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THE REAL AMERICA
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The Age of Realism
What is character but the determination of
an incident? What is the incident but theillustration of Character?
Henry James
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Realism
Begins in France, as realisme, a literarydoctrine calling for reality and truth in the
depiction of ordinary life.
Grounded in the belief that there is an objectivereality which can be portrayed with truth andaccuracy as the goal;
The writer does not select facts in accord withpreconceived ideals, but rather sets downobservations impartially and objectively.
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1881- HenryJames PublishesPortrait of a Lady
1881-Clara BartonFounds the Red
Cross
1881- Booker TWashingtonFound the
Tuskegee Institute
1884- Mark Twainpublishes
Huckleberry Finn
1883-BrooklynBridge built
1894- KateChopin Publishes
Bayou Folk
1885 firstSkyscraper built in
Chicago
First GasPowered
Automobile
1894- StephenCrane publishesRed Badge of
Courage
1890- Massacreat Wounded Knee
1895 X RayDiscovered
1896 First ModernOlympics
1900- TheodoreDreiser publishes
Sister Carrie
1898- SpanishAmerican War
1899- AspirinInvented
1903 WrightBrothers fly first
plane
1906- UptonSinclair publishes
The Jungle
1905- AlbertEinstein
formulates theTheory ofRelativity
1910-JaneAdams publishesTwenty Years at
Hull House
Henry Ford Buildsfirst Model T and
The Assembly line
Sigmund FreudPublishes The
Origin andDevelopment ofPsychoanalysis
1913-Willa CatherPublishes O
Pioneers1912- HMS
Titanic Sinks
1914-Dr. AlbertScweitzer opens
clinic in Africa1914 WWI Begins
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The Age of Realism:Marked by the End of the Civil War:1861-1865
Cost of the Civil War The Human Cost
1,094,543 Casualties
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
Two percent of US population died in the Civil War, with onlyWWII claiming more lives;
Economic Cost
Estimated at 6.6 billion, which would be 165 billion today
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The Effects of The IndustrialRevolution
Migration from rural to urban areas
Independent, skilled workers replacedby semi-skilled laborers;
Large corporations were established,devaluing the personal relationshipbetween management and workers or
company and customers.
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Mass Communication and Migration
Coast-to-coastcommunication Pony Express (1860)10
daysTelegraph (1861)justseconds to communicate
across countryTransatlantic telegraphcable (1866) allowed instantcommunicate with Europe
Telephone patented (1867)By 1900, 1.3 million
telephones in U.S.Coast-to-coast travel
Transcontinental Railroad(1869)By 1889, coast-to-coasttravel4 days
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Other Social Changes
Migration westward expanded the U.S. from theAtlantic to the Pacific Native American populations displaced and subjugated;
Growth of Industry
Steelmaking, the nations dominant industry Alternating electrical current (1886)
American petroleum industry begins
Growth of population Total population doubled from 1870 to 1890
National income quadrupled
Gap between rich and poor widened
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INTELLECTUAL
REVOLUTION: CHANGES IN
THINKING BROUGHT
ABOUT BY CHANGES INSOCIETY
Changes in scienceChanges in psychologyChanges in philosophy
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Science: Charles Darwin
Published The Origin ofSpecies,
Hypothesized that man is theproduct of evolution,
Man is special not becauseGod created him in Hisimage, but because man had
successfully adapted tochanging environmental
conditions and had passed on his
survival-makingcharacteristics to his progeny.
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Psychology: Sigmund Freud
Believed that the mindcould be understood interms of repressed
urges, usually sexual;
Theorized anunconscious system ofideas that governs
human reactions andresponse;
Id, Ego, and Super-ego
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Philosophy: Karl Marx
Explained humanhistory as the resultof class struggles;
Human identity isdefined by socialcontext;
It is human nature totransform nature.
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Philosophy: American
Pragmatism
Truth is tested by itsusefulness or practicalconsequences;
Truth is a commodityaccessible on the surface ofthings;
Its perceptible to the sensesand verifiable throughexperience;
Permanent truths exist apartfrom the material worldthemind of God, Platos idealforms
William James
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REGIONALISM ANDLOCAL COLOR
Mark Twain and Willa Cather
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A Reaction against Romanticism
Authors sought toportray life as they
saw it, insisting thatthe ordinary andlocal were just assuitable for art as
the sublime.
Nothing more and nothing less than
the truthful treatment of material.
William Dean Howells
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Key Concepts
1. Desire to record, celebrate andmythologize the cast diversity of theUS diverse regions
2. Pay Strict attention to recordingaccurately the speech, mannerism,behavior, and beliefs of people inspecific locales
3. Local-color writing that paints thelocal scene and the trends towardthe humorous or the sentimental
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Characteristics of Local Color
I. Settingoften remote and usually integralto the story;
II. Charactersmore concerned with thecharacter of the region than an
individualquaint, stereotypical; Narrator-- an educated observer from the worldbeyond whos often deceived
Emphasis on dialect Use of stock characters
III. Plotnothing much happens, revolvesaround the community and its rituals
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Themes in Local Color
1. Dislike of change, nostalgia for analways-past Golden Age;
2. Triumphant trickster or trickster
tricked;3. Tall tale-tradition, conflicts described
humorously, larger than life
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Mark Twain aka SamuelClemens
Born in Missouri Steamboat pilot
Typesetter
Gold prospector
Ex confederate
soldier Journalist
Prose writer Loved to exaggerate
the truth and createtall tales
Notable works The Adventures of
Tom Sawyer andHuckleberry Finn
Life on theMississippi
Fiction is obliged tostick to thepossibilities. Truth
Isnt Twain
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Key elements to Twain
A realistic approach reflects thepeople and characteristics of theregion
Vernacular Speech, the everydaylanguage of people who live in aparticular society and locale
Colorful figures of speech, includingmetaphors, simile and hyperbole areused to add humor and vitality
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Willa Cather
Born in Nebraska Influenced by growing
up in the Wild WildWest of the US
Studied at theUniversity of Nebraska
Found literary successin the muckrakingmagazine Mclures Served as writer and
editor Notable Works
My Antonia
A Wager Matinee
O Pioneers!
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PSYCHOLOGICALREALISM
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Characteristics of Realism
1. Subject matterordinary people and events;2. PurposeVerisimilitude, the truthful
representation of life;
3. Point of Viewomniscient and objective
4. Charactersmiddle class, psychological realism5. Plot de-emphasized
1. Focus on everyday life
2. Complex ethical choices often the subject
3. Events are made to seem the inevitable result ofcharacters choices
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Themes in Realism
Humans control their destinies characters act on their environment rather
than simply reacting to it.
Slice-of-life technique often ends without traditional formal
closure, leaving much untold to suggestmans limited ability to make sense of his
life.
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Key Concepts
1. Realism reacts against Romanticismand its idealized heroes andsensational situations
2. It aims at an accurate andunsentimental depiction of socialissues and problems
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Psychological
Determinism Man is a victim
of his inner and
subconsciousself (Freud).
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NATURALISM
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Objectives of Naturalism
Presentation is objective and detached Subject matterraw and unpleasant
experiences which reduce people todegrading circumstances in order to
survive; Setting commonplace and un-heroic Novelist discovers qualities in lower class
characters usually associated with heroes Suggestion that life on lowest levels is more
complicated
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Naturalism: A Harsher Realism
Definition: A literature that depictssocial problems and views humans asvictims of larger biological,
psychological and social andeconomic forces.
Scientific determinism
Psychological determinism Historical determinism
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Themes in Naturalism
Man is fundamentally an animal, withoutfree will; Governed by determinism
External and internal forces, environment orheredity control behavior;
Characters have compensating humanisticvalues which affirm life;
Struggle for life becomes heroic and affirmshuman dignity
Pessimistic view of human capabilitieslifeis a trap