What is the necessary background information and the important features of this time period of American Literature Prelude to the Civil War The North Commerce ruledmoney and expansion Expanded transportation turned towns into ID: 1045695
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1. Realism/Naturalism/RegionalismWhat is the necessary background information and the important features of this time period of American Literature?
2. Prelude to the Civil WarThe NorthCommerce ruled—money and expansionExpanded transportation turned towns into citiesEducation, banking, science, reform—all important issuesLarge tide of Irish and German immigrants coming, mainly between Boston and Baltimore
3. The SouthSlower paced land of plantations and small farmsCotton, sugar, rice, tobacco are key crops Not much of a technological/industrial revolutionNo discussion of the social issues revolving around the industrial revolutionMain issue: SlaveryPrelude to the Civil War
4. Fugitive Slave ActPassed in 1850Required all citizens—north and south, free state and slave state—to help catch runaway slavesSouth saw it as just; North saw it as an outrageKS-NE Act opened up the west to slavery and became a hotly contested political actionPrelude to the Civil War
5. Cost of the Civil WarThe Human CostThe North lost one out of ten(110,100 in battle; 224,580 to disease)The South lost one out of four(94,000 in battle; 64,000 to disease)Economic CostEstimated at $6.6 billion, which would be $165 billion today
6. In the fifty years after the war, America underwent a physical and social expansion that transformed the landscape, economy, and national identity.
7. The Effects of the Westward MigrationHomestead Act of 1862 promises 160 acres to anyone who would live on the land for a certain period of time and make minimal improvements500,000 farmers, included many emancipated slaves, staked claims on the Great PlainsMiners headed west by the thousandsExpansion was aided by the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869
8. The Effects of the Westward MigrationThe expansion left destruction in its pathwild buffalo were goneOpen plains disappearedIndian nations were displaced, destroyed, and forced onto reservationsHad to be strong to surviveFew stores and major cities (Women had to make clothes, soap, quilts, candles, and other goods by hand and worked as teachers, doctors, and farmers)
9. The Effects of the Industrial RevolutionMigration from rural to urban areasIndependent, skilled workers replaced by semi- skilled laborers;Large corporations were established, devaluing the personal relationships Political Upheaval: Power Shifts, Civic Corruption, Expanded Federal Government Migration westward expanded the U.S. from the Atlantic to the Pacific
10. The Effects of the Industrial RevolutionNative American populations displaced and subjugatedGrowth of Industry(Steelmaking, Petroleum, Electrical)Growth of population (Total population doubled from 1870 to 1890)Gap between rich and poor widened
11. A Changing SocietyElectricity becomes a normal part of societyIntroduced to electric light, telephones, cars, motion pictures and phonographsImmigration boom in the countryIn 20 years the population grows from 50 million to 76 millionAlmost 10 million of these new Americans are immigrantsMost settle in large cities, which leads to a inexhaustible supply of cheap labor for industry
12. A Changing SocietyIndustrial boom leads to great extremes in poverty and wealth in the countyChild labor becomes the norm, as wages are so low it takes the whole family working to make a livingMeanwhile, the owners of the big industries— Carnegie, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt—live like kings and only grew more and more wealthyTwain called it “The Gilded Age”. This was a satirical comment on the great disparity between the rich and poor.
13. Literature of the Realism Period Frontier Voices Slave Narratives Literature of Discontent Wartime Voices
14. RealismA literary method of the 19th century writings that are based on careful observations of contemporary life. Features:Often focusing on the middle and lower classesAttempted to present life objectively and honestly, without the sentimentalism or idealism of earlier literatureSettings and characters developed in great detail in an effort to re-create a specific time and place for the readerUneventful plots with story revolving around community
15. NaturalismIn addition to the Realism methods of writing:Emphasized how instinct and environment affect human behaviorBelieved that the fate of humans is determined by forces beyond individual controlInfluenced by Darwin’s ideasExample: A Mystery of Heroism by Stephen Crane
16. RegionalismAlso Known As: Local Color Realism Style of writing that truthfully imitates ordinary life and brings a particular region alive by portraying the dialects, dress, mannerisms, customs, character types, and landscapes of that region.Mark Twain uses Regionalism frequently in his writings.