Realism and Naturalism

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Realism and Naturalism

• 1865-1910

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Realism

• Realism is a nineteenth-century literary movement
  that depicts life without idealizing or
  romanticizing it.
• It usually focuses on middle and lower class
  people such as shop girls, merchants, poor
  factory workers, etc.

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• Realism attempts to explain why ordinary people
  behave the way they do.
• Realists believe that people can choose their own
  directions in life and make their own moral
  choices.

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Authors to Remember

• Ambrose Bierces story An Occurrence at Owl
  Creek Bridge represents the new wave in fictions
  realism
• Kate Chopin depicts Louisianas unique mix of
  cultures
• Mark Twain and Bret Harte convey to the nation
  the rough excitement of the West.

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Naturalism

• Naturalism is an extreme kind of realism.
• Naturalists believe in the Survival of the
  Fittest
• It stresses that mankind is a victim of fate or
  circumstance caught in the vicious struggle of
  life.

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• Naturalists believe that people have little
  control over their own lives.
• Naturalistic writers see mankind as creatures
  acted upon by nature. They try to write
  objectively about life.
• Naturalist writers such as Frank Norris and
  Stephen Crane focus on the powerful economic,
  social, and environmental forces that shape the
  lives of the individuals.

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Six things that led to the rise of realism and
naturalism

1. Civil War
2. Growth or railroads and telegraphs
3. Influence of foreign literature
4. Science Darwins Origin of the Species
5. Mass immigration overcrowding in cities,
   hunger, child labor, etc.
6. Rapid industrialization