Realism, Regionalism, and Naturalism

(1850-1913)

Colby McCollum&

Jennifer Baker

Regionalism

• Regionalism the different types of writing in different areas.• In the south many people started writing about how slavery was

good and how they hated the slaves and abolitionists.• A lot of this writing was one sided and considered ignorant and

disregarded in the literary world.

Regionalism (continued)

• Some of the more famous books that demonstrate regionalism are Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn written by Mark Twain.

• This picture depicts the widely knows scene of Tom Sawyer, where Tom tricks his friends into whitewashing the fence and get his friends to give him their possessions.

Naturalism• Naturalism is a type of writing that

doubts the ability for man kind to make moral choices and standards.

• Authors wrote of characters that were totally controlled by their world and environment giving the theme that the world is what truly influences a person’s decision.

• Also the idea of where a person will go in life is determined by his heredity and success of his business.

• Some naturalists believed that their life was out of their control and they were at the mercy of all powerful forces.

Naturalism (continued)

• Usually derogatory to the human race, called people evil by heart.

• Naturalism was also used in war propaganda calling the enemy evil.

Realism

• Showed life as it really was• Used language of ordinary

people• Idea that success brought

greed, materialism and corruption

• Books about slavery became popular in the north.

Realism (continued)

• Realism like naturalism was used as propaganda in the civil war. The union told of the horrible things slave owners did to their slaves.

Inventions

• During this time period many inventions were made that served as the base of today’s technology such as the car.

• The first car was made by Henry Ford.

Warfare

• The rifles were more accurate and powerful because they had grooves on the inside of the barrel to cause the bullet to spiral.

• Artillery also became more powerful and could shoot even farther.

Clothes

• Clothes during the time period were relatively nice. Men wore suits and women wore big dresses that covered their body.

Music

• Classical music• European music was

imported the US.

Camera

• The original camera was created and became more widely used.

• Took a long time for the camera to flash and that’s why no one smiled when they got their picture taken.

Train

• Railroads changed America

• Increased the speed of transportation of people and goods.

• Helped bring supplies to the war front.

Airplane

• Created in the early 1900’s.

• The birth of air transportation and combat.

Immigration

• After the civil war many people began moving to the US.

• Population sky rocketed.

• All these different cultures brought their traditions molding the US.

Ambrose Bierce (1842- 1914?)

• Born in Ohio and raised on a farm in Indiana.

• He was raised in extreme poverty, which gave him a pessimistic view of the world.

• His writing was also shaped by his career as a Union officer in the Civil War.

• Legacy- “Tales of Soldiers and Civilians”(1891).

• “Can such things be?”(1893)

Mark Twain (1835- 1910)

• Given name: Samuel Langhorne Clemen

• A river boatmen named him “Mark Twain”-which means “two fathoms deep”

• He loved life on the river as a young man.

• Novels: Tom Sawyer(1876) and Huckleberry Finn (1884)

Jack London (1876- 1916)• London grew up in San Francisco in extreme poverty• He left school at age 11 and did odd jobs, but despite the

long hours of work, London would read constantly.• Books inspired him to travel and experience the world• Best works- The Call of the Wild in 1903 and White Fang

in 1906.

Kate Chopin (1850- 1904)• She had a conservative,

aristocratic childhood• She was born in St. Louis,

Missouri, the daughter of a wealthy business woman.

• In 1882, her husband died and she had to raise 6 children on her own.

• So, she returned to St. Louis with her children and started to write.

• Kate Chopin became one of the most controversial writers of our time.

• Most famous novel- The Awakening in 1899

Types Of Literature

• Short stories: fictional prose narrative that tends to be more concise and to the point than longer works of fiction

• Novels: a long written, fictional, prose narrative• Poetry: a form of literary art in which language is used

for its evocative qualities in addition to, its ostensible meaning. Poetry may be written independently, as discrete poems, or may occur in conjunction with other arts, as in poetic drama, or lyrics.