Realism Definition

The dictionary defines Realism as "a manner of treating subject matter that presents a careful description of everyday life, usually of the lower and middle classes." ("Realism"). Some other characteristics of Realism are the close attention to detail, a focus on the character rather than the environment, realistic occurrences, common language, and an objective and unobtrusive narrator ("Literary"). The close attention to detail is pretty self-explanatory. The characters were more important in Realism than the settings they were placed in. The main focus was their reactions and development as the events unfolded. Realism literature was set in realistic places and featured events that could actually happen in real life. It was also written in the common, everyday language of the area/time. It didn't try to be pretentious with fancy sounding words. Realism had an unobtrusive narrator, which means that the narrator just told the story, they didn't try to embellish it or interrupt with their own thoughts ("Literary"). Realism was brought on by the rise of the middle class in the industrial society. People were thinking in a more realistic way and turning to science to better their lives. Realism was around from about 1860-1910(Regionalism). The hero was the average man, usually from a middle class background. The realistic characters participated in realistic events in a realistic setting, and the author wrote about how the character changed throughout. The American Dream was pretty much the same as it was now. The people just wanted to improve their lives as much as they could. The Realism style probably occurred because it was the time period right after the Civil War had ended. People wanted something simpler and more true to life. I think the Civil War had disillusioned people with fantasy because they learned during the war that it wasn't really beneficial to them to imagine things that would not happen. A lot of nonfiction works were also written during this time, such as slave narratives and memoirs.


Campbell, Donna M. "Realism in American Literature." Washington State University - Pullman, Washington. 21 Mar. 2010. Web. 28 Jan. 2011. http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/realism.htm

"LITERARY PERIODS AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS." Web. 26 Jan. 2011. http://staff.edmonds.wednet.edu/users/hansonk/LITERARY%20PERIODS%20AND%20THEIR%20CHARACTERISTICS.htm

"Realism." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. Web. 26 Jan. 2011. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Realism.

"Regionalism and Realism." American Literature. Comp. Jeffery D. Wilhelm. Columbus: McGraw Hill, 2009. 486-494. Print.