Happy Tuesday!

Please get out your journals. (Yes, that means you )

Realism

As you watch this clip, consider how these images are different from ones we might associate with Romanticism or Transcendentalism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrtil0s46-E

9/4 Journal: What can you infer about Realism from these

paintings?

History• Post Civil War (1860s ): time of

healing and rebuilding• Late 1800s – early 1900s: industrial

revolution – major industrial, social, economic, and cultural change.• People driven into the cities for

work, life

History Continued• Farming-based industry factory-based• Huge boom in immigration (2 million in

1850, 13 million in 1910)

Beliefs• People want to experience industry, not

shy away from it (Romanticism/Transcendentalism)

• Capture the moment before it’s gone

• American system not always fair, not perfect

Literary Style• Writing reflected reality, filled with

rich detail• Character > action or plot• Complex ethical choices are often

the subject• Social class was an important

theme.• Natural diction—often made use of

local dialect (what we really sound like)

Literary Style Continued• Tone may be comic or matter-of-fact

• Characters were believeable—people Americans could have lived side by side with.

• Pulled away from fantasy; focused on “the now”

Notable Writers:Frederick Douglass

“The American people have this to learn: that where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither person nor property is safe.” 

Notable Writers: Mark Twain

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”

Notable Writers: Kate Chopin

“Perhaps it is better to wake up after all, even to suffer, than to remain a dupe to illusions all one’s Life.”

Reading strategies

When/if you are not sure of what is happening:

1. Try rereading the section once.2. If you are still not sure, mark the

passage in the text and keep reading.

3. Go back and reread section to see if it has been clarified.