Charles Baudelaire, Leo Tolstoy, and Anton Chekhov: Change during Romanticism, Realism, and Naturalism

The Changeable nature of life affects us all somehow. Whether it be moving to a new city, having children, or losing people that we love, it can affect people in many different ways. For example, in the novel, the main character

The period of Romanticism, occurring between the years 1800 and 1860, left a significant impact on not only the literature of that time, but the literature of today as well. Prior to romantic writings, the world focused on society and logic. Romanticism allowed people to start valuing individualism and to appeal to emotional responses. This new way of thinking brought new literary styles, themes, and genres that were never explored before and are still found today. The literature of Romanticism allowed people to escape the harshness of reality and enter a different world.

There are many types of change, change in perspective, emotional change, physically change and world change. In Looking for Alibrandi, the author, Melina Marchetta demonstrates, the concept of change not only through the main character, Josephine, but also some other minor characters such as Michael Andretti and John Barton though the majority is shown through Josephine. The poem, “The Door” by Miroslav Holub is very similar to Looking for Alibrandi as it also shows the concept of change but it tells us that change can mean that anything could happen even if that anything is nothing. Change can be good, it can be bad, change can be anything and it can even start relationships.

Change is something you are probably familiar with. In “Beneath the Smooth Skin of America,” Scott R. Sanders talks about many changes in his life. The author starts the story looking throw the eyes of himself as a child. As a child he remembers that all that was in his sight was all he could see. The author’s best example of this is he says, ”Neighbors often appeared…where they came from I could not imagine” (27). As the author begins to see more by leaving the area he was around so often he starts to see more and more things. He started moving around to different places and started seeing the things that he had not see before. The author points out many things that he began to see like the stores

The stories of Anton Chekhov mark a focal moment in European fiction. This is the point where 19th realist caucus of the short stories started their transformation into modern form. As such, his work straddles two traditions. The first is that of the anti-romantic realism which has a sharp observation of external social detail. It has human behavior conveyed within tight plot. The second is the modern psychological realism in which the action in typically internal and expressed in associative narrative that is built on epiphanic moments. In consideration of the two sides, Chekhov developed powerful personal styles that presage modernism without losing traditional frills of the form. This essay will discuss the Chekhov's portrayal of women.

Romanticism was a philosophical, artistic and literary movement that originated in the 18th century. This was characterized chiefly by a reaction against neoclassicism and the period of Enlightenment, which was more scientific and rational in nature. However, romanticism stressed an emphasis on the imagination and emotions. For example, the Enlightenment thinkers condemned the Middle Ages as “Dark Ages”, a period of ignorance and irrationality. The romantics, conversely, idealized

John F. Kennedy once said, “Change is the law of life.” Certainly, change is an indisputable fact of life, for the world--and by extension, people--will constantly metamorphose and progress with the passing of time. Franz Kafka’s novella The Metamorphosis and Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House both illuminate on this natural, continual process of change that exists within people by narrating dramatic stories in which the changes that occur within the key characters of the stories ultimately affect the outcomes of the stories. Kafka’s The Metamorphosis tells an almost

Change is a force which is ever-present in the universe, and an individual is never free from its effects; change will continuously mold the individual by challenging its perception of its surroundings and itself. In many ways, change causes development and maturity, yet it also causes decline and decay. Change is constant. However, the paradox of change is often difficult to accept, and people will fight with its reality throughout their lifetimes: friends will come and go, epiphanies and advances will arrive, and things will never quite be like they used to be. The struggle between change and the individual is a recurring part of Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine. This relationship shows not only through the main character, Doug Spaulding, but also through those around him. Doug and the rest of Green Town show how people contend with changes in that which they know, those whom they know, and even themselves.

The period of Romanticism, occurring between the years 1800 and 1860, left a significant impact on not only the literature of that time, but the literature of today as well. Prior to romantic writings, the world focused on society and logic. Romanticism allowed people to start valuing individualism and to appeal to emotional responses. This new way of thinking brought new literary styles, themes, and genres that were never explored before and are still found today. The literature of Romanticism allowed people to escape the harshness of reality and enter a different world.

Change is to become different, and every day, something changes, whether it is the weather, the age of something or someone, or even the government. One must learn that change occurs in everybody's life and in order to grow one must accept change. J.D. Salinger's book named The Catcher in the Rye provides an excellent example of change. The Catcher in the Rye's main character, Holden Caulfield has a difficult time in accepting that life is all about change and discovery. He shows these traits through the idea of adults being phonies, alienation and loneliness, the idea of being the catcher in the rye, and the idea of change by going back to the museum and elementary school.

Anton Chekhov, born in Taganrog, Russia on January 17, 1860, was considered the father of the modern short story and modern play. In 1875, his father lost his business and was forced to leave to find work in Moscow in order to pay off his debt. Anton and his three younger siblings were left with their mother, Yevgeniya, after a while they lost their home and decided to move to Moscow to be with Chekhov’s father. Chekhov, who was left behind in Taganrog to finish his schooling, helped his family financially by tutoring children in Taganrog. He found work in a clothing warehouse until he finished his final exams. After school, he joined his family in Moscow, where he continued his studies in the medical field at the University of Moscow. Chekhov used his own experiences of living in Moscow in his short story “The Lady With the Dog”.

Change. A word that is relevant to today in many ways. Change can be very hard to accept, and wanting to go back to the way things were goes hand in hand with change. the dislike of change is shown in There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury and An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir, in these stories both characters are forced to make a change when something big in their life's taken away from them. Tahir and Bradbury emphasize the dislike of change through Laia and the House’s actions.

Perseverance- In the introduction section of this book, Ronald Blythe talks about the struggles that the author of this book went through as he wrote this book. Leo Tolstoy has always been fascinated with death and had spent much of his time as a writer researching about death. An interesting thing about Tolstoy was that while he was specifically writing this book he experienced death in very hard and close ways. He worked through many deaths in his family including the death of one of his young sons. This shows the perseverance that Tolstoy had when he was working on his work. It it really respectable that he was able to work through these hard times and take those feelings and channel them into his work. Although these times were hard,

The Romantic Era was a period of that examined emotions and put them into words. Romantics abandoned the logical traditional Western World thought which believed that intelligence was the method used to understand the world. However, the Romantics opted to espouse imagination and feelings as a veritable approach to empathize the world. (James ,488)

One of the sweet comforts in life is curling up in a favorite chair with a short story that will carry us away from our everyday lives for an hour or two. On rare occasions, we find a tale that mirrors real life in such a way that we are strangely comforted by the normalcy reflected in the words. A perfect example of a story about ordinary life that will soothe the soul in search for some insight on understanding human behavior is Anton Chekhov’s “The Lady with the Little Dog.” This piece is definitive of the literary period of realism during the late nineteenth century that was influenced by this brilliant writer and others such as Guy de Maupassant and Kate Chopin. This style of writing has such a mass appeal because the “characters