1. The “-ism” Literary Movements 1865-1910
During the aftermath of the Civil War, the “-ism” literary movements started to take shape.

2. The Difference: Realism vs. Naturalism
fiction devoted to accurate representation and an exploration of American lives in various contexts

3. The Difference: Realism vs. Naturalism
Taking place during the same time period ( )
Believed the laws behind the forces that govern human lives might be studied and understood.
Used a version of the scientific method to write their novels
Studied human beings governed by their instincts and passions as well as the ways in which the characters' lives were governed by forces of heredity and environment.

4. Traits of Realism: Characters
Character is more important than action and plot
Complex ethical choices are often the subject
Characters appear in their real complexity of temperament and motive
They are in seen in relation to nature, to each other, to their social class, to their own past.
Class is important
the novel has traditionally served the interests and aspirations of an insurgent middle class
Events will usually be plausible.

5. Traits of Realism: Style
Realistic novels avoid the sensational, dramatic elements of naturalistic novels and romances.
Diction is natural vernacular, not heightened or poetic; tone may be comic, satiric, or matter-of-fact.

6. Traits of Naturalism: Characters
Frequently ill-educated or lower-class
Lives are governed by the forces of heredity, instinct, and passion.
Their attempts at exercising free will or choice are hamstrung by forces beyond their control.
Social Darwinism and other theories help to explain their fates to the reader.

7. Traits of Naturalism: Setting/Plot
Setting. Frequently an urban setting. (Except with Jack London)
Techniques and plots. It is said that the naturalistic novel offers "clinical, panoramic, slice-of-life" drama that is often a "chronicle of despair”.

8. Naturalism: Themes
The conflict in naturalistic novels is often "man against nature" or "man against himself" as characters struggle to retain a "veneer of civilization" despite external pressures that threaten to release the "brute within."
The forces of heredity and environment as they affect--and afflict--individual lives.
An indifferent, deterministic universe (Deism) Naturalistic texts often describe the futile attempts of human beings to exercise free will, often ironically presented, in this universe that reveals free will as an illusion.

9. Types of Conflict
Man versus Man: one character creates a direct problem for another
Man versus Society: one character is in conflict with a group or the values of a group
Man versus Nature: one character is in conflict with a natural force or part of nature
Man versus Himself: a character is struggling with a personal decision, value, or moral
Man versus Machine: a character is struggling with the power of machines or technology

10. Characters Realism Characters Use everyday language
Have everyday problems
Live in middle class homes
Naturalism Characters
Have little education
Live in poor conditions
Usually lower class
Have desperate situations
Are victims of circumstance
Use language common to situation

11. Situations Realism Contains little action
Focuses on decisions that the protagonist must make
Naturalism
Portrays the world as cruel
Often occurs in an urban setting
Focuses on human suffering

12. Authors and Their Works
Realism
Ambrose Bierce
“The Devil’s Dictionary”
“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”
Bret Harte
“The Outcasts of Poker Flat”
Kate Chopin
The Awakening
“The Story of an Hour”
Mark Twain
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
“The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”
Life on the Mississippi

13. Authors and Their Works
Naturalism
Stephen Crane
“The Open Boat”
Jack London
“To Build a Fire”
The Call of the Wild

14. In the same works, we might also find Regionalism
Otherwise known as “local color”
Reflects the dialects, customs, and geography of a certain region
What region might each represent? Chopin: South Twain: Midwest/South Cather/Harte: West

15. Words to Know Economic Factors = the role of money
Atavism = animal-like behavior; the brute within getting out (literally, genetic regression)
Heredity = family or genetic traits playing a role
Environment = the physical and situational surroundings
Instinct = done without thinking; a gut reaction or feeling; unlearned behavior; impulsive
Deism = God does not intervene with human affairs (different than deism of Age of reason)