A Comparison Of Realism InA Sweatshop Romance?

Realism is easily identified when we analyze the works of Gustave Courbet and Jean-François-Millet. 19th century French painter Courbet is even known for creating the term Realism. Courbet aspired to find liberty

One example of the first point of realism is, “After all these years I can picture that old time to myself now, just as it was then: the white town drowsing in the sunshine of a summer's morning; the streets empty, or pretty nearly so; one or two clerks sitting in front of the Water Street stores, with their splint-bottomed chairs tilted back against the wall, chins on breasts, hats slouched over their faces, asleep-- with shingle-shavings enough around to show what broke them down; a sow and a litter of pigs loafing along the sidewalk, doing a good business in watermelon rinds and seeds; two or three lonely little freight piles scattered about the 'levee;' a pile of 'skids' on the slope of the stone-paved

In the years following the Civil War occurred a period of literary upheaval. American Realism was dedicated to faithful representation of all aspects of life in America. The plots and characters of these works were based on the day to day lives of ordinary individuals. Many of the works contained regional dialects that allowed all of its readers to connect with the text. The readers were fascinated by the idea of realism because it demonstrated several struggles that they themselves faced in their ordinary lives in America. Realists perceived American individuals to be simple beings, however as more focus placed on them rather than the plot.

Realism represents issues occurring around the world. Realism represents these real-life problems and solutions that people tend to go through in their everyday life. Authors portray the setting to give us an idea of where it is taking place and certain events that had happened in the past. In “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” Farquhar’s loyalty to the south and being lie too ultimately causes his death. In “Editha”, Editha fantasizes about her husband becoming a hero, someone who he is not meant to be.

Realism “was used to refer to literary fiction that was rooted in the observation and documentation of the details of everyday life” (Levine 7). This means that the authors of that time did not solely state facts in their work, but instead they used their own perceptions. Writers described

“True realism consists in revealing the surprising things which habit keeps covered and prevents us from seeing.” This quote by Jean Cocteau provides an accurate summary of realism in American literature. Authors such as Raymond Carver and William Faulkner strived to expose their readers to defects, either internal or external. Their literature puts humanity under the microscope, and allows the reader to examine their daily life from a safe distance. Under examination, many shortcomings can be uncovered. Occasionally, an author will not only reveal these flaws, but provide a practical solution. More often than not though, realists will leave it up to their reader to formulate a cure.

Realism can be difined in various ways, but William Dean Howell defines realism in the most simplistic, but very accurate, way. William Howell says realism is based off of one’s life situations and these life situations will determine what one will find as true. One critical text chosen from the ‘Realism and Naturalism Contextual Cluster’ would be Jack London’s “What Life Means to Me”. Jack London, who lived from 1876 to 1916, had a series of writings on this topic in the early 1900’s. With this writing being created during a socialist time period, it adds emphases on realism and how to relate real life developments with certain situations that have took place.

"Authors began to focus their writing on ordinary people and their everyday lives" which caused the shift from Romanticism to Realism to begin.Many American authors were influenced by this movement ("Realism"). Realism inspired these authors to take into a deeper meaning the realties of life by further examining the obstacles and circumstances they have undergone (Marshall). The main ideas of literature shifted from giving people supernatural traits to authors portraying humans as the ordinary person ("Realism"). The major theme of this time period was to preserve the foundations that America’s forefathers laid down for the country. The Civil War was ultimately a second chance for the nation to rebuild and gain back the beneficial aspects that were overlooked in times of change. Realism began around the time of the Civil War and ended in early 1900. The changes in the writing styles shifted America’s views on the works of literature in the time period and caused a drastic change in the country (Leonard). Realists wanted to use the diction of the typical person to be able to connect to them and portray the concreteness of life

It extended to the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century Realism was a way of writing of how everyday life was. It was usually about the life of the lower and middle classes. Realism in literature was the attempt to write about everyday people and situations in an unideal way.

Realism was a genre that shared with it readers the truth of what was going on in society. It had a more journalistic appeal and a lot of the authors that wrote during this period were also publishers. The authors of this genre brought issues to light

Realism came about in literary works in the 19th century, and portrayed real life unlike the previous Enlightenment and Romanticism movements prior. Writers and people were sick of the neat, happy stories and endings that were written by the two previous movements, and those people wanted something they could relate to. Because of this, Realistic writers wrote about the boring, ordinary lives that regular folks led and did not sugar-coat anything that occurred but was brutally honest. In the words of Randall Craig, “Realistic writers educate readers, not through humiliation, but by familiarizing them with a re-presented world and enabling them to discover the rules by which it works and to apply them both to the fictional and extra-fictional

Realism is the portrayal of the reality of everyday life and period of literature between 1850-1900. Realist fictions speculate myths, assumptions, social norms, sentimentality, collective wisdom, and prejudices. Realism stories are usually about the middle-class people, and it aims to show a truthful portrayal of truth. Regionalism is a class of realist literature distinguished by closeness to the habits, language, dialects, manners, history, traditions, beliefs of a particular geographical region. Regionalism manifests the characters of both realism and romanticism. Romanticism is cultural the period from 1830-1860 in America. Humankind is naturally good. The characteristics of romanticism are passion and emotion, nature over the man, spiritual, intuition, and insight. "A White Heron," by Sarah Orne Jewett, is an example of local color because of its realism. Jewett uses characteristics of regionalism like dialogue to show the contrast between the locals and outsiders, habits, their daily activities, the dress, features of a place. "Editha" by William is the story of realism which has many characteristics of realism like details about war; he uses dialect to hold out the trend of the story, using middle-class peoples character. Dean Howell uses a part of romantic style but all together its categorized as one of the

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, together with the numerous significant American poets, considered realism to be a faithful representation of what they viewed as a truthful portrayal of the reality in the era in which they lived in. With directly approaching the truth, they created the literary movement which was a genuine reflection of reality. The middle of the nineteenth century was the ideal period for the establishment of the realism. As opposed to Romanticism which stresses the importance of one's individual feelings, Realism is attached to the problems that arise in a society, as well as their true colors. Realism offers different interpretation of the term individual, because realism emphasizes the importance of society and the person as part within that society. Realism brings a new way of practicing life, for involving the

America and its literature was once heavily influenced by the writings of romanticism. But during the time of wars, people in America “threw away their rose-colored glasses and saw the world for it was.” And although this is how most realism writers ideas are portrayed, naturalism took it one step further and correlated it to human behaviors and beliefs. Great authors were not only inspired by events around their time period but also by other authors who had come before them and what they wrote about.

Realism deals with reality and both A Doll’s House and The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio show this concept in different ways like economic issues the middle class/lower class deal with rather than the issues of the higher class. One way Realism is connected to these examples through economic problems is that men were expected to bring in all of the income. In The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio Evelyn’s husband, Kelly, did not like her contesting because her prize money was used to pay bills or other needs. The man was supposed to bring in the income for the home, but because Kelly is an alcoholic it is like he does not even have a job