realism, regionalism, and naturalism

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. 

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) 

​​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.

Kate Chopin

Ambrose Bierce

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. 

​Zora Neale Hurston

​William Faulkner

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.

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” 

Stephen Crane

Charlotte Perkins Gilman