Unit+04+--+American+Realism


 * 1) "The Outcasts of Poker Flat" by Bret Harte (//AAL//, p. 360)
 * 2) "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce (//AAL//, p. 369)
 * 3) "The Open Boat" by Stephen Crane (//AAL//, p. 386)
 * 4) "The Sculptor's Funeral" by Willa Cather (//AAL//, p. 406)
 * 5) "To Build a Fire" by Jack London (//AAL//, p. 417)
 * 6) "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (see attached file below)

= The Yellow Wallpaper Period 1 = =__**An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge Period 1**__= =__**To Build a Fire Period 1**__=

**American Realism** __American Realism__ __Realism: Subject and Style__ __Influences on American Realism__ __Naturalism__ __The Range of Realism__
 * By 1890s, the frontier was gone even though traditionally it still existed as a powerful force in our society
 * The United States is rapidly moving from an agriculture nation into an industrialize nation with the creation of new inventions. It still is the land for opportunity for immigrants and many poor people trying to be rich
 * **However dream does not always match reality:**
 * Industrialize workers had to experience harsh working conditions, low wages and long hours of work.
 * Farmers, with the new inventions that help to produce crops at a faster rate, worried that price of crops is going down due to surplus.
 * Many people fear of change and that they are out of the sphere of the society.
 * After the civil war, people looked for into **reality instead of dream.** Thus an image of the American as an **active frontiersman** became a healing image and the **literacy and intellectual movement known as //realism//** appeared that contrasted with the Romanic movement before the civil war.
 * **Realism**: the depiction of life most people live and know it.
 * **Ordinary** is a key word in any discussion of realism.
 * Many realistic writers concentrate on the **typical and average life style.**
 * Some realistic writers refer their job as similar to that of the scientist-**close observation of life style, record precisely what they observed, and analyze their data.**
 * **Slice of life**: term most often used in connection with realism.
 * Realistic writers dealt with subject matters, scenes, and characters such as
 * Workers, bosses, corrupt politicians, petty criminals, social outcasts, reformers, political agitators, shopkeepers, businessmen, rising middle class, and slum dwellers.
 * Realistic writes **offered accurate and descriptions of hardships and poverty** that most often associate with farming life.
 * Realistic vs. Romantic movement
 * Argument against realism: sordid, trivial, debased literature, depressing.
 * Argument for realism: the research of truth cannot be debasing, the pursuing of higher, deeper reality.
 * Realistic writers were **influenced by other European writers** such as Stendhal, Honore de Balzac, and Gustave Flaubert
 * They were also **influenced by the scientific method-gathering facts carefully and draw the conclusion from them.**
 * **Darwin’s theory of evolution and natural selection** also influenced them and thus concluded that the moral law that ruled the world was **“the law of the jungle.”**
 * This view of realism thus developed into **//naturalism//**
 * **Extreme view of realism that begins with the view of the universe and our place in it and imposes this view on literary work.**
 * **View that humans are creature that acted upon nature.**
 * Naturalistic writers were influenced by the French novelist, Emile Zola who wrote Rougon-Macquart.
 * Most highly regarded American naturalistic writers: Dreiser, Frank Norris, and Stephen Crane.
 * Realistic writers produced intensely personal works as well as broad studies of a changing society.
 * They concentrated on movement of psychological significant of a normal life.
 * [Poets] Edwin Arlington Robinson and Edgar Lee Masters: explored large range of emotion and presented unforgettable portraits of morally important character
 * [Novelists] Stephen Crane, Willa Cather, and Jack London: depth of insight and artistry of their life style.