REALISM, NATURALISM, LIT OF DISCONTENT, VOCAB 1

By:Imran SalekEmma BillingleyJeremy SCipioni

Realism

An inclination toward literal truth and what the eye can see

American Realists tried to depict the everyday lives of ordinary Americans, and the relationship between the individual and society

Steered away from Romantic beliefs and from unreal depictions of life.

Main characteristics:

Faithful representation of life

Concentrating on middle-class life and preoccupations

Characters are the center of interest as opposed to a plot

Authors

Mark Twain- “Huckleberry Fin”

Stephen Crane- “A Mystery of Heroism”

W.E.B Dubois-”The Souls of Black Folks”

Time Period

From Civil war reconstruction to about the beginning of WWI

Ways to Remember

When you hear REALISM its about real life…

Naturalism

Used detailed realism to suggest that social conditions, heredity, fate, and environment has an inescapable force in shaping human character.

More pessimistic than Realism; inspired by hardships

Characters

Characters. Ill-educated or lower-class characters lives are governed by:

The forces of heredity and instinct Free will held back by uncontrollable natural

forces (society, environment, fate, etc.) Social Darwinism (survival of the fittest)

Time Period

1880’s to about 1940’s

Authors

Richard Wright-” Native Son”

Ernest Hemingway- “A Farewell to Arms”

Ways to Remember

Has elements of realism, has “natural” qualities or forces acting upon the characters that they cant control.

Literature of Discontent

Along the lines of Naturalism

Social problems seen as a force to deal with

Extreme discontent with the way things are

Ex: slaves, poverty, abused etc.

Vocab 1

Allusion – an expression, designed to call something to passing reference.

Archetype – A way typical example of a certain person or thing.

Connotation- feeling that is added to the original meaning of the word

Vocab Cont.

Denotation- the literal meaning of the word, in contrast of the feeling it suggests

Diction- the choice of words on style in a speech or writing

Parallelism- the use of successive verbal constructions in poetry or prose that correspond in grammatical structure, sound, meter, meaning

Vocab Cont.

Frame Story- a story within a story Imagery- visual description or figurative

language in a literally work. Irony- a state of affairs or an event that

seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result.

Paradox- something that contradicts itself but is nonetheless true

Quiz

http://www.vocabtest.com/