Factual Events In American Realism, And The Literature Network

American Realism began during the Civil War, when life was too horrible to fantasize like the Romantics did. People wanted to read stories that were relatable instead of the unrealistic stories of Romanticism. Realism was a literary period that aimed to demonstrate the representation of reality; Realistic authors such as, Mark Twain, Henry James, and William D. Howells expressed characters and plots based on factual events and people. The internet site, The Literature Network, relays information about how authors such as Mark Twain, Henry James, and William D. Howells wrote books that portrayed by Realism. These Realist authors built their plots, and characters around the ordinary, daily lives that the lower and middle class led. Being the life he once lived, Twain wrote about the lifestyles the lower class had lived, detailing the way they talked and the way they dressed. Twain shed light on issues in society, and gave a contemporary view of how things were in reality. Henry James portrayed Realism by developing characters in his novels that were set on status and social
Campbell, author of Realism in American Literature, 1860-1890, writes about the novels of Mark Twain, Henry James, and William D. Howells, and how they contributed to Realism. Campbell states that “Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain, uses symbolism of a “runaway slave” that starts a long voyage along the Mississippi River; the goal of the novel was to interpret how being a slave was a struggle in America, and Twain wanted for people to picture the struggles of slavery. In “The Portrait of a Lady” Henry James represents the life of an American girl in a European society who struggles through criticism to find success; James wanted to exemplify people who could afford to devote themselves to the impurities of life. In “Their Wedding Journey” by William D. Howells, Howells provides a story from a personal incident into a fictional narrative for the couple portrayed in the novel