Mark Twain on Realism

The realist movement emerged around the nineteenth century and exposed the true and sometimes harsh reality of everyday southern life. Most literature that focused on realism brought into light the social agendas and social class issues for the working middle-class that so many had turned the other way to. Realism was mainly a response to the preceding Romanticist movement, which depicted how life should be rather than life in actuality, based upon personal fantasies that are not always plausible. The realist movement is also a response to the rising interest in science and rationalism.

Mark Twain is a good example of a realist during this time period. His stories are centered around characters modeled from throughout his life and based upon actual events. For example Huckleberry Finn, one of Mark Twain's most famous stories, is a story about a young boy and the abuse he endures at the hands of his alcoholic father. The story exposes the social issues surrounding slavery and how a young boy looks beyond what society shows him is appropriate behavior towards a slave and begins to see this slave as more of a father figure and friend.


Works Cited:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://drmyers.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/marktwainloc.jpg&imgrefurl=http://drmyers.wordpress.com/2009/05/03/political-match-game-stress-in-america/&usg=__QE8c9gUDVMYrMsWaDf3yW2nx4ac=&h=1319&w=1114&sz=195&hl=en&start=2&um=1&tbnid=Tdsn1uJH-lZzDM:&tbnh=150&tbnw=127&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmark%2Btwain%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1R2ADFA_enUS343%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1

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Quinn, Edward. "realism." A Dictionary of Literary and Thematic Terms, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= Gfflithem0706&SingleRecord=True (accessed November 12, 2009).

Quinn, Edward. "realism and naturalism in American literature." A Dictionary of Literary and Thematic Terms, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= Gfflithem0707&SingleRecord=True (accessed November 12, 2009).