Realism and Naturalism in late 19th Century

Question 1

Characterize the times

Answer 1

• after the Civil War - US changed to an industrial nation
  o people lived in large cities
  o industrial revolution - brought prosperity and created urban poverty
  o social stratification

Question 2

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Answer 2

Mark Twain [Samuel Clemens]
- Vernacular (= local dialect)
- racist language (to be more realistic)

Question 3

The Awakening

Answer 3

Kate Chopin
- early feminist writer
- taboo topics:
a) miscegenation (mixing of races)
b) female sexuality (some of her characters feel lost)

• middle class mother wants to be a painter
• she cannot reconcile her marital and maternal duties with her longing self-fulfilment

Question 4

A realist writer should:

Answer 4

• follow the psychology of their experience, no cheap sensationalism
• pay attention to detail
• follow the psychology of their characters
• be familiar with the things she is writing

Question 5

Who wrote about Czech community in Nebraska?

Answer 5

Willa Cather
- very strong female characters

Question 6

The Age of Innocence

Answer 6

Edith Wharton
- a love triangle story (about stigma of divorce + social criticism)

Question 7

Trifles (a play)

Answer 7

Susan Glaspell
- in your face feminist play

Question 8

Division:

Answer 8

1) LOCAL COLOUR - regionalist writing (REALISM)
- local stories, regional dialects
- kolorit; special flavour of a place

• Bret Harte, Mark Twain, Kate Chopin (Louisiana), Willa Cather

2) MUCKRAKING – investigative journalism (NATURALISM)
- industrial poverty and other brutal settings (other grievances of the unregulated capitalism)
(= trying to find out unpleasant information about someone)
- many of these authors are novelists

• Stephen Crane, Theodore Dreiser, Frank Norris, Upton Sinclair + Jack London

Question 9

Characterize Naturalism

Answer 9

• doesn’t avoid the ugliest side of life (deliberately searches for extreme situations)
• pessimistic about human freedom
• pessimistic determinism

Question 10

What is determinism?

Answer 10

• notion that my life is determined by circumstances that I’m not in full control of (biological x social det.)
• anti-American dream formula = some people cannot lift themselves up (social det.)
• we shouldn’t flatter ourselves with being human, we go by instinct, alcoholism (bio det.)

Question 11

The Red Badge of Courage

Answer 11

Stephen Crane
- a young unionist soldier hopes he will prove himself on the battlefield
- but in the first fight he runs away
- no shame, obeys instinct, willpower is not strong enough

Question 12

Romanticism X Realism

Answer 12

Romanticism: you are encouraged to follow the lofty narrative arc (rising action, crisis…)
- writing from imagination

Realism: it is not frequently action driven, the most important thing happens in somebody’s head – character psychology
- writing from experience

Question 13

Maggie, a Girl of the Street

Answer 13

Stephen Crane
- a young girl with abusive parents
- kicked out of the house, turns to prostitution and dies
- tendency to give in (to alcohol)

Question 14

An American Tragedy

Answer 14

• someone wants to kill his pregnant girlfriend so he could marry more eligible woman (social opportunism)

Question 15

The Octopus

Answer 15

Frank Norris
- a novel about a huge pacific railroad company that forces farmers off their land

Question 16

tabloid

Answer 16

Theodore Dreiser
- a lot of Dreiser’s stories psychologies around a story from a tabloid newspaper
- inspired by yellow journalism (bulvár)

Question 17

The Jungle

Answer 17

Upton Sinclair
- talks about how bad the hygiene and conditions (long shifts, infections..) are in the meat factory

Question 18

The Iron heel

Answer 18

Jack London
- dystopian novel