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Realism 1865-1915 Historical Context: • Post Civil War/Emancipation Proclamation • Racism, poverty, purposelessness, labor problems • Population explosion/cities grew • Improvements in transportation (cars, trains, improved roads) • Industrialization in full force • Westward expansion • Philosophy: Literature should accurately depict modern life and its problems by presenting the entire picture and not just what was seen through the rose-colored glasses of Romanticism and Transcendentalism • “Slice of Life” writing—show different classes and stratifications in American life using details from observation and documentation—tried to look at society objectively • Writer’s task also became to deal honestly with character and reveal messages and meanings behind familiar words, actions, and situations—find meaning in the commonplace • Regionalism (a subset of Realism)—emphasized locale or place and the elements that create local color: description of landscape, customs dress, speech, including realistic and regional language – Dialect—language of a particular district, class, or group of persons; encompasses the sounds, spelling, grammar, and diction employed by a specific people as distinguished from other persons either geographically or socially Language varieties are often called dialects rather than languages: • Because they have no standard form • Because the speakers of the given language do not have a state of their own • Because they are rarely or never used in writing (outside reported speech) • Because they lack prestige with respect to some other, often standardized variety A Few Notable American Realism Authors: – Mark Twain – Stephen Crane – Willa Cather – Kate Chopin – Jack London – Edgar Lee Masters The Picaresque • A SATIRE which especially focuses on a nation’s character and its social character; a criticism • EPISODIC - A series of pranks, predicaments, episodes (as opposed to a continuous plot) • TRAVELS - Adventures during travel (road, sea, river) • Follows one main character who functions as a first person narrator telling his own story. – Naïve – not fully aware of the meaning of circumstances or own actions (know the limits of trusting this narrator – consider the source) – Rascal – or rogue, someone of questionable character, socially unacceptable, may be a petty criminal – Street smart – lives more from wits than work – Sympathetic – despite failings, someone we sympathize with, understand, and see at least some virtue • Romantic in that it is an adventure story, but realistic in its detail, frankness, and concentration on disenfranchised classes • Characterized by plain language (dialect and vernacular) • Famous Picaresques – Candide (1759) – Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885) – Catcher in the Rye (1954) Irony • Technique of indicating an intention or attitude opposed to what is actually stated. Often, only the context of the statement leads the reader to understand it is ironic. Irony makes use of hyperbole, sarcasm, satire, and understatement. Verbal Irony • Word or phrase that is used to suggest the opposite of its usual meaning. Often the writer's expression of awareness between what is and what ought to be and used for the purpose of mockery or jest. Defined by Cicero as “Saying of one thing and meaning another.” – A man staring out a window looking at a miserably rainy day and stating, “Lovely day for a stroll.” Situational Irony • Occurrence of an event that directly contradicts the expectations of the characters, the reader, or the audience – When a pickpocket gets his own pockets picked. Dramatic Irony • Contradiction between what a character thinks and what the reader or audience knows to be true (different meaning for the readers than characters). This is the result of the reader having greater knowledge than the characters themselves. – In The Scarlet Letter when Hester asks Dimmesdale to support her position to the governor in keeping Pearl. The reader knows that Dimmesdale and Hester are partners in sin, but the characters do not. Brainstorm What do you know/have you heard/ do you think is true/?s do you have about The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn? The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 1884 Mark Twain "Mark Twain had a clearer vision of life…he came nearer to its elementals and was less deceived by its false appearances, than any other American who has ever presumed to manufacture generalizations, not excepting Emerson. I believe that he was the true father of our national literature, the first genuinely American artist of the royal blood.” –H.L. Mencken “All modern American literature comes form one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.” —Ernest Hemingway Mark Twain • Born Samuel Clemens, Missouri, 1835-1910 • Pseudonym, Mark Twain, comes from his days as a river pilot, and means two fathoms or 12-feet when the depth of water for a boat is being sounded. "Mark twain" means that is safe to navigate (mark number two). "A sin takes on a new and real terror when there seems a chance that it is going to be found out." “Supposing is good‚ but finding out is better.” “I have never tried to help cultivate the cultivated classes. I was not equipped for it, either by native gifts or training. And I never had any ambition in that direction, but always hunted for bigger game— the masses.” The Controversy: “Born to Trouble” and Still Alive • No American novel has been attacked by the public as long and as continuously • Immediately banned as “the veriest trash, suitable only for the slums” by the Concord, MA Public Library • 1957 the NAACP charged that it contained “racial slurs” and demanded it be banned from school curricula • 1998 parents in AZ sued local high school over the book’s inclusion on a required reading list Significance of the Representation of Black English in Huck Finn • “The Black man was the co-creator of the language and Mark Twain raised it to the level of literary eloquence.” —Ralph Ellison • Serves as a precursor to subsequent Black fiction (as acknowledged by Langston Hughes, Ralph Ellison, Toni Morrison, etc.) Supplemental Into Texts • “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?”, James Baldwin • “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”, Peggy McIntosh • From PBS Culture Shock, “Born to Trouble: Adventures of Huck Finn” • “Teaching Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, Shelly Fisher Fishkin • “New edition of ‘Huck Finn’ removes offensive words”, Julie Bosman