notable Events:
• married to Marilyn Monroe
• refused to help the House of Un-American Activities Committee “out
communists”
Early Life
• lived in Harlem, New York until
the Wall Street Crash of 1929;
moved to Gravesend, Brooklyn
• attended University of Michigan
after high school
• wrote his first play, No Villain
• took courses with professor
Kenneth Rowe
• Rowe’s approach to playwriting
inspired Miller’s pursuits
Death of a Salesman
• “Miller wrote the first act…in
less than a day”
• opened at Morosco Theatre on
February 10, 1949 to critical
acclaim
• was Miller’s first success and
most famous work
• “won him the triple crown of
theatrical artistry: the Pulitzer
Prize, the New York Drama
Critics’ Circle Award, and a Tony”
Death of a Salesman (Cont.)
• play protagonist, Willy Loman, is losing his touch as a
salesman in old age
• Salesman criticizes the American Dream:
•
•
•
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seemingly impossible to be financially successful
does “comfortable” living really make you happy?
work ethic doesn’t equate to success
pursuit of American Dream negatively affects
mental/physical health, family relations
• Willy struggles with all of these issues
Later Life
• continued to struggle with “the weightiest of societal
and personal matters”
• “last play of note was The Price (1968), a piece about
family dynamics”
• third wife died in 2002; planned to marry Agnes
Barley, but died of heart attack in 2005 at age 89
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Ray Bradbury Overview
• Born/Died: August 22, 1920 – June 5, 2012
• Notable Works:
• Fahrenheit 451
• The Illustrated Man
• The Martian Chronicles
• Other Notable Events:
• studied in local library as substitute to college
education
• wished works to be considered fantasy rather
than sci-fi
• had a distaste for TV, but wanted his works to
be adapted
Early Life
• born and raised in Waukegan, Illinois; later used childhood
events in short stories
• loved reading about magicians and action and fantasy
genres
• decided to become a writer between age 12-13; wanted to
be immortalized with his work
• moved to Los Angeles in 1934, joined the drama club
• studied in a library “’three days a week for 10 years,’” since
he lacked money for the college due to the Depression
Fahrenheit 451 Controversy
• published in 1953; “Bradbury’s best-known work”
• “became an instant classic in the era of McCarthyism for its
exploration of themes of censorship and conformity”
• gained both praise and criticism/suspicion
• “In 2007, Bradbury himself disputed that censorship was
the theme of Fahrenheit 451, instead explaining the book as
a story about how television drives away interest in
reading”.
Fahrenheit 451
• future where all books are banned and burned
• penalty for possession of books is death or banishment from
society
• main character, Guy Montag, is a fireman who burns books
• meets a strange girl, Clarisse; begins to start thinking for himself
• conflict resides with Montag’s unwillingness to change/inner
desire for freedom
• friends and family begin to see changes; harder to hide his
intellectualism
• is it better to conform and be safe, or risk safety to express
individuality?
Later Life
• “wrote for several hours every day
throughout his entire life”
• “wrote well into his 90s;” daughters
would write his words for him
• ended up publishing over 30 books,
600 short stories, etc.
• won many awards, but favorite was
becoming the United States Pavilion’s
“’idea consultant’” for the 1964
World’s Fair
• accepted his branding as a science
fiction/fantasy author; said that other
people’s opinions “’don’t count’” to
him
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John Steinbeck Overview
• Born/Died: February 27, 1902 – December
20, 1968
• Notable Works:
• The Grapes of Wrath
• Of Mice and Men
• Tortilla Flat
• Other Notable Events:
• dropped out of college to pursue writing
• Won a Pulitzer Prize for The Grapes of Wrath
• “served as a war correspondent for the New
York Herald Tribune during World War II”
Early Life
• father worked many jobs to keep family fed; mother was a
schoolteacher
• was shy, but smart; lived a modest but happy life with his
three sisters
• “formed an early appreciation for the land…which would
greatly inform his later writing”
• decided to become a writer at age 14
• enrolled at Stanford University in 1919, but dropped out in
1925
The Grapes of Wrath Overview
• published in 1939
• about a family starting a new life in California during the
Great Depression
• “Widely considered Steinbeck's finest and most ambitious
novel…”
• “sold 10,000 copies per week”
• “earned Steinbeck a Pulitzer Prize in 1940”
The Grapes of Wrath and the
Depression
• John spent time with affected families; was
disgusted by the suffering they were
subject to
• settled on an approach after visiting a
camp in Bakersfield, CA
• was loved and hated upon publication:
• some loved its honest portrayal of life
during the Depression
• some accused Steinbeck of expressing
Communist ideals
• many Californian farmers were offended at
the book’s portrayal
Later Life
• became war correspondent
during WWII
• Went to Gulf of California
with Edward F. Ricketts;
collaborated on the book
Sea of Cortez
• “continued to write in his
later years”
• awarded the Nobel Prize
for Literature in 1962
• “died of heart disease on
December 20, 1968”
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Question 1
• Which of these characters
do not represent Twain’s
satirical views of
Romanticism in Huck Finn?
1. Tom Sawyer
2. Twain’s wife
3. Shepherdsons
Two Sides of the Same Coin
• Nope, sorry. Tom Sawyer is one of the strongest
representations of Romanticism in the novel. While Huck is
very realistic, Tom is constantly reworking stories of
adventure that he reads, which sometimes makes it difficult
for Huck to interact with Tom concerning real-world issues.
Go ahead and try again!
The Bad Sheep
• Not quite. In the novel, the Shepherdsons were having a
feud with the Grangerfords, which satires William
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Twain cements his distaste
for Romanticism by taking the formula in an even more
absurd direction, in which the families no longer even
remember why they are fighting, but continue to do so
anyway. Try again!
Transforming Love
• Correct! Mark never alludes to his wife in the novel. He also
held her in very high regard, hoping that she would help
him to become more cultured and proper. Well, time to
move on to the next question!
Question 2
• Which of these claims does Death of a
Salesman criticize about the American
Dream?
1.
Comfortable living (i.e. steady job, strong
income, possessions) provides
happiness
2.
Pursuit of financial success strengthens
one’s mental and physical health
3.
Strong work ethic always brings success
4.
All of the above
Can’t Pay Your Way Out
• Yes, the fickleness of happiness stemming from money is
criticized. Willy believed that his efforts would bring him
happiness, but instead he became even more stressed as
time went on. However, there’s a better answer. Go back
and try again!
Money on My Mind
• True, the main focus of the play is Willie’s back-and-forth
between reality and his mental illusions, but there’s still a
better answer. Try again!
Love of Money is the Root of All
Evil
• Correct! All of the answers were criticisms from the play!
You seem to be well-grounded in reality, unlike a certain
salesman we all know. You may move on to the next
question!
Work Hard. Play Hard?
• It is true that despite Willie’s vigorous efforts, he was
undercut as a man and a salesman, but there’s still a better
answer. Why don’t you try again?
Question 3
• True or False: Ray Bradbury himself claimed that
Fahrenheit 451 was about television making people lose
interest in reading, rather than about more general themes
of censorship and conformity.
1. True
2. False
Maybe the Curtain’s Just Blue…
• Nope, sorry. This is a great example of how readers can be
so sure that they understand the message an author is
trying to convey, but still end up getting it wrong or looking
too deep. It doesn’t mean that your interpretations can’t
mean anything to you, but sometimes that blue curtain is
no more than a blue curtain… Try again!
TV Rots Your Brain
• Correct! Maybe you feel the same way as Bradbury, or
maybe you don’t, but that’s what he said! It’s time to move
on to the final question! Just don’t leave any burn marks…
Question 4
• Which of these statements about The Grapes of Wrath is not
true?
1.
Farmers were offended by how the book portrayed them
2.
Steinbeck was accused of Communism because of the book’s
themes
3.
The book was universally hated at the time of its publication
Importance
• Nope, sorry. Despite the fact that Steinbeck wrote The
Grapes of Wrath out of his heartache for these people’s
living conditions, many farmers were still offended by his
work. Try again!
Baby’s a Red
• Steinbeck was accused of
expressing Communist
sympathies within the
themes of The Grapes of
Wrath. It was actually
quite common for the
great writers of the time to
be accused of such things.
Go ahead and try again!
Love It, Hate It
• Correct! Despite receiving a lot of negative criticism, The
Grapes of Wrath received a lot of positive attention as well,
and it has continued to grow in popularity as an excellent
example of the hardships of the Great Depression and also
its continued relevance to modern society. You may
proceed to the end of the presentation!
The End
• Congratulations, you have completed the Great Authors of
the Realist Age unit overview! Continue on to the next slide
to finish!
Sources
• "Arthur Asher Miller." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2014.
Web. 24 Sep. 2014.
• "John Ernst Steinbeck Jr." Bio. A&E Television Networks,
2014. Web. 08 Oct. 2014.
• "Ray Bradbury Douglas." Bio. A&E Television Networks,
2014. Web. 01 Oct. 2014.
• "Samuel Langhorne Clemens." Bio. A&E Television
Networks, 2014. Web. 24 Sep. 2014.
• Shmoop Editorial Team. "The Grapes of
Wrath." Shmoop.com . Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov.
2008. Web. 8 Oct. 2014.
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