Realism

Realism is "the attempt to depict life as it actually exists, not as the author wants it to be in the present or the future, or imagines it was in the past (Werlock)." This means that it is much different than the former Romanticism writing period because in Romanticism, the author clearly depicts life as it is truly seen rather than the distorted way in which romantic writers claimed they saw it. This includes the vision of the American Dream and also the vision of the Hero. Since Realism is the attempt to depict life as it actually exists, not as the author wants it to be in the present or the future, or imagines it was in the past, it gave readers a new idea of the American Dream (Werlock). Rather than wanting to expand westward, the new idea of the American Dream first appeared in realist writing when freedom just in general was a massive appeal to the citizens of the United States rather than moving west. The idea of the Hero was also introduced through the realist writing. The hero was introduced as a man of usually middle class who always fought certain moral to always tend to do what was right (Werlock). Realism is usually distinguished as writing that shows society's true colors or shows how society truly seems to be. Unlike Romanticism, which basically shows the society how the author just simply wants it to be. The change from Romanticism to Realism came when writers like Mark Twain and Kate Chopin started releasing very famous works. Instead of having a romantic view on the world, they saw the world almost from a neutral point of view, beginning the change in writing style from a Romantic point of view to a Realist point of view (Werlock). This change occurred because people of society agreed with the thoughts of these authors and embraced these ideas and got tired of seeing the world as perfect as the authors from the Romantic period did. (Werlock)


Werlock, Abby H. P. "realism." The Facts On File Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= Gamshrtsty0575&SingleRecord=True (accessed January 31, 2011).