Realism__the_Influence_on_Modern_Literature

Realism: an inspiration to modern day writing, a touchstone so bold that it has changed the mode, the style, the voice of writing. Realism captured the minds of artistic, adventurous, rebellious writers across the US. Up until the 19th century, the only topics occupying a motivated writer were early staged romanticism and metaphysics, then goth which mixed romanticism with the supernatural. This literary movement was much needed in society as shown by its appearance in authors’ works from the 19th century forward, serving as a touchstone for today’s writing. Realism did not start in America. Had it not been for the British and French, Realism may have never been introduced to America. Americans were stimulated by the models of the British and French. In Britain and France realism was born from the winds of change. The government and politics as well as enlightening thoughts. People began raising questions about religion which lead them to turn towards science. Science and the scientific method helped people come up with insightful questions and people began to write less about religion, happiness, romance, magic, wishful things, and more about things as they actually happened. Thus realism entered into the world. As realism grew throughout Europe it slowly seeped into the United States. Americans looked towards the British and French models for a start. Once they got the ball rolling they came up with their own ideas as well as combining them with any other models they wanted. The idea of realism was to be free to express oneself as he sees the world and how it actually works around him, not how he hopes it will work. “Realism did rise and became conscious of itself as a significant, liberalizing, and forward-looking literary program.” “Great writers [ ] did not devote themselves exclusively to translating everything into symbols, myths, and archetypes.” Realistic writers didn’t write about insights, they didn’t write ambiguity. Realism is about what is, it’s about the patterns of how things happen. It’s about how people “functioned in the real world (or tried to); (they) reported significant aspects if the real world in their fictions, and often they had ideas.” They “saw sentimental and advent fantasy and [ ] the genteel tradition as the main source of miasma.”Miasma is the poisonous effluvia or germs that pollute the atmosphere, or a dangerous, foreboding, or deathlike influence. Realists believed want and wishes polluted the world and made it less of a real place and more of a bad place to be in. Fantasy thoughts polluted the mind, they killed it and kept it from well, rational thinking; another reason why realists looked to the scientific method. The origins of realism in America can be traced back through the famous passages of Ralph Waldo Emerson. “What would we really know the meaning of'” “Writers swim in the ocean of their society, studying its few metaphysicians and hearing regularly its spokespersons, yet interacting [ ] with the spottily educated.” Lewis O. Saum discussed what he claimed to be the three attitudes that could encourage realism. Did realism need the encouragement at the time' Would it have engulfed the population without the help of these theorists' Saum’s first attitude is life cycle. “The life cycle is far harsher than political rhetoric or literary sentence. Such a feeling could welcome the relief of seeing easy optimism challenged.” The second attitude was egalitarianism, or the belief in human equality. “They recorded a growing egalitarian self-respect fed by taking election-time bombast seriously.” People who were more educated on the topics at election time felt a stronger sense of self and equality about them among the rest of the population. With education comes self respect and seriousness. Human equality fed into realism and people became more conscious of themselves and their surroundings which is what realism is. Realism is about explaining the world as it is to the people who see it that way too and to the people who are enlightened by these kinds of works. The third and final attitude quoted by Lewis O. Saum is that people saw that society and it’s values were changing. One of the most important attitudes, number 3 was influenced by and also influenced realism. As government began to change people’s eyes began to open up to a world they had never seen before. They began writing about looking at a tree and not using the situation as a metaphor to create ambiguity and draw the listener in, they saw a tree. A tree with branches and green leaves sitting on a meadow of green grass. That’s it. As people began to see things as they really were, some type of spell seemed to be lifted and everyone woke up from their slumber. Question arose about religion and government and values and morals. These questions were not so readily answered anymore nor were they so easily accepted. People began wanting facts they began wanting to see things, feel things, understand exactly why things happened and not just rely on the men in the robes that told them this was so. The day-to-day routine enhances the writings of realists. These routines in the U.S. “entail painful problems that the larger scale society was bringing changes to drop structure as well as street manners.” Because of this lesser tie to religion people felt more vulnerable and out of touch. Society was at a loss because not everything had answers anymore. The sky didn’t rain skittles and the earth was no longer enthralled with smiley faces and rainbows. Real questions were being raised at this time in history. Frontiering and Fred Lewis Pattee with his trans-Appalachian, were vital to the rise of realism. Early realistic fiction was more Midwestern rather than purely western. Urbanized people were better learned. Factories and banks directed the flow of power. “Truth had to be unmasked, especially for the masses.