Realism 1865-1915 1865 Population - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Realism

1865-1915Slide2

1865 Population 35 Million

1915 Population

100 MillionSlide3

Exploration and Exploitation

America has passed its greatest test

Emerges with newfound confidence

Westward Expansion

Homestead ActTranscontinental Railroad

The “Cowboy”Urban Industrialization

Steam Power

Factory Model

ElectricityThe “American Way”Rugged, Hardheaded, IndividualismSlide4

West: Wild and Unsettled

East: Urban and DenseSlide5

Political Scene

After Lincoln, two decades of corruption and mediocrity

Cleveland presidency (1885-89; 1893-97) creates reform

Teddy Roosevelt (1901-1909):

The Ironic President

Conservative who reforms big business (anti-trust laws)

Hunter who becomes the first conservationist (national parks)

War hawk who wins the Nobel Peace Prize (Russia-Japan)

Wilson elected in 1913 and WWI breaks out in 1914Slide6

Social Scene

Reconstruction and post-slavery race relations

Women’s suffrage

Roughly 10% of the population controls 90% of the wealth

The “Gilded Age”

Cornelius Vanderbilt: a railroad empire

John D. Rockefeller: an oil empire

Andrew Carnegie: a steel empire

J.P. Morgan: a banking and corporate empire

No social programs or government oversight creates a new class

The Working Poor

Strikes, riots, and a stock market collapse

Powerful labor and farm organizations emerge

Science and traditional religion fall into conflictSlide7

Literary Scene

Realism (

the way things are

) emerges as a reaction against Romanticism (the way things ought to be

)

Local Color authors (or Regionalists) focus on the atmosphere and quirks—the flavor or “color”—of particular communities

Naturalists view nature as an indifferent force with which man must constantly wrestle

The role of the author now becomes one of documentarian, doing his best to mirror the social fabric of everyday America, capturing the experience of the

ordinary rather than the extraordinarySlide8

Realism

Common Characteristics

Captures a direct impression of life

Engages fundamental moral and social themes

Emphasizes the present

Believes in a

deterministic

universe

Makes the world a rather indifferent place for the individualSlide9

Plot and Character

Character

is more important than action and plot; complex ethical choices are often the subject.

Characters appear in the real complexity of temperament and motive; they are shown in relation to nature, to each other, to their social class, to their own past. Humans control their destinies; characters act on their environment rather than simply reacting to it. Renders reality closely and in comprehensive detail.  Selective presentation of reality with an emphasis on

verisimilitude (the appearance of being true/real), even at the expense of a well-made plot. Slide10

“The Outcasts of Poker Flat”

As Mr. John Oakhurst, gambler, stepped into the main street of Poker Flat on the morning of the twenty-third of November, 1850, he was conscious of a change in its moral atmosphere since the preceding night. Two or three men, conversing earnestly together, ceased as he approached, and exchanged significant glances. There was a Sabbath lull in the air which, in a settlement unused to Sabbath influences, looked ominous.

Mr. Oakhurst's calm, handsome face betrayed small concern in these indications. Whether he was conscious of any predisposing cause was another question. "I reckon they're after somebody," he reflected; "likely it's me." He returned to his pocket the handkerchief with which he had been whipping away the red dust of Poker Flat from his neat boots, and quietly discharged his mind of any further conjecture….

Mr. Oakhurst received his sentence with philosophic calmness, none the less coolly that he was aware of the hesitation of his judges. He was too much of a gambler not to accept Fate. With him life was at best an uncertain game, and he recognized the usual percentage in favor of the dealer.Slide11

Plot and CharacterEvents will usually be plausible.  Realistic novels avoid the sensational, dramatic elements of naturalistic novels and romances.

Class is important; the novel has traditionally served the interests and aspirations of an insurgent middle class.

Realism is viewed as a realization of democracy.

Relations between people and society are explored. “The Sculptor’s Funeral”Slide12

Structure of Prose Diction is the natural vernacular, not heightened or poetic; tone may be comic, satiric, or matter-of-fact.

The use of symbolism is controlled and limited; the realists depend more on the use of images.

Objectivity in presentation becomes increasingly important: overt authorial comments or intrusions diminish as the century progresses. Slide13

DialectMispronunciationsBad grammarRegional terms for items

Swear words

Dependent on the

time periodSlide14

Translate these into Standard EnglishIt was a close place. I took it up, and held it in my hand. I was a-trembling, because I'd got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I

knowed

it

. – Huck in Huckleberry Finn

“You ain’t got de

nachel

o’gans

/ Fu’ to make de soun’ come right / You ain’t got de tu’ns

an’

twistin’s

/ Fu’ to make it sweet an’ light. – Dunbar’s “When

Melindy

Sings” lines 1-4

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/10/how-sound-bees-knees-dictionary-1920s-slang/322320/

Slide15

Paul Laurence DunbarOpen your book to page 532, and read only the poem, “We Wear the Mask”.On a sheet of notebook paper labeled Dunbar, put a #1.

1. Summarize this poem and respond to the message it’s conveying. Can you relate? Explain.

Now we will read more about Dunbar and more of his poems. After we finish reading the packet, come back to this sheet of paper to complete #2. Slide16

Paul Laurence DunbarPaul Laurence Dunbar was the first African-American to gain national distinction as a poet. Born in 1872 in Dayton, Ohio, he was the son of ex-slaves.

His style encompasses two distinct voices -- the standard English of the classical poet and the evocative dialect of the turn-of-the-century black community in America.

He

was gifted in poetry -- the way that Mark Twain was in prose -- in using dialect to convey character.“When Melindy

Sings” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCdBC266ARg Slide17

Paul Laurence Dunbar2. Now that you have learned more about Dunbar, has the meaning of this poem change? Reread it. Does your interpretation of his message change now that you understand the author’s perspective?Slide18

The Great UmbrellaSlide19

Local Color

An offshoot of Realism that attempts to embody elements that are peculiar to a particular region

Hence, it is also known as

RegionalismDistinctive elements often captured include dialect, folklore, customs, even landscape

South was especially bountifulSlide20

Local Color

Primary Characteristics

Setting

is crucial to story—sometimes even a character

Characters are marked by regional dialects and traits

Narrator is typically an “educated observer”Plot and themes often

revolve around “community”

Celebration of community

Conflict between urban and rural impulsesResistance to change an ever-nostalgic view of a golden-age pastSlide21

Mark Twain

1835-1910

Born Samuel Langhorne Clemens

Born in Hannibal, Missouri

At 11, father dies and Twain leaves school

At 21, pursues a career as a riverboat pilot

When war closes the Mississippi, supports himself as a journalist

A linguist’s ear for dialect, a storyteller’s gift for spinning yarns, and a journalist’s impulse for exposing social problems

Perhaps America’s greatest and most popular

cynic

, he manages to strike an entertaining balance between humor and complete

pessimism

Travels to Europe in 1879 and writes

The Innocents Abroad

to criticize European customs, language, and culture. Its sequel,

A Tramp Abroad

, came a year later.

“Jim Baker’s Blue-Jay Yarn” was included in

A Tramp Abroad

as an American reminiscence Slide22

“Jim Baker’s Blue Jay Yarn”

Written from memory

of a story

from his friend while prospecting for gold

Satirizes human perseverance and social behavior

Trying to fill

A Tramp Abroad

with “profitable reading”

Tall Tale

An allusion to an ill-received, off-color speech he gave at a formal party

Framed Story

What makes this a local color story?Slide23

Frame StoryAlso called a FRAME NARRATIVE

: A

story

within a story, within sometimes yet another story, as in, for example, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The form echoes in structure the thematic search in the story for something deep, dark, and secret at the heart of the

narrative.One Thousand and One Nights; Wuthering

Heights https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y119kQMYqs

The movie

Titanic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tF8fr_S0IS0The TV show How I Met Your Mother https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW82fRNJc84Slide24

SatireA kind of writing that holds up to ridicule or contempt the weaknesses and wrongdoings of individuals, groups, institutions, or humanity in general“A man can’t write successful satire except he be in a calm judicial good-humor.” -Twain

http://thecolbertreport.cc.com/videos/cbr3yz/-yo--smartphone-app

http

://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/dhh4xf/a-farewell-to-egyptian-satirehttps://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=510eMpqVsOc Slide25

“Running for Governor” Vocabulary

Foible – n. – minor weakness or flaw

Condescend – v. – to lower oneself to the level of another

Suffrage – n. – the right to voteDeign – v. – to do something that you believe is below youAdmonition – n. – a warningMalicious – adj. – intending to harm

Vile –adj. –extremely unpleasantGratuitous – adj. – unprovoked; done free of chargeVengeance – n. – punishment inflicted for a wrongSubterfuge – n. – deceit used in order to attain a goal

Shirk –v. –to avoid or neglect (usually a duty)Clamor –v. – to shout loudly and insistentlySlide26

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Published in

1885, almost a decade after Tom Sawyer

A hard look at pre-Civil War social attitudes and cultural norms—especially racism and particularly in the South

The book was criticized upon release because of its coarse language, and became even more controversial in the 20

th

century because of its perceived use of racial stereotypes and slurs

One of the—if not the—most banned books in American historyThe drifting journey of Huck and his friend Jim, a runaway slave, down the Mississippi River on their raft may be one of the most enduring images of escape and freedom in all of American literatureSlide27

The Plot

The novel is narrated by Huck Finn and sees him faking his own death to get away from his hapless and drunken father. Together with Jim, a runaway slave, Huck makes his way down the Mississippi on a raft. Along their journey, Huck and Jim become involved with a series of peculiar and suspicious characters, such as the feuding

Grangerford

and

Shepheredson

families and later the shady ‘Duke’ and ‘Dauphin’ who sell Jim back into slavery.

Like

Tom Sawyer

, its predecessor, Huck Finn is a picaresque novel (i.e., a travel adventure), but together its separate elements form a complex commentary on the “American experience” as seen through the eyes of an innocent boy.It is essentially a “rite of passage” . . . with a problem.Slide28
Slide29

The Style

Twain was attempting to move away from pure “literary” writing, and was experimenting with dialect

Perhaps the first entirely vernacular novel

A quick comparison among his various revisions of the novel’s first line demonstrates his intentions

You will not know about me.

You do not know about me.

You don't know about me without you have read a book by the name of 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'; but that

ain't

no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly.Slide30

Charges of Racism

So I was full of trouble, full as I could be; and didn't know what to do. At last I had an idea; and I says, I'll go and write the letter—and then see if I can pray. Why, it was astonishing, the way I felt as light as a feather right straight off, and my troubles all gone. So I got a piece of paper and a pencil, all glad and excited, and set down and wrote:

Miss Watson, your runaway

n----r

Jim is down here two mile below Pikesville, and Mr. Phelps has got him and he will give him up for the reward if you send. Huck Finn.Slide31

I felt good and all washed clean of sin for the first time I had ever felt so in my life, and I knowed I could pray now. But I didn't do it straight off, but laid the paper down and set there thinking—thinking how good it was all this happened so, and how near I come to being lost and going to hell. And went on thinking. And got to thinking over our trip down the river; and I see Jim before me all the time: in the day and in the night-time, sometimes moonlight, sometimes storms, and we a-floating along, talking and singing and laughing. But somehow I couldn't seem to strike no places to harden me against him, but only the other kind.Slide32

I'd see him standing my watch on top of his'n, 'stead of calling me, so I could go on sleeping; and see him how glad he was when I come back out of the fog; and when I come to him again in the swamp, up there where the feud was; and suchlike times; and would always call me honey, and pet me, and do everything he could think of for me, and how good he always was; and at last I struck the time I saved him by telling the men we had smallpox aboard, and he was so grateful, and said I was the best friend old Jim ever had in the world, and the only one he's got now; and then I happened to look around and see that paper.Slide33

It was a close place. I took it up, and held it in my hand. I was a-trembling, because I'd got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I

knowed

it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself:

"All right, then, I'll

go

to hell" - and tore it up.Slide34

Naturalism

An extension of Realism, the Naturalists go one step further, suggesting that people have only limited control over their destiny

Instead, they place greater emphasis on heredity, environment, economic circumstance, and other things often beyond our control

They examine people and society objectively and, like a scientist, draw conclusions from observations

Stephen Crane’s

Maggie: A Girl of the Streets

(1893)

Willa Cather’s

My Ántonia (1918)

Jack London is perhaps the best known—and one of the purestSlide35

Bret Harte 1836-1902

Published a series of stories set in mining towns of California

Became Twain’s mentor but later the two hated each other; Twain Harte, CA, is named for them.

“In

the early days I liked Bret Harte and so did the others, but by and by I got over it; so also did the others. He couldn't keep a friend permanently. He was bad, distinctly bad; he had no feeling and he had no conscience

.”- Mark Twain's Autobiography

“Harte is a liar, a thief, a swindler, a snob, a sot, a sponge, a coward […]”- Letter to William Dean Howells, June 1878 http://www.twainquotes.com/Harte_Bret.htmlSlide36

Bret Harte“The Luck of Roaring Camp” (1868)

“The Outcasts of Poker Flat” (1869

) (page 452)

What makes this a naturalist story?Slide37

“The Outcasts…” VocabularyConjecture

(452) n. – an assumption

Expatriated (452) adj. – deported; driven from one’s homeland

Anathema (453) n. – cursePrecipice (454) n. – a very steep cliffBellicose (454) adj. – quarrelsomePariah (454) n. – an outcastGuileless (454) adj. – innocent; without ill-intent or deceptionSlide38

“The Outcasts…” Vocabulary cont. Occult (456)

adj. –mystical or supernatural

Vociferation

(456) n. – a shoutCache (456) n. –collection of items hidden away (v. – to hide away) Ostentatiously (456) adv. – pretentious or showy in order to impressVernacular (457) n. – the dialect spoken by ordinary people in a particular regionQuerulous (458) adj. – inclined to find fault

Travail (458) n. – painful or laborious effortSlide39

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” VocabularyAcclivity - n. – upward slopeEmbrasure – n. opening

Deference – n. – respect

Etiquette – n. – rules for manners and ceremonies

Imperious – adj. – assuming power without justification; arrogant and domineeringDictum – n. – a statement or sayingSlide40

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” VocabularyRamification –n. – a complex consequence of an action; or a branchlike structurePeriodicity – n. – a recurrence at regular intervals

Oscillation – n. – the act of swinging back and forth repetitively

Preternaturally – adv. – abnormally

Malign – adj. – evil in nature; malevolentSlide41

The Call of the Wild

First published in 1903,

The Call of the Wild

is based on London's experiences as a gold prospector in the Canadian wilderness and his ideas about nature and the struggle for existence

The plot concerns Buck, a big suburban St. Bernard, who is dog-napped by men procuring dogs to be used as sled transportation during the Yukon Gold Rush of Alaska. From pampered city-dog to mistreated domestic-going-feral mixed breed to well-treated frontier dog, Buck learns survival, adaptation, and much about humanity's range of character and behavioral traits.

Buck did not read the newspapers, or he would have known that trouble was brewing, not alone for himself, but for every tidewater dog, strong of muscle and with warm, long hair, from Puget Sound to San Diego.Slide42

Feminism

Women break from the romantic molds that had come to define their gender in popular fiction

Often subtle in their critiques, but sometimes quite open

While writing in authentic, often local colors, they also portray the universal struggle for female independence

Sarah

Orne

Jewett’s

A Country Doctor

(1884) lays foundationKate Chopin’s The Awakening (1899) is a watershed momentSlide43

Willa CatherIntent on telling the truths of a particular time and place, she made her own prose as spare as the land about which she was writing, and became a pioneer in American fiction

.

Cather was nine when her family moved to Nebraska, following her father’s parents and his brother, who had emigrated

during the 1870s. Cather’s family left behind a large and prosperous farm, a house that Cather remembered as roomy and cheerful, and the lush foliage of Virginia. Her family settled on a farm near Red Cloud, Nebraska.

The near-treeless countryside could not have been less like Virginia, and the drastic change took a toll. Cather said that the new landscape had evoked a sense of “erasure of personality.” Slide44

Cather’s nonconformity was much gossiped about in Red Cloud — she frequently dressed in men’s clothing and had the outlandish ambition to become a doctor; she also studied Latin in her attic study

.

Later on in her life,

Cather wrote:The cities of America contain a Great Plains diaspora, full of people who left the small towns and farms of their youth for an easier life, who felt that they had to leave in order to make their way in the world. They

are haunted by the past and by the painful ambiguities of their relationships with the friends and relatives who remained on the land. Slide45

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

1860-1935

Born into one of the “great” families of the 19

th

century

“Family” is the problem in both her life and her work

Father abandons family and leaves them destitute

Mother was cold and unable to show Charlotte affectionSlide46

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

1884: Marries a Bohemian artist who was nevertheless “traditional” in his views on gender

1885: Gives birth to a daughter (her only child) and begins suffering from post-partum depression

Visits S.

Wier

Mitchell—a famous specialist in “hysteria”

“The Yellow Wall-paper” (1892) is a psychological and suspenseful tale of isolation and insanity based largely on Gilman’s own experience with the “rest cure”Slide47

Dr. S. Wier Mitchell

Remain in bed for 6 weeks to 2 months

No sitting up for the first 4-5 weeks

No sewing, writing, reading, or the use of one’s hands other than to clean the teeth

Bowels may be passed while lying down

Patient may be lifted onto a lounge for an hour in the morning and again at bedtime and then lifted back into the newly made bed

REST CURE

Charlotte Perkins GilmanSlide48
Slide49

“The Yellow Wall-Paper”

Written in 1890, but not published until 1892

Told from the point of view of a nameless female protagonist who undergoes a version of the rest cure, in an ancestral home, while on vacation with her husband, who happens to be a doctor, and who actually prescribes the cure himself.

She is there with her baby (whom we never see) and her sister-in-law (who is a helper).

She spends all her time in the bedroom (which once was a nursery) and writes (secretively) about her increasing fascination with the strange yellow wallpaper.

She begins to see odd patterns in it; she begins to identify with it; she begins to enter into it and into the “fantasy” world it generates.Slide50

Descent into Madness … orEscape into Freedom?

From what is the narrator suffering?

Why, how, and to whom is she writing?

What is the wallpaper?

What does it look like?

How does the narrator perceive it?

How does it behave?

What is the conflict?

What is the plot?

Fascination>Identification>Transformation

Isolation

InsanitySlide51

Triumph of Imagination … or Tragedy of Society?

Does the room have a history

Symbolic? Ironic?

Symbolism?

Wallpaper? Window? Names?

Motif?

Style? Phrases? Descriptions?

Style?

Sentences? Voice? Plot?

Irony of the ending

Is she freed by her imagination or trapped inside it?

Has she locked others out or locked herself in?Slide52

Timed WritingTask

: research what you think is driving our protagonist to madness: post-partum depression, her husband’s poisoning/infidelity, toxic mold poisoning, the rest cure, or something else.

Bring an article about your theory to cite as supporting evidence for your essay.

Prompt: In a multiple-paragraph essay (including a short intro and conclusion) defend your theory of what is driving the protagonist to insanity. Use evidence from your article and the text to support your reasoning. The essay should be a single-spaced hand-written page.

Turn in and staple your article to your essay. Slide53

Social ProtestPerhaps the most controversial post-Civil War issue of the time was the public discussionregarding the rights of a newly created population—

free

African Americans

How would freedom be defined for this population?

Two writers, more than anyone else, came to embody the divided mindset of the African-American populationBooker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du BoisSlide54

Two Different Men on Two Different Paths

Booker T. Washington

(1836-1915)

Born into slavery

Southerner

Salt-packer and Coalminer

Hampton Institute graduate and later president of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute

Up from Slavery

(1901)Advocated Industrial Arts

W.E.B. Du Bois

(1868-1963)

Born post-Civil War

Northerner

Part of a small, free, land-owning black population in a largely white community

Harvard graduate

The Souls of Black Folk

(1903)

Advocated Liberal ArtsSlide55

VocabularyTransient – adj. –

Prodigious – adj. –

Eminence – n. –

Forestall –v. –Repression – n. –Elusive –adj. –Tumultuously – adv. –Importunities – n.-Conjectural – adj. –Slide56

Vocabulary cont.Unwonted – adj. –

Conflagration – n. –

Peremptorily – adv. –

Cynical – adj. –Apropos –n. – Ingenuously –adv. –Aberrations –n. –Scathe less –adj. –Slide57

Vocab cont.Opprobrious –adj. –Obstreperous – adj. –Pathos –n. –

Acquiesced – v. –