Realism Unit (1850-1914) Notes
Characteristics
of Realist
literature
• Tell stories about the harsh
reality of everyday people:
Factory workers
African Americans
Women
Soldiers
• Describes human behavior &
surroundings exactly as they
appear in life
• Highly detailed plots & settings
• Simple language
How is Realism
different from
Romanticism?
Romanticism
• Emotion
• Nature
• Disorder of the
imagination/creativity
Realism
• Facts
• Human behavior
• Accurate
representation of life
What events
may have
contributed to
this change?
• Fugitive Slave Act
• Civil War (1861-1865)
Devastation of the war shattered
nation’s idealism
• Native Americans pushed from their
lands
• 1880’s Industrial Revolution made
people feel powerless
“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin
Warmup Instructions:
Make 2 lists of words, 1 with words
describing 19th century women &
another describing women of today.
what ways are they different?
19th century women 21st century women
1. What did her works focus on?
2. Do you think Chopin handled her husband’s death in a way typical of women at that time? Why or why not?
3. Chopin’s themes were considered “radical.” Look this word up in the dictionary & use it to describe her themes in your own words.
4. Why was her reputation damaged? Do you think this was right?
Literary terms 1. irony (n) / ironic (adj) – when
there is a large difference
between either:
• what is said & what is really meant
• what the audience knows & what a
character knows
• what is expected & what really
happens
• 3 different types of irony
Verbal irony – when the words used suggest an opposite meaning
Ex – when a teacher says “so glad you could join us” to a student who arrives late to class (sarcasm)
Dramatic irony – when readers know something that a character does not
Ex – when Romeo kills himself bc he believes Juliet is dead, we know that she is only sleeping
Situational irony – when an action or situation is very different from what one expects
Ex – It is ironic that my English teacher often misspells words on Facebook.
A simple explanation of irony:
When there is a difference between the appearance of things & the reality.
To figure out if something is ironic, ask yourself: Is there a difference between the appearance of something & the reality?
If the answer is no, it is NOT ironic
If the answer is yes, it IS ironic
“An Occurrence at Owl
Creek Bridge”
by Ambrose Bierce
Technique:
stream of
consciousness
Flashback
• The report of thoughts & ideas
the way the human mind
experiences them—in short
bursts, incomplete sentences, &
w/out clear or logical
connections.
• When the action in a story or
movie is interrupted with
something from the past (a
memory, an event, or a dream)
Douglass
slavery
power of the
white man over
women &
minorities
Bierce
Civil War
freedom to
oppose war
right to fair trial
Both
harsh
reality
factual
subjugation
“My Bondage and My Freedom”
Literature terms
& vocabulary1. Autobiography (n): the biography
of a person narrated by
him/herself
2. Tone (n): the author’s attitude
about the subject
3. Bondage (n): the act of
bonding/enslaving one person to
another
where have we seen this word?
4. Literacy (n): the information
gained from being educated
5. Paradox (n): two contradictory
ideas
6. Benevolence (n): the act of
assistance
7. Human nature (n): the
psychological characteristics,
feelings & behaviors shared by
all humans
QuickwriteDouglass said that both slaves
& slaveholders are victims of
slavery. What do you think this
means?
Quickwrite • Respond to the following:
“All’s fair in love and war.”
This phrase has been used to
excuse everything from trivial
lies to wide-scale atrocities.
Do you think there are times
when the rules of the game
involve no rules at all?