realism, regionalism, and naturalism

realism, regionalism, and naturalism

Historical Context

• The industrial revolution that took place at the end of the 19th century changed our country in remarkable ways.

• People left rural homes for opportunities in urban cities.

• With the development of new machinery and equipment, the U.S. economy became more focused on factory production; Americans did not have to chiefly rely on farming and agriculture to support their families.

• At the same time, immigrants from all over the world crowded into tenements to take advantage of new urban opportunities.

• In the end, the sweeping economic, social, and political changes that took place in post-war life allowed American Realism to prevail. 

Realism

• Portrayed ordinary life and characters and events in an objective, almost factual way, free from subjective prejudice, idealism, or romantic color

• American writers eventually felt the need to observe and describe their settings and characters with as much accuracy as possible

• The intuitive (subjective) leap of the romantics was replaced by accurate depictions of setting, customs, manners and speech (objective) 

Multiple Choice

Realist writers aimed to depict life in what way?

• Realistic/objective/free-will

• Realistic/subjective/ predetermined

• Fictional/objective/ free-will

• Fictional/ subjective/ determined

​Irony in Realism

• ​​Irony was a thriving literary device used during this time.

• Dramatic irony: When the audience knows something that the main characters do not.

• Situational irony: Situational irony occurs when an expected outcome is subverted.

• Verbal irony: A speaker says one thing while meaning another, resulting in an ironic clash between their intended meaning and their literal meaning.

Realist Authors

• Kate Chopin

• Ambrose Bierce

Multiple Choice

What literary device was frequently used by Realist authors?

• Personification

• Simile

• Alliterations

• Irony

Regionalism/Local Color

• sought to capture the essence of life in the various regions of our growing country; regional dialect/speech, landscape, customs, beliefs

• American realists built their plots and characters around people's ordinary, everyday lives.

• Additionally, their works contained regional dialects and extensive dialogue which connected well with the public.

• Conversely, the public had little patience for the slow paced narratives, allegory and symbolism of the romantic writers.

• America was shifting into higher gear and readers wanted writers who clearly communicated the complexities of their human experiences. 

​Regionalist Authors

• ​Zora Neale Hurston

• ​William Faulkner

Multiple Choice

What focus of regionalism made it different from other realist writers?

• regional dialect/speech

• regional customs, beliefs

• regional landscape

• all of the above

Naturalism

• Naturalism: suggests that lives and events are decided by forces beyond our control; forces such as environment, heredity, and chance determine one's destiny; Determinism— position that human life is determined by environmental forces, not by human free will 

• Survival (often survival in brutal nature), determinism, violence—man against nature, man against himself o Law of the Jungle or “survival of the fittest”

• Naturalism often depicts this determinism using objective writing to portray everyday life.

Naturalism cont.

• Nature is an indifferent force acting on the lives of human beings.

• Naturalistic texts often describe the futile attempts of human beings to exercise free will in this deterministic universe that reveals free will as an illusion.

• Characters are often poorly educated, lower class; controlled by forces of heredity, animalistic instinct, raw passion; no free will or choice—determinism; cannot control “the brute within” 

Multiple Choice

Naturalists believe that free will is a[n]...

• right

• illusion

• privilege

Naturalist Authors

• Stephen Crane

• Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Multiple Choice

What is a key difference between realist and naturalist writers?

• Objective view

• Determinism

• everyday settings