Realism In Jim Grimsley's 'Winter Birds'

Realism in Jim Grimsley’s Winter Birds When thinking of a work of fiction, one would most likely consider the unrealistic story or the happy ending. Additionally, most wouldn’t think of “the harsh realities of everyday life” (Feldman, 485) like domestic violence and alcoholism. This is because nowadays, most books aren’t realist novels. A realist novel is a fictional book that focuses more on character analysis rather than plot, and describes things as they really are, with no excess details. One can argue that Winter Birds by Jim Grimsley is a realist novel because of its portrayal of faith, unresolved plot, and absence of emotion. Throughout Winter Birds, the portrayal of faith that takes place in the novel really shows how realistic
Unsurprisingly, Winter Birds does not draw emotions from the reader, nor does it evoke such. Throughout the book, events take place, but are never really thought about or dissected. This gives the novel neither a sense of coldness, nor melodrama, but a believability that coincides with realism itself. In the novel, when pivotal moments take place, they are described as if they were on a list; with no inflection and dull expression. This can be seen when Danny bites his tongue open after running to defend his mother in a heated argument with his father, but fails to notice a tree root on the dark ground: “You felt the fall when it began and knew perfectly what it was. You saw the ground burst toward you…” (Grimsley, 47). When emotion is not used in a novel, the reader must decide for themselves what feeling should go with the novel, thus making it more relatable. Making the reader think freely about a novel’s tone and mood can be beneficial to making the book more enjoyable to the reader. When the reader is able to think what they want to about the book, it becomes partly their story, and transforms what would’ve been an unfortunate realist piece into something more