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.

Journal #34: ACT Writing

The writing portion of the ACT is when you have to write an argumentative essay. Not only are you trying to convince your audience that the point of view you picked is the correct one, you are secretly trying to convince the judges that you are a writing god and deserve to get a 12 for your score. The first step to writing the essay, is to have a basic understanding of the English language. Amazingly, if your essay is not written in English, it is an automatic zero. So you can't write it in Latin, no matter how impressive that would be or how beautiful the language is. The next step is to pick a side of the question presented. Or you can pick a mixture of the two sides, but that is apparently not a good idea. The next step is to present your arguments in some sort of cohesive order, then give detailed support for your points that you brought up. Sarcasm is not advised because apparently the judges don't like that. After you present all the arguments for your side, you should address the counterarguments as well. You can state what they are and then discredit them by reiterating that your side is the right one. If you have distracting grammatical errors, not only will the judges think that you are stupid, but they will give you a low score. Best to avoid that. You also want to make sure that you have good transitions, because no matter how bad your writing is, it is always important to have good transitions. Also, you want to make sure that you have everything required for a 6, otherwise you won't get a six. It's on a holistic rubric, so that means if you leave one thing out, you automatically can't get the grade of the one that you left something out of. Apparently this is supposed to make you work harder for your score.

Journal #33: Illinois original

One thing that "started or is particular to this area" is me. Unlike some in our class, I was born in central Illinois and have lived here all my life. I'm not that exciting, but I would definitely rate myself higher than a horseshoe. I wouldn't say that I'm more exciting than Abraham Lincoln, but technically, he shouldn't even be considered for this post because he was born in Kentucky, not Illinois. We kind of stole him. Not to mention, everyone around here is already kind of sick of him, just because he's been forced upon us for so long. I think everyone around here gets kind of surprised whenever large numbers of tourists come to see the Lincoln sites, just because he's so commonplace around here anymore. Anyway, to all the potential cyberstalkers out there, I'm a product of central Illinois. This blog just totally narrowed down your search field, didn't it? Sometimes I wish I weren't from central Illinois, but both of my parents are from here originally as well, and they don't like change, so I really had no chance. Soon I'll be going to college, though. Hopefully it will be pretty far away. My parents also don't like to travel, so I've only been out of the Midwest once in my entire life, and that was four years ago, I think. One day I'll be famous like Abraham Lincoln, and he will have to share his spotlight in Illinois with me. I don't know what I will be famous for, but it will happen. I'll probably be a famous astronaut, in which case the citizens of Illinois will be disappointed that they didn't appreciate me while they had the chance. I also think that I am more interesting than all of the corrupt politicians that Illinois seems to be producing lately. I am certainly more morally upright. This journal seems a little egotistical, but really, it's Illinois: what else do I have to write about? Corn?

Journal #32: A Memoir

It was mid-afternoon on December 20th. I was at the bank cashing my check that I received in the mail. I was up at the window with my money in hand when I saw the man at the window next to me pull out a gun and demand that the woman behind the counter give him all the money in the bank. Naturally, she started to do as the man wished. I observed the man next to me as much as I could without him noticing. All I could think was that he was a complete loser. He looked like he was about to fall apart. He was just that nervous. I give him a brief look of disgust and turned away. He then demanded that everyone get on the floor. When the five other people who were in the bank at that time refused to comply, he grabbed a baby from a stroller and threatened to shoot it. What a lowlife. Everyone got down on the floor and he turned back to the counter where the woman was handing him a bag filled with the money from the bank. Taking advantage of this distraction, I knocked him to the floor. Probably not the best idea since he was holding a baby at the time, but I managed to grab the baby before it hit the floor. The man dropped his gun as he fell (such a novice mistake) so I scooped it up after I deposited the baby back in its stroller. He tried to jump me, but I hit him on the back of the head with the butt of the gun, and he fell like a sack of bricks. Seeing that he was unconscious, everyone started cheering and milled around as they told the story of what had happened to the policemen who had just arrived on the scene. I casually picked up the sack that held the money the man had intended to steal and walked toward the side door. Once outside, I put the money in my car, pulled of my disguise, and drove away. I learned a valuable lesson that day: I'm just too smart for all the losers in the world.

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce exhibits many characteristics of Realism. It is very descriptive, focuses on events that could actually happen in real life, the language is in the vernacular, and the story contains no interjections by the author/narrator. It becomes apparent right from the beginning that this is a realist work because the author describes the scene in enormous detail. Everything from the rank of the officers present to the beams of the bridge are described in the first few paragraphs of the story. The main character is described rather thoroughly as a man with "a straight nose, firm mouth, broad forehead, from which his long, dark hair was combed straight back, falling behind his ears to the collar of his well-fitting frock coat." (Bierce) Many details included in "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" could be considered unnecessary, such as when the author explains the parade rest position of the soldiers. Such a detail only accentuates the formality of the hanging, which could have easily been stated in another way. Through the descriptions, the reader also learns more than they probably ever wanted to learn about the sensation of being hanged. Though not very pleasant to read, it makes the reader empathetic to Peyton Farquhar. It is all the details such as this one that really paint the picture of the story and that make it a Realist work.
The events that are described in "The Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" could have actually happened in real life. Sure, In today's world we don't make a habit of hanging people off bridges, but, back in the day,hanging was a common way to execute people. The time is described as during the Civil War. Such an occurrence as was at Owl Creek Bridge would have been very commonplace, especially since the officers were from the Union army and Peyton Farquhar was a true Southern gentlemen in support of the Confederate Army.
According to the article "Realism in American Literature 1860-1890", Realism pieces were written in the "natural vernacular". This means that they were unlike the other literary works of previous times. Realism did not try to sound impressive with fancy words or flowery language. It was just written in the way people of the time would write a letter to their family members. Well, the ones that could write, anyway.
Also according to the article mentioned above, a characteristic of Realism is that there were very few, if any, interruptions of the story by the author or a narrator of some sort. Since there are no such interruptions in "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge", this is another reason why this short story is an example of the Realism literary period.
It is overwhelmingly obvious that "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" is an example of Realism. It contains an extraordinary amount of detail in its description of an event that could plausibly have happened at one point in time, it uses unpretentious language, and remains uninterrupted by thoughts from the author's point of view, which are all characteristics of Realism.


Bierce, Ambrose. "Fiction: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." Fiction: Welcome to The EServer's Fiction Collection. Web. 17 Jan. 2011. .

Campbell, Donna M. "Realism in American Literature." Washington State University - Pullman, Washington. 21 Mar. 2010. Web. 17 Jan. 2011. .

Journal #31: Daydreams

Daydreams are constantly getting me out of "bad situations". Though that phrase is kind of ambiguous. I mean a bad situation could be anything from sitting in English class to being kidnapped and held hostage. It's all about the perspective. Or if you wanted to make it even worse, you kind be kidnapped and held hostage in your English class. Oh the horror. But, anyway, I daydream all the time. Whether they actually help me accomplish anything, though, is up for debate. I daydream about superheroes and spies and detectives most of the time. I star in them of course, playing the hero as often as the villain. I daydream about flying often. Sometimes I daydream about my future, like imagining myself as an astronaut or a stage manager on Broadway. During my daydreams, I also come up with ideas for stories that I want to write. They usually don't get written, but they all help pass the time. My daydreams are always pretty awesome/fantastic. They have to be to make me forget how painfully average my actual life is. No matter how awesome my daydreams are though, I never completely zone out, which drives some of my teachers crazy. They don't seem to realize that I can listen to them ramble on while still imagining that I am somewhere else. Maybe they are thinking that I don't care (which is true in some cases), but seriously, I can focus on two different things at once. It's always funny when a teacher calls on me to answer, knowing that I'm daydreaming and expecting me to not know what's going on, and I give them the right answer. Never ceases to irritate them. I love daydreaming. I guess it gets me out of tricky situations by giving me something else to think about. That could be part of the reason that I'm so laid-back most of the time. It's pretty hard to be stressed out when you're flying or a superhero.

Journal #30: School Uniforms

I know that the journal topic is supposed to be defending whether or not Plains should have school uniforms, but I really don't care that much either way. I guess it really depends on what the uniforms would look like. Standard American school uniforms annoy me, but I really like the Japanese school uniforms. A lot of them look a lot less stupid than ours here in America do. It would be nice to not have to worry about what I was going to wear to school, but, once the novelty wore off, I think it would be pretty boring. Everyone would also look the same, which gets boring after a while as well as annoying.
If I really had to pick a side, I would say that Plains should not have uniforms. I personally hate being told what to do by condescending adults, and I'm sure a lot of my peers feel the same. Making me look like a knock-off prep school Barbie everyday would definitely not improve my sarcastic disposition. Also, once the novelty of wearing a uniform wore off, I would be really bored with uniforms. From a broader viewpoint, uniforms would also be a bad thing because they restrict students' creativity. Clothing is a form of expression after all, and I believe it is wrong for schools to take away that freedom. Not to mention how hard it would be on the teachers. If everyone looked the same, the would have an even harder time of learning everyone's names at the beginning of the year. They don't have too hard of a time with names right now because our school is so small, but I see no need to make anything more complicated than it needs to be. Since our school is so small, it really doesn't make sense to make everyone wear a uniform. We don't really have enough students to make it worth the ordeal of forcing uniforms upon everyone.

Journal #29: CD Album

My favorite album right now that apparently I'm supposed to be convincing everyone to buy is "Ghost Town" from the band Watchout! Theres Ghosts. That's kind of silly because I know for a fact that I don't have the same taste in music as many of my other classmates. I suppose they could buy this album if they wanted, but it would be a waste of their money. I like it, but I really can't say whether anyone else would. The reason that I enjoy this album is because I really like the main singers voice, the lyrics are easy to remember, and the songs are catchy. There is also enough diversity with the styles of the songs on this album so that I don't get bored because I tend to get bored with music very quickly if it is all the same. Also, I find the band name amusing in itself, though my spelling and grammar check freaks out whenever I type it. Other than the reasons that I stated earlier, people should just buy this album to avoid being losers. All the cool kids are listening to this album. Positive peer pressure at work. This album is not very well known, which is kind of sad but also a good thing at the same time. I wouldn't want it to be too well known because then the radio stations would play it all the time, and it would get really old really fast. On the other hand, I think it's good music and think that everyone should have a chance to listen to it so they don't miss out on something they might like. I know this is supposed to be argumentative writing, but I really don't think people would appreciate me telling them what they should listen to/buy and why. I know I wouldn't. But I definitely think that people should at least listen to this band on youtube if they don't feel like buying this album.

Journal #28: Convincing

Police Chief Garrett Smith leaned tiredly against his squad car. He rubbed his eyes with his fists and breathed out a sigh filled with suffering and hopelessness. He and the other members of his small police force had been standing outside the local bank for an hour now and had nothing to show for it. Mobsters from the city an hour's drive away had burst into the bank at precisely 6:32 that evening, pulled out their guns, and demanded that everyone get down on the floor. It being a small town, the police force had shown up in minutes. Unfortunately, it being a small town, the police were not prepared to handle something like this. Help was arriving from the city, but it was still the better part of an hour away. The mobsters were holding the people inside the bank - two old men, a mother with her two daughters, and several people who had stopped by the bank on their way home from work- hostage and demanding that the police let them leave before they started shooting. Police Chief Smith had been trying to reason with them, but he couldn't convince them to do what he wanted, which was put down their guns and allow themselves to be arrested. He let out a frustrated noise and turned on his megaphone to try to talk to them again. He swore rather loudly when he realized that he could no longer see the hostages nor the mobsters. He rounded on his deputy and asked where they had gone. His reply was a worried shrug. This was not good. Leaving instructions to radio him if they saw anything, the police chief made his way to the back of the bank where he snuck into a door that was intended for "Employees Only". He crept down the corridor toward the room where he could her the frightened sobbing of a child. One of the mobsters came into sight and the police chief stepped forward. He could only hope that they would agree to the trade he had in mind, the police chief for the civilians. It was they only plan he had left to convince the men to let the innocent bystanders go. He sent a quick prayer to whoever was listening that it was the right thing to do as the large men moved closer in the dark hallway...

Journal #27: Persistence

When I think of persistence, the first thing (and really, it's the only thing related to persistence that interests me in the slightest) that comes to my mind is when Kid Flash tried (very persistently) to convince the villain Jinx to renounce her evil ways and become a heroine. She eventually did, so apparently his persistence paid off. That was my favorite episode of the Teen Titans cartoon, and I find it really disappointing that (to my limited knowledge) such a scenario never actually happened in the original comics.
Another example of persistence is me. Here I am, persistently trying to finish typing this entry, despite a plethora of much more interesting (and in my unique ranking system- more important) distractions, such as the books in my room that are just waiting for me to read them. This is also due to the persistence of my mother, who has been on my case about getting all my homework done today. She seems to have failed to account for my persistent procrastination. And also my total apathy toward everything school-related lately. Seeing as that's not within today's topic, I'd best steer clear of that before all my efforts at staying on-topic crumble away like dust.
Fun fact: The book I'm reading while persistently trying to ignore/finish this journal just used the word persistent. Isn't that just awesome? What a coincidence. It seems that persistence itself is persistence.
Despite all my somewhat thinly-veiled negativity, I actually think persistence can be a pretty good thing. I was persistent about getting a job at the library this summer, and it worked because I got the job. Persistence can also be really annoying, though. Such as when someone keeps asking you for something that you don't want to give them, like answers on the newest homework assignment or to hang out with them on Saturday or anything else like that. Like almost everything else, there are two sides to persistence.